Shorter nap=grumpy 20 mth old

[abaker89]

DD2 is high sleep needs and has always slept very well and has been on one nap for about 2 mths.  For the last 10 days her nap has shortened from 2.5 hrs to 1.5 hrs.  Now I know that 1.5 hrs is a fine nap but the problem is that she is grumpy and tired.  She also wants to go to bed really early then which makes it hard when doing activities after dinner with her older sister.  Her schedule had been:

Wake 8 am (I wake her)
Nap 1-3:30 (almost always 2.5 hrs, a couple days a week it would be 3 hrs)
Asleep 8 pm (8:30 if she took a 3 hr nap)

Now it has been:

Wake 8 am (I wake her)
Nap 1-2:30
Asleep 7:30

I have tried pain meds with no luck and also putting her down earlier around 12:30 with no luck.  She is so tired at naptime and says "bed, nap" over and over and nearly falls asleep when I nurse her.  She is awake when I put her in bed.  I have also been keeping her in the crib for an hour after she wakes to see if she will fall back asleep.  She does not cry, just rolls around a lot (video monitor).  I haven't a clue what to do since DD1 never slept this well.  I guess the biggest problem is that she is grumpy all evening and then bedtime is too early.  She was asking last night around 7 pm which is hard with her sisters schedule.  Any ideas?

Thanks,
Aileen

[~inbalance~]

I think that at least for now the earlier bedtime is necessary, even though I know it's a little inconvenient.  Is she still sleeping through the night and waking at the same time in the morning? 

[abaker89]

No NW and she is STTN, always has.  She is such a good little sleeper and just is so tired and grumpy.  I just don't see what we did, maybe it wasn't anything I did but I have been so afraid I would ruin this great sleeper since DD1 was so bad at it   And the early bedtime just stinks with the 4 yr old schedule!

Aileen

[~inbalance~]

Don't worry, I highly doubt anything you did has caused this change, and it is likely a phase that will pass.  In my experience, once they've established good sleep habits they always return to them after difficult phases.  I know the early bedtimes suck with your older LO's routine, especially in summertime.  Hopefully you won't have to do them for long.  The grumpiness makes me think there might be some teething going on.  I have found that often meds aren't entirely effective.