Help! Nap-time issues

My 11 month old daughter has for the last few months always had 2 naps a day, one in the morning and one in the arvo, for at least an hour each time. She has ALWAYS self-settled to sleep in her cot.

The last week or so however, she has dropped her morning nap which is fine... I know it's normal for them to drop a nap and only have one instead, but getting her to have a nap in the afternoon is painful!

She will start screaming if I put her in her cot for a sleep, and if she doesn't calm down within a minute of me leaving her room i'll go and get her and try to settle her to sleep on me. This usually takes ages as she's too busy looking around or trying to play with my face/hair/clothes and when she finally gives in and I get her into bed, she only has about 30 minutes! I know she's tired and needs it, and she's getting really cranky at night now because she hasn't slept enough during the day.

My mum told me I should let her cry longer, that because she knows i'll come if she cries this is why she does it... but I don't think I'll be able to take listening to her cry. It's not her "complaining" cry either, it's her "I'm serious" cry.

Is this normal behavior? Is there something that might have caused this sudden change? What can I do to get her back into her self-settling habit and to perhaps get her to have that nap a bit easier?

If she's still doing this when the next baby is born I'm not too sure how i'll juggle the demands of both.

Your advice is appreciated!

Just sounds like separation anxiety hun, could you go and lie down with her until she falls asleep?
It sounds like she just wants you with her.

Sue x

:hug: hun... it is so so hard and each child is different, can i just ask a few Q's?
What time did she used to go down and what time are you trying to get her down now?
Does she have a feed (bottle, BF or food) before her sleep?
Does she have a comfort toy?

:hug: It's so frustrating when they suddenly change when something was working so well, isn't it.

Have you tried putting her in her pram to nap? My dd has only slept well during the day in her pram for months. If I put her in her cot it's usually 30 mins max, whereas she sleeps for up to 2 1/4 hours on a good day in her pram. I don't wheel it around, just feed/rock in arms to sleep and then pop her in the pram in the hall at home unless I need to go out. She sleeps fine in her cot for the first few hours at night (and sometimes all night), and then into our bed, where she self settles without a problem.

Over the months, when babies in my mums & bubs group have had daytime sleep issues they've tried sleeping them in their prams and it often works. One was having problems in the evening and for a few weeks she put her DD in her pram until she went to bed, when they would then co-sleep - it gave them their evenings back where previously they'd been holding their DD and taking turns to eat etc.

yeah - is the afternoon nap at the same time or is it a bit earlier? sounds like she's a bit overtired by the time she goes down for the afternoon nap & maybe that's why she's having trouble settling?

i've also found that my DS will have weeks occasionally where naps go out the window & then he'll revert back to how he was - is she walking or does she seem close? i know DS' naps were horrible a couple of weeks ago for a few days & then he started walking & now he's pretty much back to where he was.

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:hug: hun... it is so so hard and each child is different, can i just ask a few Q's?
What time did she used to go down and what time are you trying to get her down now?
Does she have a feed (bottle, BF or food) before her sleep?
Does she have a comfort toy?

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Just typed it all out then lost it! Here we go again...

Her routine was:

9am - wake, formula & brekky
11am - nap
12noon - lunch & water
2pm - nap
3pm - afternoon tea & formula
5.30 - bath
6pm - dinner & water
8pm - formula & sleep (falls asleep on bottle)

Now she won't do the morning nap, doesn't even get tired. By 1-2pm she's getting tired & cranky and becoming velcro baby...I start trying to get her to have a nap without success. at 3pm I give her the bottle and try to put her down again without success, then try to get her to sleep in my arms which usually she does by 3.30 or 4pm and will have 30 mins. Then she's overtired and cranky at night!

She has one toy she loves to cuddle but doesn't depend on it.

Balmaingal - I haven't tried the pram but she's never wanted to sleep in the pram even when tiny. She refuses to nap in it if we're at the shops too... I suppose it wouldn't hurt to try, but usually if I lay her down in the pram when we're out to encourage a sleep she just cries and tries to sit up.

