No nap normal? Help!

[toothfairy]

DD is 20 months old, and up until now a consistent nap taker. For the past two weeks she has hardly napped at all despite my continuing the same routine we have always had. She rubs her eyes and yawns and seems as though she could nap. She does sleep for about 12 hours each night. My questions are:

1. Is 12 hours at night enough to no longer need the daytime sleep?

2. Should I change my nap routine? Currently, at about 2:00 each afternoon we go up to her room, read a story and then I rock her until she falls asleep. When I put her in the bed she wakes up; I leave the room and wait about an hour to see if she will nap, but ultimately she doesn't and I end up getting her out of the crib.
She might sleep 15 or 20 minutes while I rock her.

Amy

[csnoop]

Hi Amy!

I have having some nap issues w/DD myself but they are a bit different from yours. I will try to answer question #2 first.

I would recommend you change your nap time routine. At 20 months (actually from 6 months forward), kids don't need to be rock to sleep. They are quite capable of going to sleep on their own. Do you also rock her to sleep at night? I think it's because she took that "short" nap while you are rocking her, it's causing her to not nap.

I have had that problem before when I am out and about w/DD (she is 13 months old). If she is in a car around noon time, she tends to fall asleep. Even a 10 minute nap in the car would destroy any chance of her napping at her normal time. I have heard similar experiences from other moms as well.

As for question #1, I have heard other kids, usually older 3yr +, who do not nap and don't appear to need the nap. But many parents give them a "quiet time" during the usuall nap time (some time between 1-3pm). They are required to be in their room by themselves, doing quiet activities, like reading or drawing. Your DD is a bit younger so I am not sure.

CC