My little girl is 15 months old and has never been a great napper. She'd sleep for 30 minutes most naps. You could almost time it. Occasionally we get 40-45 minutes, which is great, and every now and then we'd get an hour... amazing! For a really long time, I figured as long as she's happy when she's awake, and she sleeps plenty at night, it wasn't a big deal. Must be all she needs. And that worked for us for about a year. I'd try things here and there, but for the most part, she didn't seem to need anything to change.
Fast forward to the last few months... she's been waking up after her short half hour nap, very clearly still tired. She's standing up in her crib screaming at the top of her lungs, won't calm down unless I go in there and comfort her. It started happening more often than not, that when I went in to get her, if I picked her up and rocked her, she would go right back to sleep, and often sleep for another half hour, if not longer!!
To me, this meant she needed more sleep at nap time, and as Mom, it was my job to figure out how to help her get it!
A week or so before I started this, we were on vacation visiting family. I would let her nap laying on our bed instead of putting her in her crib. She'd wake up occasionally, and one of us would go in and snuggle with her to see if she'd fall back asleep. She'd sleep for several half-hour stretches, and by the end of the week, was sleeping an hour or more without needing us to comfort her back to sleep. This was my inspiration. Maybe the crib is what makes her so angry when she wakes up? Maybe it's just uncomfortable so she isn't staying asleep?
She's old enough that I'm not worried about her having trouble laying on a pillow or blankets and ending up not being able to breathe. I don't necessarily recommend this for babies younger than a year. But our solution is to forget the crib for nap-time. We set up a nap "spot" on the floor in her room with some blankets and a pillow. After a week or so, it evolved into an "egg-crate" type mattress pad for cushioning covered in a sheet or blanket. I think it's pretty comfy! Seems that she does too!
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