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Hi Elen,
I hope the last few days have been getting easier for you both.
It’s great that you were able to work out a sleep training method that works for your little one for day naps. I do find as they get older, sometimes being in the room with them is just confusing and can cause them to protest more, as they see you’re in the room and expect you to do what you have previously done. By exiting the room there is a clear ending to the nap routine.
In regards to the timing of her bedtime, it depends. If you find that she is really upset because she is tired at the end of the day you can shift it to 6 pm. But if she is tolerating 6:15 pm then stick with that.
In regards to your little one crying when she is going to sleep. It might be because the nap time is a little too early. For the next few days, I recommend you continue to put her to bed at 11 am and write down what time she falls asleep. If you notice she is falling asleep at 11.30 am then you could try shifting her nap time to 11:30 or 11:20 am and see if she protests less with a later nap time.
It’s also great that she has lengthened her naps to 1 hour instead of 30 minutes. I would expect that her naps will continue to lengthen. The length of time she will nap for depends on her total sleep needs over 24 hours. At this age, 11 – 14 hours of sleep over 24 hours is considered normal. But 2 hours more or 2 hours less is also considered okay. So given that your little one goes to bed at 6:15 pm and sleeps until 6:30am, she is having a little over 12 hours sleep overnight. This means if she needs 14 hours of sleep in 24 hours she might nap for a touch under 2 hours.
I hope that helps!
Emma