(almost) 18 month old and nap

[drivingmisscrazy]

Just wondering if you can give me some ideas/guidance. DD has never been big on daytime sleep, but from about 10 months has slept through at night but she's starting to muck about with bedtime and often refuses to nap - when she does it's never longer than about 40-45 minutes. A lot of people have toddlers that sleep for 2 hours in the middle of the day She sleeps usually about 11-12 hours at night.

So, she used to have a sleep at about 12 (gets up usually 7-7.30) but have put her down earlier because she is knackered - cue 40 minutes of chatting and chuntering, but NO SLEEP. In this situation do I leave her, get her up or what? If I keep getting her up surely she just learns that if she fights sleep for long enough something more fun will happen? [she's now saying 'mummy', 'mummy'] Or should I give her lunch and then put her down?

I really don't know what to do with her nap-wise, but she needs more sleep and I am at a loss. I need a PLAN

DD (3) started to fight daytime naps around this age, and I mean it was taking 40 mins- 1 hour to get her to sleep. She would nap then for 1-2 hours but bed time was around 9-10ish and she would sleep 10-12 hours.
The nap 'nonsense' got so bad we decided to take the lead from her. So some days she had a nap (mostly if we were out in the car tbh), some days not and was fine with it as long as a good nights sleep.
On the days when she was really tired but fighting it we have 'quiet time' on the couch with a big fluffy blanket...lots of cuddles maybe a DVD or a story for 1/2 hour or as long as she was happy. It still works now even though she doesn't nap that often these days - at least you get a wee rest even if you can't get on with stuff. Good luck.