10 Month Old Not Sleeping in the Day

My daughter started taking one nap a day at that same age. At first she did the same thing only napped for 1.5 hours. It was exhausting for me to not get a break, but it took less than a week for her work out her new sleep pattern (nap at 11:30-2:30 and bed from 7:30 to 7:30). What works for me was to put her down for nap/bed as soon as she yawns or rubs her eyes. I also notice that if I put her down for a nap any later than 11:30, her nap gets shorter. The same goes for bedtime. If she goes to bed after 7:30 then she wakes up at least once. It may be that she is wanting to go to bed earlier because she is now napping once, you could try putting her down half an hour earlier than usual and see how she does. This is what worked for us, hope it helps.

Hi A.. what a caring momma you are for asking and trying to figure out this tricky sleep issue at this age. From my experience with our toddler, and from the books I read, I think your LO should get 2 naps but also may start transitioning to 1 (my LO went back and forth between 1 or 2 naps at 12-15 months). Yet, according to Penelope Leach, some babies sometimes do need less sleep than others (called "alert or awake" babies I think):

some questions to help her go down in the morn if her body still needs it:
1. Is she getting plently of sunlight and exericise/stimulation in the morning?
2. is she getting a good breakfast and pre nap snack?
3. is she too hot or too cold?

if she truly needs only one nap, I would try a 11 am nap time still trying to get in plenty of sun and activity in the morn. if it is one nap, she should try to get 2 hours.

whatever you decide, trust your intuition. the sleep stuff is not a science and every baby is different.

best of luck.
Jilly

sleep begets sleep. the earlier you put her to bed, the more and later she will sleep. both of my kids went to bed at 645 at this age and slept until 630-7. I have tried to keep them up longer and it always backfires and they are up super early because they are over tired. I vote for an earlier bedtime. And the Healthy Sleep Habits book by Weissbluth worked well for me.

My experience, and I have three (5,3,12 mo), and I think you're 10 mo needs to be in bed by 6:30pm at the latest. I could go into the long disertation, but just try it for a couple of nights. Here's a sample schedule.....
6am...wakeup
8:30 or 9am...nap
10 or 11:00 wakeup and snack (bottle or breast)
1:00pm...nap
4:00pm wakeup and snack (bottle or breast)
6:30pm...bedtime

If she won't take the morning nap don't fret, just put her down for her next one a little earlier. If she only sleeps an hour or hour and half leave her in there until 2pm. This might take some work and it might get worse before it gets better, but it sounds like she's not getting enough sleep. I read and reread Goodnight sleep tight, with all three of mine and they are SUPER sleepers. Getting your child to go to sleep and stay asleep is, in my opinion, the greatest gift you can give them. Good luck.