Sloane - I try to make her arvo one earlier, but although she's tired I can't get her down until way after her arvo nap used to be! Not sure how close to walking she is... she can walk holding one of my hands next to me and can balance for short periods of time... is a pro at her push-walker and "cruises" around alot on the furniture.

OK - so it seems to me that after dropping that morning nap she is well over tired by the afternoon time where she is only napping 30 minutes (classic over tired nap length)....extending it is impossible because she is not relaxed enough to move into that next sleep cycle and then by bedtime it's horrific - you will also see early wakings and night wakings (where they may not have been there before)

My advice (coming from experience with my 2 year old who used to be a shocking napper) is to try to get her to take her 1 nap at around midday and try to keep her sleeping for around 2 hours.

Do this by any way you can at this point - the self settling will be picked up once the habit of one longer sleep is in place. If you hear her stirring after 30 minutes to an hour, go in and attempt to settle her in her crib. If she needs to be picked up hold her til she's just about to close her eyes then try putting her back in bed. If that doesn't work, hold her until sleepy.

It does get better and she's about to hit some major milestones so sorting this out now will help later xxx

Does she have a blankie or dummy?

Aww hun your doing everything right they can be so stubborn sometimes.
I found when DD1 dropped to 1 day sleep (prob around 13-15mths) i had to time it just right, i found that by giving her an early lunch around 11:30 then putting her to bed by 12 worked well, she would then sleep b/w 1.5-3hrs and be up and refreshed for the afternoon.

Eventually the time altered by say 15-30min and she now goes to bed about 1 and sleeps roughly the same length of time.
If she didn't have lunch she wouldn't sleep as long and often wouldn't go to bed until she had eaten.

We found a gorgeous little baby cabbage patch and she sleeps with her now, she cuddles up and hardly budges, there were times where i would have to go and lay with her or cuddle her to sleep but now she's in a big girl bed (we needed the cot for DD2) and she loves it, doesn't get out, is happy to hop in enjoying a good rest.

I hope your DD is back to normal ASAP, the transition is hard but once you've got the timing right and she comfortable again it will be great!

Thanks for the advice! I might try putting her down today for a nap straight after her lunch and see if that helps at all!

Will let you know how I go :)

Update

Well Miss E had a slight sleep in this morning so got up at 9.30am, had brekky/play and by 11am was rubbing her eyes and grizzling. So I tried putting her down which resulted in a cry, so back up she came and fell asleep on me for 20 mins. I tried to move her back into her cot but she woke up and started crying again. She wouldn't go back to sleep on me but is now on her playmat and keeps putting her head down and laying down! I know she's tired, why won't she sleep!?

Lunch is due within half an hour, i'll try again after that... it's just strange behavior.

Aww hun... maybe give her lunch, read a book and have a cuddle then try popping her in?
Do you have a chair in her room, maybe relax in there with her for a bit and then try???

Hope it goes ok, might take a while, could she be teething?

It's possible she's teething, I thought she might be when she started being grizzly this week, her gums are a little red but no sign of a new tooth just yet, she hasn't had one in months! Her amber necklace is back on just in case though.

Poor bubba - something is certainly up!

How is her eating and drinking?

Eating and drinking is normal... however her poo has been more solid than usual and she's had heaps of wind???

The poor thing... maybe try some brauers stomach calm or something gentle like that to help settle her belly?
I know when DD1 was teething she was a right PITA to get to sleep so maybe some teething relief or neurofen if she seems extra grumpy and sore?

GL hun, hope it all sorts out soon.

