18 month old one nap

[parentingtwo]

Our 18 month old is on one nap and has been for a few months. She has started waking early, taking a while to go to bed at night and having short naps (often just half an hour). Obviously all of that together likely means overtired (although that shows in hyper behaviour nearing bedtime). She started last week doing two mornings at nursery which is the first time she has been properly left (other than with her grandma at times) and she is finding the separation difficult and is crying lots at nursery. I know this is normal (my son was the same and now loves it) but I just wondered if the nursery thing might have affected her sleep. If not that what else? She is far too young to drop the nap surely and falls asleep for it within a few minutes so obviously wants it. Any thoughts? She runs around like crazy and is a major climber so must be exhausted from her always on the go nature.

If she is now having a shorter nap, it could be worth playing around with the timings maybe?

My DD dropped to one nap before 18 months, I was very sad about it! Like a pp I would play about with timings - DD is now 23 months and the nap needs to be between 11 and 2 or she will not go down at bedtime (7:30pm).

To clarify the nap isn't 3 hours long, only 1-1.5 hours.

Is there anyone whose 18 month olds reduced their one nap? Today she had an amazing two hour nap (I woke her from this) but she is still wide awake in her cot (happy). She is put down at 6.45pm for a 7pm bedtime but recently it's taking her longer and longer to fall asleep.

why do you think she is too young to drop to one nap? Mine had dropped all naps long before this age

@Nimbostratus100 sorry for confusion. I think she is too young to drop her one nap. Not drop to one. She has been on one for months.

I dont think she is too young to stop napping

Every child is so different my near 18 month old has one nap usually between 11-2pm ideally (if he sleeps later than 2 getting him to sleep will be a little longer)

But that said I know other 18 month olds that have no naps during the day at all.

As PP have mentioned I would play around with the timings of her nap and see if that makes any difference. Or if doable could you put her to bed slightly later say 7:30 instead of 7?

Both mine stopped napping around that age. Started with an earlier bed by by she 2 they were both going to sleep at about 7.30/8pm again.

Thank you all. I would Ideally like to keep the 7pm bedtime as my 3 year old boy no longer naps and is exhausted come bedtime and he needs to go down and I would like to keep bedtime the same. Will see how it goes and tweak her timings a little and see where we are at. Thank you.

DS1 stopped napping at 12 months.

Blimey @cptartapp that's so young - I bet you missed the naps once they were gone. Funny how they are all so different!

My DS is always extra tired and emotional after coming home from nursery (even though he enjoys being there). It does take him a bit longer to go to sleep sometimes, he lies in his cot chatting to himself… I think he just needs that time to unwind from the day before falling asleep.

DS is almost 18m. He has one nap a day anywhere between 1-2 hours (we wake him if he's still asleep at the 2 hour mark).

Ideally he'd nap around 11:30-1:30ish and go to bed around 7:30/8pm, up for the day anywhere between 6-7:30am. If the nap ends later than about 3pm he'd be up aaaaaall night.

I will add that my friend's daughter has often skipped her 1 nap entirely or only had about 30 mins a day since she was about 13/14 months!

I found I had to cap my 19 month olds nap to 1.5 hours to stop her waking so early. It sounds like she's just getting used to being at nursery and she's not napping properly there so she is overtired or unsettled at bedtime. Can you stay with her at nursery for a few days whilst she gets used to it? It sounds airy fairy but I tried to trust my two to tell me when they were ok at nursery which meant I would stay with them at nursery for half an hour or so or even longer until they had settled and were ready for me to go. If they were crying or upset I didn't leave. I would cuddle them and play with them and then eventually they would feel comfortable enough to play near to me and then I could leave. It sounds like she's struggling with the transition.

My daughter dropped naps completely at 19 months.

This was me with both of mine! My second was a nightmare, from about 8 months he was only doing one 30 min nap, it did increase a bit for a few months but by 12/13 months he was back to half an hour and then from 14 months he wouldn't nap at all at home though he did carry on with naps at the childminder till he was about 20 months... but those days would be a 9.45pm bed so I was glad when that stopped!

Something else to consider is the opposite - she may not be overtired, but actually undertired. Sleep needs change as they get older. If she's fighting sleep it may well be because you're trying to get her to have too much sleep. Despite what a lot of information online says, 7pm is actually an early bedtime for her and that's why she's fighting sleep and waking early. Toddlers melatonin (sleep hormone) doesn't sufficiently rise until past 7:30 so it's going to be difficult getting her to go to sleep before this as her body just isn't ready. My suggestion would be to try a later bedtime and a thorough bedtime routine and see if this helps.