14 Month Old Not Settling for Her Nap

My daughter is only 8 months old but she certainly has a mind of her own and is only going to nap when she wants to nap. I have also noticed that she naps much more easily (and for longer periods of time) with my mom and her nanny. Eventually she naps with me when she is ready (and only when she is ready), or not at all. All I can make of it is that she's happy to have time with mommy and doesn't want to waist a minute of it sleeping! I definitely agree that its tiring, but maybe if you make your time with her extra special with fun activities it will make her sleepy and it doesn't have to be so routine.

Good luck!

Hi Jo! It's tough to say, but one question I have is how many hours is she sleeping at night? My rule of thumb is that if they are getting all their sleep at night, then they most likely are going to have a hard time settling down. If she's not getting all her sleep at night, then maybe try putting her down a little later? If she's happy and not acting tired at 11 or 1, maybe she's just not tired quite yet. What time does the day care or your mom put her down?

I know it can be exhausting... With four kids I remember all too well all the sleep issues when they were little.

One book that absolutely helped to save my sanity was 'Secrets of the Baby Whisperer' by Traci Hogg. It was a LIFE SAVER.

~ Ann

One of my biggest goals with my daughter was to get her on a sleep schedule/routine. She is a fantastic sleeper! The one thing that I did was make sure that I was consistent and I would not give in. I would put her down around the same time everyday. We followed the same routine as we did for bedtime (read a few books and then I put her in her crib). I didn't care if she cried or played, but she would stay in her crib. If she was crying I would go in a few times and in a very boring way tell her it was naptime and lay her down again and walk out. Usually she gave up and fell asleep. Other times, she would cry or play for an hour. After an hour if she wasn't asleep, I would take her out and she would miss her nap. Very soon, she caught on and would actually sleep. My daughter is now 2 and still takes a 2-3 hour nap everyday, however, there are times when she will talk and play in her crib for an hour and a half before she falls asleep. I never go in, I just let her use her time however she wants. I'm sure your daughter is just having trouble getting used to going down to one nap. Don't give in, just be consistent. It sounds terrible to keep her in her crib but you are teaching her how to sleep better and at 14 months she definitely still needs a nap. Good luck!

If she does it fine for day care & Grandma, then it's about you. Maybe if you can get some kind of routine for nap, like a story or just a few minutes snuggling on your lap first. Be sure to give her the time before, and then she just has to do it. If she screams, she screams. It won't take long and she'll accept it.