I give up. 19 month old 40 minute naps

[AshleyMegan]

 I could cry. I am so sick of the 40 minute naps, I work from home and I can't get anything done.  I have tried all different A times, I have tried going into comfort her but it only seems to make it worse,  I have tried leaving her in her crib, crying, but it breaks my heart.  She is miserable if I get her out after the 40 minutes so I know she needs more sleep.   She is 19 months.     I don't know what else to do to get through this.   Please tell me it gets better on its own.   I am sick and tired of being in tears over this.

[jessmum46]

(((Hugs))), and deep breaths.  It's so frustrating at times isn't it? 

Could you give up a bit more information so we can help you?  What time does your LO wake in the morning, what time are you putting her down for nap, and when is her bedtime?  Does she go to sleep independently?  And how long have the short naps been and issue for her?

[AshleyMegan]

She wakes between 7:30 and 8, and asleep by 8 pm.  I've tried naps at 12:30, 1, 1:30, even 2 pm, lol.  And no luck.  She really is a great sleeper at night...she's been falling asleep independently since she was like 2 months lol.  When she was younger, we dealt with 40 minute naps and overcame them.
And now they're back.  I wanna say it's been like this for the past month now.  😕

[jessmum46]

With her age I'd say probably a combination of sleep regression and the (often short-term) drop in sleep needs that can coincide with it.  I would push the nap later and see if she will take a better one - as in to 2.30/3pm, she may just not be tired enough for a decent nap after less than 6h+ A time while her brain is super-active!  Is she getting plenty of physical play in the mornings? 

[AshleyMegan]

Oh she is
Tons of activities in the morning- were always outdoors or at a playgroup. 😊
I was worried that a later nap would affect night time sleep?  The past 2 days she's been fighting naps though and it's taking her 20-40 minutes to fall asleep

[jessmum46]

Later naps can often work better than people expect as the long morning A offsets the short afternoon one.  If i remember correctly I think DD did something like 6.5h A in the morning and 4-4.5h in the afternoon for quite some time   It probably can't be an uncapped nap if it is later in the day (as in you may need to wake her up to preserve bedtime) but that's often down to trial and error.