Short Naps

She probably doesn't need as much sleep as she use to. Might not need naps as a toodler, so be prepared! When she wakes up, try giving her some quite time (if you still need time). Put on music, give her a book or two, and let her occupy herself for 30 mins after she wakes up.

I have three girls, ages 7,5 and 2. They all did the same thing. They would take nice long naps but then around 18-24 months they shortened their naps. The only way they would sleep longer is if I took a nap with them. The up side was that they would go to sleep around 7 at night and sleep until 9 in the morning. Ah, those were the days.

Hi V..
I would do an earlier lunch- say 11:00-11:30 and the down for a nap at an earlier time- say 12 or 12:30. Try this for a while and see if this helps. It could be that she is overtired, and is having trouble sleeping as a result. My son's napping schedule changed a lot between 1 and 2 years old. I think it has something to do with growth spurts.

When my children went through that stage I would lay down and nap with them. They always napped longer when someone napped with them. My husband loved taking a nap with them on the weekends. He likes to nap on weekends and it gave him a great excuse to nap. It usually only took a couple days and then their naps were back on schedule. All of my children napped for anywhere from 1-4 hours every afternoon until they started school. I needed them to nap. It was the time that I got things done. So, I was determined to keep them all napping until they started school.

I think my daughter did the same thing. Another friend w/a daughter about the same age said her daughter was starting to drop the naps. So, instead of putting her down for a nap, it was more of a "quiet time", esp. if we didn't do a lot that day. If she napped great, if she didn't that was fine, too. At this point, she wanted to go to sleep earlier if she didn't get a true nap during the day. It was just a matter of "gaging" what she wanted/needed. Sorry, if this doesn't help.

It is a developmental shift, she is growing & changing.
Try putting her down at 1:30 or 2:30.

When I changed my daughters nap time it helped. She was not ready at the earlier time any more & wouldn't go down before two, but then by 4:30 5:00 she was crashing at the table in her food if she did not nap. I started laying with her around 2:30 & she would drift off & usually sleep for 60 - 90 minutes.

She ended up giving up naps around age two. It sucked.

Just before she turned 3, I started driving to get her brother at 2:30 & she would fall asleep in the car. I found I could not get her to the bed & keep her asleep, but she would "rest" (usually sleep) for an hour or two on the couch.

We did that for almost 5 months, I am sad to say, no more nappies at all. I put them both to bed at 7:15 & she sleeps later than my son.

Experiment.
You will find the right combination for your family. Pay close attention to her "tired signals". I found if mine were overtired, I could forget getting them to rest.

P

My daughter did the exact same thing. She was a good sleeper,but I recall her going through a stage of only taking 20 minute naps. She'd go to sleep and 20 minutes later she'd be up. As far as I recall, there was nothing wrong with her and I don't know how long this phase lasted (seemed like forever to me, I'm sure), but it did pass.

It sounds like she is done with her afternoon nap. You could try laying her down later. Best wishes!!

Hey V., my daughter is 14months and she does the same thing. She use to take 1-2hr long naps during the day but now she takes exactly 30 minutes. I use to wonder why but I think that they are growing everyday, everyday is something new to them...I just think they are scared of missing out on something. My daughter is at the age where she is still teething and in the mean time she is discovering new things to get into everyday. She just wants to play all day and get into stuff. I dont think its nothing wrong. Some days my baby naps longer than other days. Although it can be frustrating Im thankful that she does sleep throughout the whole night.

Could be time to put her to bed an hour later or get her up an hour earlier, and see if she'll nap for 1 hour in the afternoon. At almost a year and a half, she might not need as much sleep now, and as others mentioned the teething might be a factor as well.
I think it's quite normal actually, and if she's getting close to 12 hours at night, she probably doesn't need the afternoon nap anymore.

Just a wild guess here but... maybe if you put her on the potty before you lay her down, she might sleep longer. At that age they are becoming aware of the sensations of the need to pee and poop, but still have a long way to go to put it all together to achieve potty training. If you are putting her down after she eats (and drinks) lunch, then it may be the urge to pee, that is waking her up. I wouldn't make her stay there until she performs, or force her to sit if she doesn't want to, just try making it part of the routine to try.

V.,
Try keeping your daughter awake 30 mins longer at bedtime and waking her a little earlier in the morning. This should make a small enough difference to help her nap longer without disrupting her entire routine or making her cranky from drastically changing her sleeping habits. As they grow their sleeping/eating patterns can change as quickly as they're growing :). Not saying it's a sure fix, but definately worth a try.

could she have an ear infection? Sometimes that bothers them while they are sleeping??

teething give her some teething tabs when she lays down. this will pass good luck

Yes, both my kids did this. It's annoying but keep trying. Maybe she's teething, maybe she's got a urinary tract infection, is her nose stuffy, is she eating enough lunch, does she get cold or hot, does the music turn off, does she get heartburn? Try playing the same music at naptime everyday. Introduce some white noise to dampen other house sounds. We turn the house fan on. Is naptime too late? Try moving it up a half hour. Our kids go to sleep at noon and wake up at 2. Somethings waking her up and you've got to solve the mystery.

Like another mom suggested, there could be something like an ear infection bothering her, but I would think it would happen at night too.

It's been awhile (my son will be 8yrs on Friday) but if I remember right, around that age (maybe a little older like 18 months, but close enough) he started to not need as much sleep at night. I had to keep him up a little later and get him up at the regular time for a few days before he would take an afternoon nap. I had been putting him to bed around 7:30 and I think arounf that age I bumped it to 8:30-9pm and still got him up around 7:30 in the mornings. (After he adjusted to the change I didn't need to wake him up in the morning). Some kids just naturally need less sleep.

If you're putting her down right after lunch, maybe try waiting a little while between lunch and nap and do a calming activity. (If you dont already, try reading to her before nap if that's something you do at night).

You could also try changing her nap time (try later maybe), getting her up earlier (as opposed to having her stay up later at night). It's very possible she just isn't very tired, or she could have gas (from lunch) that's waking her up.

I hope you figure it out!

Maybe teething? My daughter has nap problems when she's teething, and then she goes back to normal after a week or so. It seems that if your d wakes up crying, she really does need to take a longer nap, it's just teething pain or something else that is waking her.