Toddler wakes 30 mins after nap starts and won't settle back in cot

[karrliz]

My 16 month old DD sleeps through the night 7-7.30pm- 6/6.30am consistently, however I can't seem to get her naps right!

She goes for a nap at 12.30, however everyday she wakes up after just 30 minutes... I go upstairs and pick her up and she falls asleep on my shoulder, but cries the second I put her down in her cot! The only solution I have is to pick her up and bring her on the sofa with me. She then sleeps a further 1hour or even 1hr30 on me.

I'm currently 13 weeks pregnant, so this bad habit needs to stop before I get a big bump!

I have tried sitting with her in her room, letting her CIO for 5 mins before going in, but nothing works!

There is also no light or noise to be waking her!

If there are any suggestions on helping her sleep through her nap, it would be greatly appreciated!

Maybe she only needs the 30 minutes?

I wonder if she could be overtired, 6-6.5hr wake window from waking til nap is quite a long time. If she didn’t need long she’d wake up happy after her short nap and not go back to sleep but the fact she goes straight back to sleep shows she does need more. Could you try putting her down about earlier? 12? (My DD is 28m, gets up 7/7.15 and goes for nap 12.30/12.45)

One of my children did this, the only way I got a longer nap from them was to let them sleep in their pushchair. I rocked them back to sleep when they stirred and after a few weeks they didn’t stir any longer and just slept for 2-3 hours. It did mean though that they took all naps in their pushchair until they were 3.