why does it take me 1 minute to settle my dd for her lunch time nap and 60 min to settle her at bedtime

[billyog]

at lunch time i take her to her room straight after lunch,close curtains, sing her lullaby and cuddle, straight in cot, pat for a few seconds and shes fast asleep.
Evening time i take her to her room, read book, turn light out, put night light on, sing her same lullaby in the same way, put nher in her cot and pat her, leave the room and she cries. so i go back ... pat pat pat leave the room and she cries ... and this can go on for anywhere up to 2 hrs!! she is normally up about 6/7 and she normally sleeps for about an 1 1/2 hrs at lunch, in bed for half 7. any ideas?

ooh yes! Same here! I have wondered this! No answers tho, sorry

How old is she?

Sorry, shes 15 mths.

oh same here, 19 mo

Could she be afraid of the dark?

In the daytime, is she asleep before you leave the room? That could be it.

yes, she is asleep before I leave the room and I don't mind patting her to sleep, if it only takes a couple of minutes, like at lunch time and she is asleep when i leave the room at night time, eventually.
She's never gone to sleep on her own and part of me wonders if we need to encourage her to do that but i'm kinda hoping that somehow, she'll just started settling more quickly in the evening.
She does have a night light and the hall light is on outside but maybe I should think of a brighter light.

Maybe she is overtired by the time you put her to bed in the evening. Overtired = overstimulated = can't relax and settle.

If she is used to you patting her to sleep in the day, she will be confused and upset if you do it differently at night. You need to do both the same way.

I won't sway you one way or another , but I reckon that even if you patted her to sleep at night, it wouldn't take an hour. It only does because you keep leaving.

But alternatively, you could try to get her to settle in the day on her own. This will be easier in the long run but may cause a lot of upset in the short term.