My 18 month old has been on 1 nap since 12 months. She's always seemed to need less sleep than other kids her age.
That said, for the last 2 months, we've been on a pretty consistent schedule of:
WU: 6:15/7
Nap: 12:30/12:45 - 2/3
BT: 7:30/8:00
For the most part, her naps were 1:45-2:00 hours, sometimes slightly longer, sometimes shorter. 3 weeks ago, we started seeing her naps be 1 hour - 1:20. And in the last week, they've been 30-45 minutes. She is also screaming when it's time to take a nap or go to sleep for the night. Sometimes for 15-20 minutes before falling asleep. She's never done this before. She's always just laid down and been happy to fall asleep. I figured out that if I put her in her sleep sack, gave her the binky & lovie, and read to her before it's time to sleep (as opposed to giving her those things when I put her in the cot after we've ready), she only cries/screams for 1-2 minutes, so I've made as much change to our routine as I think is reasonable (I don't want to create any sleep crutches).
Generally our nights have remained a non-issue. There were 2 nights in the last week where she would wake up a few times before 10pm and cry for a second, but I didn't go in and she went back to sleep herself. Other than that, she still sleeps through the night without a peep. And her WU time is also generally unchanged, with only 2 mornings waking slightly early.
I do think this is the 18 month sleep regression, but I'm also wondering if this is coinciding with needing more awake time. She has been on the same awake time for almost 2 months, which is the most she's ever stayed on a schedule. Before that, I had to change her awake time every 3 weeks.
Do folks think I should stay the course with the current nap time of 12:30/1pm, or should I try pushing her for a week and seeing what happens?
To complicate the matter, we're moving from Boston to London tomorrow, which will really through off her schedule. Sigh.
Thanks in advance for any advice!
Cheers,
Robin
