Melissa you may have to play it by ear & do BT somewhere inbetween 7.30-8pm. I am finding now that if DS has done a 6hr A in the AM, he isn't tired enough for bed after just 5hrs A in the PM, and if he does by chance fall asleep, we are getting 10.75-11hr night.
I was thinking about you not nap capping versus me who do & maybe the way you need to look at it is this: she sleeps for as long as she needs at naptime right? so somedays she may need a long nap, some days she may only need a short one, some days she may not need a nap at all. Some days she may sleep longer at night, some days she will sleep less. But it all balances out overall. If you let her take the lead your days are always likely to have some amount of variation. Contrast this with me who caps O's nap. His wakeup time is more stable. He naps at the same time regardless of whether he's shown me he is tired b.c that's what he is used to doing. And I wake him from naps to make sure he's ready for bed because I know if I don't then he is likely to do a shorter night. But which LO is happier & better rested? Probably yours. B/c she is getting what sleep she needs rather than what sleep is permitted. Perhaps the only thing you could do to improve your situation is to let her lead you as to when she wants to nap. So maybe some days she won't nap, but perhaps the next day she will nap 2hrs & sleep fine at night. I have a friend who's LO does this & I can never fathom how she falls asleep at 7pm when she's napped from 3-5pm, but I suppose its because she balances it all out & takes it when she needs it. I am just too scared to do it with Oliver for fear he'll be up til 10pm!
