14 month old doesn't nap

To All experiences Moms! My DD is 14 month old and has been napping during the day twice - once in the morning(10 or 10:30 to 11 or 12), and then from 2 or 2:30 for another hour. Suddenly, she stopped going to sleep when i was home (she sleeps in my husbands arms better). In the morning i can rock her with a bottle nad she sleeps, but afternoon......she drinks her milk and then trying to sit up. If not, she starts crying letting me know she doesn't want to sleep. I can put her in her crib and she can happily run around for an hour. I've tried to let her do what she wants to do - keep her up in the morning a little longer, so she can sleep one time per day, but she looks sooooo tired by 8pm that i think it's too early for her to sleep just once. Today she's been with my husband in the morning and he let her sleep from 10 to 11, then i came home and wanted her to have another nap, but we were fighting from 2 to 4, drinking another milk, another 9oz of fruit tea, and still she was crying in my arms and fell asleep crying in her crib. It's been 20 min since she asleep and i still hear her sobbing. I DO NOT KNOW HOW TO FIX this problem. Please let me know if anyone has ANY knowledge about baby's sleeping habits.

[Diane1003]

When my son was about 12 mos we switched from 2 naps to 1 and it was fine.  His naps - when there were 2 - were getting shorter and shorter.  He made the transition just fine. It was summer and there was enough going on to keep him busy in the evenings to get him to bed time.  A pediatrician/friend said this weekend around age 15 mos is average when babies go from 2 naps to 1 nap a day.  If letting her 'cry it out' is too hard - go in after 5 min, then 7 min, then 10 and so on and reassure her that you're there and it's time to go to sleep...  Make sure her room is dark as a cue to go to sleep and follow the same routine - as I'm sure you've been doing!  Good luck - I hope other moms will post some other ideas/thoughts!

[mami1323]

Can you not have her nap in the morning and extend the nap later until the afternoon?  That's what we did, we cut out the morning nap and my son would just nap in the afternoon.  When my son doesn't nap during the day, we put him to bed earlier and he will sleep all the way until morning.  But I believe if you keep your daughter busy in the morning you could get her to nap around maybe 12 or 1 pm.  

[Ashelen]

My daughter hasn't been a twice-a-day napper since she was about 11 months...she's 16 months now and can nap for 3 hours if left alone, and she sleeps like an angel most nights. I agree with mami (as usual, lol) that a longer nap in the early afternoon is probably the best route to go....with my daughter, we wake up and have a nice slow-paced morning, we practice speaking and reading and learning things...eat lunch, she takes a nice long nap, then we wake up and go crazy for a couple hours (playing, going to the park, going for walks) and then we eat dinner, have some quiet reading/play time, and then she conks out at night for about 11 hours.

[Crritter]

My ped told me to cut to one nap around 1 year old.  Carson was a cat napper so he took maybe 15 min naps here & there.  The one nap was great for him.  Cam is almost 3 & does only 1 nap early afternoon, it works well for us too.  Once they get older they also want to stay up & take it all in.  Cam fights the nap unless you get him to sit still, he will run all day & night.  He was up all morning sick so he's been sleeping now for a little over an hour...they look so sweet sleeping.

[BearHitch]

My son dropped his morning nap around 15 months and just took a longer nap in the afternoon.  When this happened, he refused to nap at all for about a week and then I realized what was going on so I stopped letting him nap in the morning and just put him down after lunch.