-
Hi Elen,
Giving her lunch at 11:30 should give her enough time to eat and poop (if needed) before her nap at 12:30 pm.
It should be easier for her to fall asleep at 12:30 pm compared to 11 am for two reasons:
-
Increased Sleep Pressure: She’ll have been awake for an hour longer than usual, which builds more sleep pressure.
-
Natural Body Rhythms: There’s a natural dip in circadian rhythms in the early afternoon that can make it easier to fall asleep.
If she starts settling into the 12:30 pm nap easily, you might experiment with gradually shifting the nap time to 12:00 pm. You could do this by moving the nap time up by 10 minutes every other day. However, it’s best to first see how well the 12:30 pm nap works for her.
She may be waking from her naps earlier because the room isn’t 100% dark. But it’s also common for toddlers to have shorter naps initially during a nap transition. Typically the naps will start to lengthen.
Having the room dark can definitely help them sleep for longer. So if you can try to make the room darker, there is no harm in trying. I have had success with using black garbage bags or bin liners to cover gaps in the windows or even hanging towels around the window edges to block out light. But if you can’t and the room is dark enough that you can’t read a book, it should be ok.
I hope that helps!
Emma
-