Capping nap 17 months

[Parsnips88]

Hi all,
My 17 month old has been one nap for months now, was usually about 90 mins. We’ve been capping it at 60 mins for a couple of weeks now but she is still full of beans at bedtime. Just wondering whether we need to cap it even more, say 45 mins?

Weve pushed bedtime back to 7.30, from 7pm. She used to be able to be put down and be asleep in a few minutes, now there’s 30 minutes of rolling around her cot and chatting, singing or blowing raspberries to herself before she finally goes to sleep.

How long has it been like this? I’m always reluctant to make any changes if it’s only been a week or two as it could easily just be a little regression and things will go back to normal soon. I’m sure friends have described a horrible 18 month regression so it might be that? (Didn’t experience it here though so I don’t think it’s necessarily going to happen, don’t want to panic you!). But if it’s been going on for a long time then that adjustment does seem to make sense.

Could you edge a later bedtime? How is she when she wakes from her nap?

We’ve been capping my 16 month old’s nap at 1 hour 15 mins for months and he goes to sleep about 7:45. If he has too short a nap he can be grumpy in the afternoon.

There is a regression around this age though so as pp says, it may be temporary.

Also, bedtime doesn’t sound too bad so if she’s happy maybe just needs time to wind down?

Is she not overtired at bedtime due to the short nap and later bedtime?

I know when my DC is hyped up at bedtime, it means they are tired as they skipped their nap or had a short one.

Personally. I thought if they're sleeping, they need it for development, so I'm happy to leave them to it.

Thanks all. She’s never been a baby that seems to get overtired so I don’t think the beans is that. She’s definitely been through a regression over the last few months. Used to go to sleep independently and sleep through the night. Now needs us in the room to go to sleep and has night wakes. We’re trying to gently train her to do it without us but it’s slow going. Will keep going with the 1 hour nap, if only for my mental health if nothing else!

I've read that toddler's circadian rhythm shifts to needing bedtime around 8pm. Was definitely true for mine. The shift occurred around 18 months. Even if naps were shorter it still seemed to be the time he was ready to sleep.