Sleeping FAQ: 18-24 Months – Other

My 20-month-old daughter has started nursery and can’t stay awake till lunch.

I have a problem with my 20 month old daughter’s midday nap at the moment.

Up until now, she has been a perfect Gina Ford baby: happy and lively, except when tired. She sleeps and settles well by herself for her daytime naps (12:30 – 14:30) and night-time sleep. She sleeps well from 7pm-7am (and will even sleep till 8am if I leave her). She has only dropped her morning nap a month and a half ago (which was challenging enough as she was barely making it to 12:15/12:30pm). But it took a couple of weeks and she was fine.

Two weeks ago she started going to nursery school (I think she’s ready because she is constantly asking for friends and I can see that she is bored). The plan was that I was going to pick her up at 12pm and take her home for her 2 hour nap. But the teacher says she is so tired at school, she goes down at 11:00 and then only sleeps for an hour, sometimes now for an hour and a half. So with her having last slept at 12:30 she is VERY CRABBY and tired for pretty much the rest of the day. She does make it to 6:45-7pm and will settle OK. But the afternoon is VERY long with such a unhappy baby.

I tried twice in the afternoons to make her sleep at about 2:30pm to 3:30pm, but she screamed/cried for about 10 minutes before falling asleep eventually (my nerves!). Her mood was much better for the rest of the day though. I recall that Gina mentioned that is was better to have 1 long sleep, rather than 2 shorter ones.

I really don’t know what to do – I spoke to the teacher and asked her to see if she can keep her awake longer, but the teacher said that she gets so tired she goes and lies on the carpet in an attempt to sleep. The teacher says it is difficult for her keep her awake.

Do you think she will get used to all the extra stimulation and will stretch longer herself eventually?

As the weeks go by and your daughter becomes more used to the demands of nursery school she will be more able to cope until midday. Until then I suggest that you try for her to have a short afternoon nap. It may take her a few days to get used to the idea but as it seemed to be better for her I would persevere. Because she is having so much stimulation in the morning she will easily become overtired and this may result in early morning waking or problems with going to bed. This afternoon sleep is only a temporary measure until she is able to cope better in the mornings.

If you really find her crying distressing when taking a nap later build in some quiet times in the afternoon. Spend 20-30 minutes enjoying books together snuggled up on the sofa or watch a short video, so she is resting rather than becoming overtired and fractious.

If she struggles to get through the morning even with an afternoon nap, and your morning schedule allows it, why not let her sleep a little later in the morning as you say she would willingly do this? Plenty of children younger than your daughter sleep until nearer 8am and still don’t have a problem going down at 7pm for a full night’s sleep. She has lots going on in her life at the moment and will get much more out of nursery school if she has had enough sleep.