21 mo under tired at naptime?

[Texomamama]

Hi there,

My 21 mo DD has taken one nap since she was about 14 months old.  I put her down somewhere around 12:45 pm and she would sleep (or at least remain quiet) until 3:00 or 3:15.  Putting her down was never a problem.  In the past week or so, she has started to have issues at naptime and bedtime, essentially stalling to try and stay up longer.  For the past 3 days, when I put her down for nap, she has been up there talking to herself for 45 minutes to an hour.

All this leads me to think she is UT and I may need to shorten her nap.  God knows I don't want to do this, because I really need my time alone (in fact, I was planning on requiring a 2 hour nap time from her until she leaves for college 

Do any of you recall if and when you shortened your toddler's nap?  I know she is months and months away from needing to drop it.

[Purplecattypants]

J is 21 months and i've just started shortening his nap. Literally been doing it a week or so. He always goes down fine whatever time I put him down, and would sleep 2+ hours, BUT his nights were getting shorter and he was fighting bedtime. So, I now limit naps to 1.5 hrs and wake him no later than 2:30pm. Bedtime is between 7 & 7:30pm.

It does sound like you need to tweek that nap 

[G and G]

I am having the same problem - DD is almost 20 mos old. She is REFUSING her nap - screaming like crazy. It started literally overnight.
Her day was like this:
7:30am - wake
12:30-2:30/3:00 nap
8:00pm - bedtime

Now it is this:
7:00am - wake
12:30 - nap - scream til 1ish
3:00 - wake her
8:00pm bed, plays til 8:30 and goes to sleep

She used to fall asleep for nap and bedtime within a minute - sometimes before I left the room!

UGH. Now she plays at bedtime, screams at naptime. I don't really care that she plays at bedtime, 8pm is late enough, my hubby and I want some time! So if she wants to play, that's fine.

The screaming at naptime is not ok with me. I hate it. WI/WO only makes it worse, so I stay with her for a while, telling her everything is ok, and then leave the room. She SCREAMS for about 5 min, then fusses, screams, fusses, tosses, turns for about a half hour.

Today she was up by 7am, and I put her down around 1pm and she still screamed. She was up for an hour longer than usual. Do I need to move her nap even later? Maybe only 1:30-3? Or is it just a phase that she wants to play? She screams - book, ball, walking, etc, etc after I leave the room.


Help!

[Purplecattypants]

I'd try 1pm G&G and see how how goes. Is she teething at all? I wouldn't let her sleep any later than 3pm, and as I said I don't let mine sleep any later than 2:30pm now otherwise bedtime is a nightmare! I also make sure he's been good and active and wears himself out 

[G and G]

Thanks. I will try 1 pm tomorrow - so another 10 min later. She'll go to sleep by 1:15 - perhaps with screaming, but if I stick to it, I think she'll go back to normal after a week or so?!
She has 16 teeth - so only waiting for the 2 year old molars to come in. At 20 mos - isn't it early for that?

[Purplecattypants]

Nope, J has been getting his since 14 months! They are 2nd year molars, she is in her 2nd year therefore prefectly possible 

 

[Texomamama]

Yes, sounds like we are in the same boat G and G.  Guess I'll push the nap back too............sigh.

[Purplecattypants]

It's horrible admitting that they don't need as much day sleep isnt it! I REALLY miss that 2hr nap, and know that when it goes totally i'll be gutted! 

[Sima]

Just to add my 2 cents...my lo refused napping around his age..lasted for her 2 months or so..then gave up and went back to normal.  She would look sleepy for nap an pop right back and sing and play during nap.  It might be nap resistence..but of course you know better.  My daughter definitely go through that and she needed to nap because during that time, she EW at 4.30 due to OT!