My girls both dropped down to one sleep at about 12mths old. I made sure I gave them an early lunch (like 11/11:30am) then they would have a great sleep.
DD#1 in particular ended up going from two half hour naps to a 2hr nap in the middle of the day! It worked much better.
No harm in giving it a go? You can always go back to trying the arvo nap too
My DS is 17 months old and only has the one nap. He is awake at 7am each day, eats lunch at 11.30 and is in bed at 12.30pm until 2.30pm. He then goes to bed at 7.30pm.
We dropped his afternoon nap first and he was having a morning nap but we dropped that quite a while ago (maybe at 12 months or so).
I have followed Gina Ford's books since his birth and they have been amazing. Perhaps you can look to her Contented Baby books for a routine to follow.
It may also be that your DD is trying to push the boundaries. I must admit I have never "put" my DS to sleep but rather just do a similar bedtime routine every night (bath, milk, story then bed) and just leave the room as soon as he is put down in his cot.
I think the plan to drop the late afternoon nap is a good one, from what you've written. I'm pretty sure DS dropped his second sleep somewhere around the 12 month mark.
Yes, by 12 / 13 months I was aiming for the longer nap in the middle of the day and then early to bed at night. Even if you have to start giving her dinner at 4.30 pm to make sure she does eat when she is not so tired that she won't eat and then into bed by even 6.45 pm until she can cope with just the one nap. Even if she has a bit of quiet time on the couch when you can see she is fading, or her main meal in the middle of the day if you are worried she will fall asleep eating dinner. The one big nap in the middle of the day is so much easier to manage.
My Dd is 14 months and just dropped to one sleep in the last month. She is up at 7am generally then lunch at 11, sippy cup of milk and down by 12pm. She's in bed by 6:30 though, going from 3.5 to 2 hours sleep a day is taking it's toll on her but she is loving it
My DD2 is 20 months and she has only had one day sleep for quite some time now. Some days she doesn't have a day sleep at all. However my DD1 started to drop her day sleeps just before she turned 2 and then by 2 she had none at all so it seems to run in the family. They both go to bed at 6.30pm and DD2 wakes at 6.30am and DD1 at 7.30am.
I think it is worth trying, dropping her second nap. Goodluck!
DS is 15 1/2 months and went from 2 to 1 nap around the 1 yo mark. It took about 6 weeks for him to totally drop it, as some days he'd have a short first nap and would need/want a second nap. Then it was just an afternoon 'rest' in his cot, then nothing (he'll have some 'quiet time' on his little lounge if he's tired in the late arvo). I found once he slept past midday, if he had a second nap he'd be wide awake at bedtime still (7:15pm). I also found if he slept past about 4:15 that he'd be awake at bedtime, even if the arvo nap was only 10-15 mins. Now he wakes up around 7:15am, 'little lunch' around 10:15am, nap time from 11ish until 1:30ish (yep, he LOVES his sleep!), 'lunch' just before 2pm, dinner at 6pm then bath, milk, story and bed at 7:15pm. I think dropping her arvo nap might be just the thing. Be prepared for some afternoon quiet time if she's really tired, but otherwise stick to her normal routine. I'd say that her giving you a rough time is her way of saying she's ready to drop it (that's what DS did anyway, and as soon as I stopped being stressed and worried that my great sleeper was gone and just got him up if he didn't want to sleep, he was back to his usual great sleeping self ) HTH
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