21 month nap trauma, help!

[bobby's bear]

My 21 month has always been great at going down for her lunchtime sleep until this week! Usually she might chat in her cot for 10 or 15 mins and then go to sleep quietly and sleep for 2 hrs or so, usually between 1 and 1.30.

At night she will go to sleep anytime between 7.15 and 7.45 again without protest, and usually she sleeps until about 7.

This week on tues at nap time she chatted in her cot for about an hour and didn't show any signs of going to sleep so I ended up lifting her, but she then dozed off her her buggy at 5pm grrrrr and on wed when I put her down she clung to me and howled 'no sleep' so I lifted her again, and again she dozed off at 5pm.

The last few days I got a bit tougher and have left her in her cot howling, each time she has gone to sleep (after up to 20 mins protest) and slept for the usual 2hrs. She is still sleeping her 12hrs at night as usual.

So I am wondering if this is her dropping her nap (please no as number 2 is due in 5 weeks!) although it all seems very sudden and she clearly can't last until bedtime without a sleep, or is it just her chancing her luck as she got away with it for 2 days (playing with Mummy is clearly more exciting than sleeping) and do I just need to stick to my guns for a few more days to get her back into the routine of it. Any tips etc gratefully received!

[Pickle]

Stick to your guns! I remember both of mine going through a bit of a phase around that age, but obviously still needing the sleep, so I stuck with it. Son ended up continuing his until he was 4 (!) and daughter dropped hers at around 2.5.

[oimissus]

agree with Pickle, but maybe shift the time back? We had the same problem with Miss Oi, either chatting for ages, or crying, so we changed it to 2 o'clock and 9 times out of 10 she's out within 5 minutes. Makes your mornings longer which I like, but does mean you can't do much with the afternoon. I always wake her at 3.30 and she goes to bed (though not always to sleep!) at 8 no problems.

[Knomester]

Sounds very familiar... We have been going through something similar with our now 22 month old toddler on and off about 3 months now. It started with him happily lying in his cot and then shouting to get up after shorter and shorter periods of time or napping 1 lunchtime out of 3. We moved his nap times around, tried later and earlier, organised very active mornings to tired him out, etc but nothing seemd to make any difference. Now we don't even bother trying. He will have a nap on the days he is with his childminder, but not at home, no matter how tired he is!

The advice we were given by friends and family was to keep trying and stick with it, which may well work for some children, but in reality it was too stressful for us all. For whatever reason, he doesn't want a nap when he's with us at home. He has never slept in his buggy (even as a small baby...) and rarely falls asleep in the car, so we don't have the nodding off at 5pm issue, just the overtired toddler one!

I hope your toddler takes to her nap again soon...