How to Deal with a 1-Year-old Child Who Fights Her Day Time Nap

there is a window when they are more sleepy and you have to find that time and take advantage of it. sometimes it's more obvious and other times it's a little more subtle. If my daughter fell asleep in the car I had about 10 minutes to where I could take her out of the car and lay her down. If I waited to late or moved her too early she'd wake up and it was terrible to try to get her to return to napping. This drove me crazy and became quite aggravating, but it didn't last long. my son, on the other hand, could sleep anytime, anywhere and can be moved at any point during his nap, if necessary, and never wake. Try to find her sleepy time and take that time every day and try to get her to nap, even if she does get upset, that should pass too.

good luck

She's probably at the age to move to 1 nap a day. Wake her up by 7am, and plan to put her down around 1pm after lunch. I think you'll be able to plan on her afternoon nap if you eliminate the early one. This happened with all three of mine at about the same age.

How long will the plane ride be??!! If you are flying over night no problems... since you will be staing so long her sleep will fall right into place.. might be cranky the first day (who isn't!!)... if you are flying during the day.... KEEP HER UP the night before.... I took my one year old to England and I can say that a sleeping child is much easier to deal with than one who does not want to sit in that chair for 8 solid hours (time from Chicago to London). Take a bottle, pacifier, and anything else she can suck on for the pressure in her ears... and pack a bag full of her favorite things.... Long time for her to get bored. Yes it is a hassale carrying all that stuff.. but I used everything I took plus I still had to walk her up and down the aisle... talk about the clouds outside and reapeat over and over yes that's airplane ... books that she can interact with are a good thing.. counting books.. if you are doing cards to help her with her language skills take those....
oh and this may sound funny but if she is sitting anywhere near you at meal time may I recommend a sippy cup for yourself.... think about it.. if she accidently knocks that cup all over you!!!! I took one for me and my two kids and very grateful I did everytime I had to pickup the cup.

As for the nap thing... my first son never wanted to nap.. Once he hit the one a day nap cycle he refused to take one even though he clearly needed one. I realized that if I let him hold off until 3pm he would take one... just don't let her sleep past 5 or 6 at the latest. Give that a shot... and good luck!!

SAHM with a 6 year boy and a 2 year old girl

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Our little one (same age) takes 1 or 2 naps now. If she seems really tired and rubbing eyes then I try the 'nap time routine' to put her down. Otherwise, I just quit trying in the morning b/c of her fighting it so much. For bedtime it never interfered and she usually sleeps 7-7 no matter what. Good luck! :)

Hi E..

All kids are different, but somewhere between 12 and 18 months they usually start to gravitate to 1 nap a day. I had one child who was really hard to get to nap and another who would sleep all day if I would let him :)
There is a magic time when they are sleepy and will go down without a fight, if you miss that window they catch their second wind and are hard to get to sleep.

Walgreen sells something called Simply Saline (it is for kids) and it will definately help the nose!!