Layla, I posted before I saw your second response...when I used to put Ella down at 2pm she would go to sleep in 10-20 mins. I've been trying the 1:30 thing over the last few days and she goes to sleep about 2:15ish...it's taking a lot longer for her to fall asleep. For the past few days her pm nap has been 1hr 15 or 1hr 20mins - today's was the longest nap she has had. I ended up nursing her to sleep too, because she was in there from 1:45 to 2:20 partying, then she banged her head and was crying and I knew there was no way she would get herself to sleep after that!
So anyway, is it worth sticking to the earlier naptime even if it's taking her longer to go to sleep? In your experience do you think she'll eventually start taking less time to fall asleep?
So far this experiment has been a success story - in addition to the decent pm naps she seems to be sleeping better at night PLUS she slept til 7am this morning...she has also been a lot easier to put down for both her pm nap and bedtime! No more crying if I leave the room, and no more sitting in the room with her, waiting, waiting...waiting!