My 12mo has only napped 45min today and WILL NOT GO TO BED!

[GinnyBee]

WTF kid?! Go to sleep! 😫😫😫

His naps have been weird for a couple of weeks. He used to pretty reliably nap 11-12.30 and three bedtime at 7. Since his birthday on the 10th he has had days when he doesn’t nap until after 1pm, and then some days when he wants it at 10am. He’s also had a few days when the nap is at a normal time but 2.45-3hr long! Instead of the usual 1.5hr. Then he refuses to go to bed until 9-10pm.

Having learnt from the long naps I try to cap his naps now, and today he again skipped the 11am nap time so I took him out in a carrier which is the best chance I have to ‘force’ a nap. He fell asleep just before 1 right at the end of the walk for 15 minutes 🫠 he then needed another nap later in the afternoon which we woke him from after 30 minutes at 4pm. It’s now 8.15pm and he’s SO AWAKE!

What is happening? Why is everything a mess?!?! 😩

The last nap was just too late. If they sleep after around 3pm then they never go to sleep! Better just to power through until bedtime.

Yes I’m starting to see that 😭 It didn’t used to matter, if he had only had a short nap earlier and another later and the total of naps was the same then bedtime was unaffected. That doesn’t seem to be true anymore!

The bigger issue is the total chaos with his routine in general though! Why some days he doesn’t nap at all until 3 hours later than normal, and some days almost twice as long as normal! Stupid toddlers, why can’t they just do the thing that makes sense 😂

I have no great advice as DD was a good and regular at her naps. If she didn’t get it though she was a banshee from hell.
Do they get up the same time everyday? I think naps during the day need a bit of routine like nighttime ones though, having milk etc. if that helps.

Anything after 2pm
was a no in our house. I let dd have a morning nap, but nothing after that as I couldn’t get her to sleep at night and we would all be going mental !

They go through times when it all goes to pot.
I’ve a 2.5 year old who can’t quite manage to drop the nap everyday. She can miss odd days. And when she does nap it’s a later bedtime.

Have you got blackout blinds? Mine struggled with summer.

@HatchetJob yeah we had a nice routine but the routine has stopped working!

@AnotherCF Yes, I put blackout film on the windows a few weeks ago. It helped initially with early waking, but now that’s back too 🙈😭

Finally managed to get him to sleep at 8.40, snuck away at 8.50 and he woke up at 9.05 🫠 husband is currently in there snuggling.

I’m sure my DD can somehow read the NHS guidance on average amounts of sleep in a 24 hour period because I swear that as soon as she is close to, or ticks over into, the next age category, she suddenly no longer needs that extra hour of sleep and either naps or bedtime go to poop.

She’s just about to turn 3 which would pop her in the “10-13 hours” vs “11-14 hours” category and is suddenly not tired until an hour past her usual bedtime or won’t nap until gone 3pm. We had the same issue at 12 months and 2 years. I tell you, she’s got the page printed out & laminated somewhere.

Why is everything a mess?!?! Because he's a human baby!

All routines are illusory, as soon as it feels settled it changes. It may be discomfort like teething.

just when you think you have everything running smoothly…BAM - toddlers have other ideas. I found my two boys changed every 6-8 weeks until they were 3ish (and naps had been completely dropped.

) Up until then, naps might vary in length suddenly or be dropped randomly or for no reason at incur a later bedtime. Very frustrating. I just think some babies are wired that way.

We tried various routines but ultimately, you can’t MAKE a baby sleep. Just try again tomorrow and stock up on coffee/wine/chocolate to get you through the blips over the coming years.