Struggling to find sleep sweet spot

[SarahDay1990]

My DD will be 3 in sept. She is generally a good sleeper but I feel like I can’t get her sleep right. Normally she will nap between 1-1.30-2/2.30 (I wake her) and then she’s normally in bed for 7 but can take up to 2 hours to settle to sleep and then wakes around 6. It just doesn’t seem to be enough sleep and she’s really grumpy and tired the next day. I used to let her nap 1.5 hours in the day but I cut it down to an hour but it doesn’t seem to have helped. I know the most restorative sleep is at night but I feel like she’s just not getting enough and she’s grumpy and tired following day. I don’t think she’s ready to drop her nap - she’s extremely energetic and gets so so tired by lunch time and will cry and moan at me to go for a nap. We’ve got black out blinds etc. When she takes 2 hours to settle she’s just laying in her cot singing and tossing and turning. Tried a later bedtime too but no change. Any ideas?

To add - I wonder if she’s going to sleep overtired or is it the case she needs more awake time before bed? Although I’ve tried putting her down for 7.30 but it doesn’t help…

She's probably ready to drop the nap altogether. Maybe wait for the heatwave to pass. She will be tired and grumpy in the afternoon for a while so try to get her to rest instead of sleep (we used to allow tv after lunch to creat the opportunity to cuddle up on the sofa without sleeping just as we were getting through the phase of dropping nap).

@headintheproverbial

She's probably ready to drop the nap altogether. Maybe wait for the heatwave to pass. She will be tired and grumpy in the afternoon for a while so try to get her to rest instead of sleep (we used to allow tv after lunch to creat the opportunity to cuddle up on the sofa without sleeping just as we were getting through the phase of dropping nap).

Daydreams on cbeebies is great for this.

I did wonder about dropping the nap but by midday she is so upset and asking to go to sleep. She’ll often just take herself off to bed…on the rare days she doesn’t nap eg nursery days - she is so beyond tired when she comes home….

The idea would be that by consistantly dropping the nap, her nights sleep will improve - which will curb her daytime tiredness.

I agree that if at aged 3 your toddler is not settling at bed time, the cause is probably that it's time to drop the nap.

My boy is similar age and I would definitely say it's the nap causing problems. We were fooled for a while as he would happily go down for the nap but bedtime was just getting worse. We've been dropping it slowly rather than going cold turkey as he really can't go all week without. We're now down to 2 naps a week. No nap days bedtime is 7/7.30 and he'll usually sleep through til 6/7. Nap days we do well to get him down by 9 and he's basically guaranteed to be up by 6 at the latest. It's like a different child on the nap days but we just accept that the evening is a bit of a write off on those days. I can't wait til the naps are gone for good!