Takes forever going to sleep

[A_Z]

Hey all. I'm not sure if this is better suited to the baby or toddler forum, but I figured I'd try here.

My 13 mo daughter started dropping her second nap around 11 months (ugh), and we now FINALLY have her napping 1.5 to 3 hours at a time (she used to wake after 40 minutes). Also, she goes to sleep for her nap fairly quickly and easily.

For the last few weeks, though, she's been having trouble going to sleep at bedtime. She used to fuss for 5-15 minutes and then fall asleep. The time started stretching to 30-40 minutes (we go in to check on her). We've tried giving her a clean empty bottle (she prefers it to a pacifier), and she doesn't fuss at all and seems happy, but now takes up to 50 minutes to fall asleep!

So at night she's sleeping about 10.5 hours, and then 1.5-3 during the day. She's not overtired at all, but I don't like that she's spending so much time awake in her crib at night, especially with the bottle.

Any thoughts?

 

[Louise88]

What time does she wake from her nap and what time does she go to bed? My dd dropped down to 1 nap around 14 months, she sleeps 6-6 at night and her nap during the day is usually 11-1 but if she goes down for a later nap I can't let her sleep past 3pm I have to go wake her up or I can guarantee she'll be awake for ages in her cot come bedtime before going to sleep.

 

[A_Z]

What time does she wake from her nap and what time does she go to bed? My dd dropped down to 1 nap around 14 months, she sleeps 6-6 at night and her nap during the day is usually 11-1 but if she goes down for a later nap I can't let her sleep past 3pm I have to go wake her up or I can guarantee she'll be awake for ages in her cot come bedtime before going to sleep.

She goes down for her nap around 12:30 (this is what works for her daycare, so we try to do the same at home) and then wakes up anywhere between 2 and 3:30. Bedtime is between around 7:30. She sleeps until between 6:30 and 7:15.

I've been wondering if I need to start limiting her naps, but I'd really hate to. She's so much happier with the extra sleep during the day. And having that time to ourselves during the weekend is amazing (we struggled with naps for such a long time!).

I know some toddlers just like to talk to themselves in bed for a while, which is fine. My real concern is that I need to stop letting her take a bottle to bed, even if it is clean, and I really don't want her to spend 45 minutes crying at bedtime. That would be awful.

 

[greats]

Rylee fights sleep for an hour before bed, full out screams and cries until she passes out regardless if she's in her crib by herself or in bed with us. I found that if her last nap of the day is too late, she will do this. So the past 3 days we tried our best to keep her up (though this isn't always possible when she falls asleep in the car ride from her nanny's house during the week) and sleep has been a lot easier.

 

[A_Z]

She's actually not been napping particularly well the past few days (I suspect it's teething as her molars are cutting), and she's definitely had an easier time going to bed at night. The flip side is that she's way overtired in the evening and becomes hysterical over things she'd usually shrug off (having a onesie put one, getting her teeth brushed, etc.). So I guess we have to decide what the lesser evil is.