Trouble with afternoon sleeps

[ss_storm]

DD has two sleeps a day (well, she is supposed to...), mostly I am lucky if she has an hour each sleep but I must have been lucky the last few days because her morning sleep has been up to an hour and a half.

BUT she is refusing to go down for her afternoon sleep (around 2.30/3 depending on when we got up in the morning and what time she had her morning sleep) and the last two days (I am hoping not today, but it is starting to look the same) she has been in her cot for an hour and still hasn't gone to sleep. Yesterday I cracked it and yelled at her I felt so bad afterwards but I'd just had it..she's starting to wake more frequently at night and takes ages to get back to sleep, usually I give up and put her in bed with me (which DF hates) and even then she'll take a while to get back to sleep.
Last night was a shocker, she was asleep by 6.30 as she had no arvo sleep, but was awake at 11 and didn't go back to sleep until 2am..then was awake at 6.30am.

I just don't know what to do...she is definitely tired just won't go to sleep, or I'll put her down and she'll be quiet like she is going off to sleep for about 5 minutes then start chattering away and bashing against the side of the cot. Now she can get herself into a sitting position I think it's even worse, because she doesn't just roll around her cot now she sits up in it too. If she doesn't have her pm sleep then she is sound asleep by 6.30 and then wakes up earlier during the night, and earlier in the morning which then mucks up the next day...it's an ongoing cycle!

Is there something I can do to get her to go to sleep, or is it just another 'this too shall pass' stage? I'm at my wit's end, I know i shouldn't let it get to me but it's becoming very frustrating and I don't want to take it out on her.

[Arcadia]

Nine months is notorious for sleep issues. I think I used to just take dd for a walk in the pram, or feed her to sleep for the arvo nap. I also found she wanted to go down later for the arvo nap and then stay up later at night. So she would nap from about 3:30 til 4:30 and then go to bed for the night at 8 or 9. I then found she slept better at night.

I does pass. Now dd has one long sleep in the middle of the day and is in bed by 7 each night.

hang in there

[Olive]

i second that 9 months is tough on the sleep sitting up is a pain too, not suggestions though, but i would persist with the sleeps