Capping 2 year olds nap?

[Hardknocks]

Currently sat in DD’s room (turning 2 next week) and she has been awake for the last hour since putting her down to bed.

She wakes between 6-7, naps around 12 for 2.5 hours and then was going to bed at 7:30, but a week ago started becoming hysterical at nap and bedtime and taking an hour minimum to go down.. she always self settled before and now needs me sat here.

I thought because she still naps that long she needed it, but has anyone else capped their 2 year olds naps? Bedtime is currently anywhere between 8:30-9:30pm.. missing our evenings!

Cap it at two hours and see what difference it makes. If it doesn't make enough of a difference reduce by another half an hour and so on.

If she's not napping easily either then I'd move it slightly later, so start with 12:30-2:30, then try 1-2:30 etc.

The other thing to look at is how active she is, it's possibly time to start phasing the buggy out. She might need more mental or social stimulation or more physical exercise. Try a morning swim or softplay session and see if that makes any difference.

Thank you @NuffSaidSam - she doesn’t use the buggy anymore, we make sure to do a park in the morning and some sort of activity in the afternoon but she is full of beans so maybe needs a bit more running around! Swimming is a really good shout.

My 18 month old has naps capped at 1.5 hours as we are trying to stop her having split nights, which are truly a hell. I don't think capping a 2 year old at 2 hours or even 1.5 hours is problematic, the NHS say 2 year old need at least 1.5 hours nap so yours is having a lot aw comparison. But they all vary, mine used to need the upper end of sleep averages but has recently changed, which sucks as we have lost some of our evening too.

We sleep in 40 minute phases so try capping it at 1hr 20/30 and see how you go.

I think she is getting too much sleep, and then isn't tired at bedtime. I'd definitely try capping nap to 1.5hour and maybe try push it back a little. I also found with my eldest that staying in the room with him actually started to distract him from going to sleep and he did better once I started leaving the room. My youngest doesn't need a lot of sleep and is 2.5 now. I only let her have a 20min nap after lunch.It's usually a struggle to wake her from it but otherwise, she would still be awake at 10pm. I think when she turned 2 she was having 1hr. In comparison my eldest was still taking a 2hr nap when he turned 2 and then falling asleep at 8pm at night. They are all different!

Thank you everyone! We did soft play yesterday morning and the farm in the afternoon, she went down relatively easy for her nap (still about 10 min of crying) but I left the room. I capped her at 2 hours so she slept 11:30-1:30, I put her to bed at 7 and she still took an hour to go to sleep so will try for 1.5 hours today!

My 2 year old hasn't napped for months, apart from the odd time she's fallen asleep in the car! Some kids just drop the nap early. My oldest would have napped for 3 hours until he started school!

Oh god I woke her after an hour and a half and she’s just cried ever since 🙈 it’s going to be a long afternoon

Keep going OP. Hopefully, she'll go to bed ok tonight and make it worth it!

Thank you, we’re pushing through! She keeps asking to go to bed 😂 so hopefully tonight will go smoothly.