Infants Friend is also a lovely complimentary medicine that will help keep her bowels soft - you can pick it up in Coles, Pharmacies etc

my 19 month old goes down for his nap at 12 pm till 2 pm then bed at 7 pm. I give him his lunch at 11.30 am and then a bottle. He wakes up in the morning at 7am. Hope this resolves for you very soon. x

Well yesterday was a disaster... she had that 20 minute nap on me in the morning, then cracked it as soon as I tried to move her into her cot. After lunch I laid in my bed with her for an hour without success, and tried again numerous times through the afternoon different ways to try to get her to sleep. By dinner time she was so tired she was stopping anywhere and everywhere to put her head down, she even lay on the cold tiles for a minute because she was so exhausted! I gave her her bedtime bottle at 8pm and she fell asleep on it, and is still asleep now. All in all I spent over 4 hours yesterday trying to get her to have a nap. So frustrated!

But.... today is a new day and maybe she'll cooperate!

Do you have a carrier you could try popping her in? That's my other fail-safe - going for a walk with DD in the carrier always sends her off eventually!

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Do you have a carrier you could try popping her in? That's my other fail-safe - going for a walk with DD in the carrier always sends her off eventually!

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I have a sling but she's always too busy trying to get out of it and play... might try it today though when she gets tired, she has fallen asleep in it before so it may just do the trick. Thanks :)

Thanks so much for all your advice.... I've had some success! Yesterday I was able to get her to have a 2 hour nap, but not until 2pm... today however she had a 2 hour nap at 12 noon :D

I think I figured out what I was doing wrong. She goes to bed at 8pm every night, and was waking briefly at 8am briefly but then falling back asleep for another hour, which I was letting her do. Today I got her up when she woke up at 8am instead of letting her sleep longer, moved her lunch forward to 11am and then by 12 she was showing early signs of being tired so I popped her into her cot and she went to sleep within minutes with less than a minute of complaining.

So yay! Hopefully this continues :) She has been much happier yesterday & today after having proper naps.

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Thanks so much for all your advice.... I've had some success! Yesterday I was able to get her to have a 2 hour nap, but not until 2pm... today however she had a 2 hour nap at 12 noon :D

I think I figured out what I was doing wrong. She goes to bed at 8pm every night, and was waking briefly at 8am briefly but then falling back asleep for another hour, which I was letting her do. Today I got her up when she woke up at 8am instead of letting her sleep longer, moved her lunch forward to 11am and then by 12 she was showing early signs of being tired so I popped her into her cot and she went to sleep within minutes with less than a minute of complaining.

So yay! Hopefully this continues :) She has been much happier yesterday & today after having proper naps.

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:dance: :dance: :dance:... yay for you.... oh and BTW where do i buy a toddler that sleeps til 8am?

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:dance: :dance: :dance:... yay for you.... oh and BTW where do i buy a toddler that sleeps til 8am?

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She has slept 12 hours a night since 5 weeks old, excluding the odd night when teething. Mum tells me i'm very lucky and that this next baby will be a holy terror to make up for it :p I think DD just knows DH works away from home so she cuts me some slack and allows me to sleep.

DD1 always slept quite well from a young age but she's always been an early waker, up and out of bed by 7, but she was generally in bed by 7.
Now she's going to bed by say 8 and up by 7 still, normally about 6ish.. think it's cos thats when DP goes to work and stuff though.

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DD1 always slept quite well from a young age but she's always been an early waker, up and out of bed by 7, but she was generally in bed by 7.
Now she's going to bed by say 8 and up by 7 still, normally about 6ish.. think it's cos thats when DP goes to work and stuff though.

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I was actually thinking of getting DD in bed earlier for when the new baby is born. I just know at night babies have their unsettled time ( I know DD did!) and am thinking that at night when i'm at the end of my tether with no one here to help me it might be easier if DD was in bed so I can just deal with the new baby... do you think that I should move her forward to say 7pm, knowing she'll be up at 7am, or just leave her routine how it is?

Maybe leave it how it is, if the day nap starts working then i say stick with it.
DD1 goes to bed now about 8, sometimes later and i find it easier, we have tea about 6 - 6:30 then a bath etc then i feed DD2 to sleep then DD1 has cuddles with DP or I and then bed.. works well.
I find she also helps DD2 settle, she keeps her occupied.

Yay!!! That is great news xx