Wake a toddler from a long afternoon nap?
My 2 yr old son usually goes down for his nap around 2:30 or 3. He can sleep for 3 hours (!) or more sometimes. When he wakes up, we play, he gets some TV time and there's also dinner, time with Daddy and, some nights, a bath. Before you know it, it's after 9 and I'd really love to get him to bed by 8 or 8:30.
Which makes more sense - wake him from his nap, put him to bed later in the evening, continue to put him to bed at 8 or 8:30 regardless of when he wakes from the nap?
Thanks!
4 Answers
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I'm dealing with this too. My daughter is almost three. Her schedule fluctates depending on our (the whole family's) schedule - but is amazingly consistent with being ready for sleep after 6 hours of awake time. We can stretch it if she's having fun. And shorten it if she's been very active. I'm thinking of shortening her nap so that no matter what time she goes down we wake her at 3. So that means some days we may try to skip a nap. I have never tried this, and have very rarely woken her (usually in the morning, or if we have to be somewhere and her nap is running extremely long). I've also never tried to put her to bed if she's not already showing signs of sleepiness. Besides being ready to reclaim that time just before bed, I'm also thinking of the schedule we'll have in the fall. She'll have to be at preschool at 7:30. I guess I'll be trying different things out this summer in order to have on schedule for the fall.
I think I remember that the big thing is that 2 yr olds need at least 11 hours total a day.
I have some questions. What time does he wake in the morning? Do you wake him in the morning for preschool or...? Any hope of an earlier nap time?
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The same thing happens at our house, and we do a range of things - all of which seem to be fine, if inconsistent. When our nanny has the kids, she always wakes them right around 3pm and they immediately go outside (into the daylight). If my almost-4-year-old is resisting sleep at 1 or 1:30, she has him read (pretend to read) or play quietly by himself, and will guide him gently to nap up until about 2pm. After 2, she doesn't try at all because he seems to wake up cranky if he gets less than an hour - better just to skip it. Sometimes / often this wake up at 3 policy seems to lead to kids that are a bit tired or wild at dinner time, but they go to bed early and start the next day on a good foot.
On the weekends, or the weekdays when I have the kids, we might let them sleep later - until 4 or 5 - if we think they really need the sleep or if we want to do something fun at night. Letting them sleep until 6 though makes my son feel like he "missed the day". (This isn't usually an issue for my 2-year-old daughter - she tends to fall asleep earlier and wake by 5 at the latest.)
I'm guessing if you want to move the nap earlier, moving all the times that you can control earlier in tiny steps will work... waking from nap earlier, putting to bed earlier, waking in the day earlier, and waking from nap might be the simplest to play with but you could start which with ever you feel is most movable.
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I agree with the other parents suggesting an earlier nap time. If your child is routinely up by 8am, 2:30/3 for nap seems really late. I don't think it's unusual to take a 3-hour afternoon nap. I have found that the later you put them down for nap, the more tired they are and will take a longer nap, which can make it really hard for bedtime since they are already napping later and longer.
When my son was 2, he would sleep from 9pm - 8am, and nap around 1 or 1:30. He would nap 1.5 or 3 hours. We tried to make sure he would not nap past 4pm. He rarely did and naps did not push back bedtime. We always do bed time at the same time regardless.(Now he gets an opportunity to nap and some quiet time. He usually doesn't nap, and if he does, it takes him over an hour to fall asleep at night. So if he falls asleep we will wake him up at 3pm. So we have started making bedtime closer to 8pm so he gets 11-12 hours through the night.)
My 18-month daughter also has bedtime around 8pm, although more typically she is not asleep until closer to 8:30. She wakes up at ~6:30 and takes a nap at around 12:30. She naps anywhere from 1.5 to 2.5 hours. Sometimes because of my son's preschool she does not get down until after 1, then she sleeps later and might sleep a bit past 3 but not usually past 4. We always do bed time at the same time. Our aim is to get her asleep by 8pm and when that happens she sleep until 7 and is much happier but we just have a hard time doing it.
When they are sick or might be getting sleep we do not wake them up from naps. In the mornings, we let them sleep in until whenever they want. My son is frequently late to preschool but we'd rather he had a good sleep. Not a problem with my daughter is is ALWAYS up before we want her to be. :)
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Our plan for long afternoon naps is a little abrupt, but it seems to work most of the time. Regardless of what time our son gets up from a nap, bedtime is the same time every nite. If that means he gets up at 6 and then goes right to bed at 7:30, so be it.
While not perfect, and some may argue that the kid won't sleep at 7:30p, this really has less to do about bedtime and more to do about wake-up time. Regardless of whether either of our kids go to bed at 7:30p or 10:30p, they almost *always* get up between 6:30a-7:00a.
Every kid is different, but we find that consistency of bedtime gives us the most consistency of daytime.
In the mornings, he wakes anywhere from 7:15, to 7:30 or sometimes 8. He's still in a crib and he doesn't climb out but moving to a toddler bed is on the horizon.
He has a nanny two days a weeks so, if he's not exactly ready when she comes or if he hasn't had any breakfast, that's ok. But, we'll be starting preschool next month and I'd like to be out of the house by 8:30. If he doesn't wake up until 8, getting ready plus breakfast will be problematic.
As for an earlier nap time, I could do that on the 'off' days (no preschool) but preschool itself will be the whole day. I can find out when the kids would be having quiet time and maybe mimic that at home.
- Alana, May 4, 2011