Why do the naps vary so much?

[beckstrous]

Hi all,

I would love it if anyone could give me any insight into what is going on with my little girl, who is 14 months old.

She pretty much dropped to one nap around a year old. She has never really slept that well in the afternoon (without some kind of assistance), so I have been working on making the morning nap later. Usually she goes down around 10.30 (sometimes a little later), but this is because she usually gets up at 5-5.30. Anyway, sometimes she will sleep for an hour and 20 minutes, sometimes it will be 2 hours and sometimes it will be 3 or even longer (her record is 3 hours 40).

My question is...why do the nap lengths vary so much? She is at a childminder for 2 days a week and sleeps okay there. Then one day a week she goes to my sister's - for some reason, she does not sleep very well there (but she is happy). Once or twice the childminder has texted me to ask if she can wake her up for lunch or whatever because she has slept over 3 hours. And then the day after a long nap she'll do 1 hour 20...it is totally random and there is no pattern....has anyone experienced this and also, what is the ideal nap time? Longer naps don't appear to affect her willingness to go to bed and unfortunately she wakes early regardless of what happens during the day (the only time recently that she made it to 6.30 was, bizarrely, during a sleepover at  my sister's house when she had only really napped a little bit in the car in the afternoon).

Thanks for any advice!!!!

[michaeljacknnugg]

She's probably using the nap to catch herself up. All of us vary in how much sleep we need, but as we don't nap (generally!) it's not as obvious.

Might it be worth pulling the nap later in the day to get some more consistency going? My DS also dropped his nap around 12 mo and was/is an early riser - by the time he hit 2 he was getting up at 5.30 and napping at 2.30pm. i know she's 14 months, but it might be worth heading in that direction if you feel the need to change anything.

[beckstrous]

Thank you. I did wonder about catching up. It's just so strange; I never know quite what she is going to do! I will try and see if I can get the nap later. Luckily the childminder is really flexible about when she gives her lunch (she doesn't have to fit in with the other children; they are happy to do her lunch separately). At my sister's she does have to fit in with the school run but I don't think that's a bad thing...they have to adapt!