18mo. How long does your stay awake before first nap?

[MeeWhoo]

I have started taking ds to a kind of playgroup where he is meant to stay on hiws own. He normally wakes up between 7:30 and 8:30 (lately more towards the 7:30 end) and the playgroup takes place between 10am and 1pm.

When he is at home he normally has his first (and only) nap between 3 and 4 hours after waking so he does get tired during the playgroup and I think this is key to the fact that he will not let me go home...

Do your toddlers also have their first nap this early or could this have something to do with the fact he still wakes for night feeds (though not fully awake)?

[xlatia]

I've got a very nearly 17 months old. He usually has his first and only nap after 4 hours, too. Having said that, when he's busy he'd happily go for much longer but I don't usually let him because then nap time would be too close to bed time. Does your DS get grumpy after 3/4 hours or can you maybe postpone his nap on playgroup days?

[TricksyLaBOOshh]

It might well be linked to night wakings.

My dd was exactly the same at your ds age, although always woke between 4:30-5:30 so would be napping by 8:30-9:30.

[MeeWhoo]

If he is having a good time, then he can last a bit longer as long as either myself or DH are there, but, when his "natural" nap time is close it makes it very difficult for me to leave him as he gets very upset because he is tired and therefore less amenable to being left on his own...

He is not a very "routiney" baby so it is difficult for me to tweak his getting up time

If the playgroup was from say 3pm to 6pm I am pretty sure I would have a lot less trouble leaving him there.

[MeeWhoo]

TricksyLaBOOshh, she was getting up at 4:30-5:30! I'll count my blessings then :)

[silverangel]

My DTs usually wake around 6.45am and I get them up at around 7.15 (they chat in their cots until then). They can make it through until 12.30 if we're out and they are busy but it's normally 11.30 and they sleep until 1pm latest. They have reliably slept through since pushing the nap forward from around 10am a few months ago and they are 18mo now. If they do fall asleep late I still wake them at 1 so they go to bed at bed time.

[DinglebertWangledack]

DD is usually up around 7-8 but will usually nap between 11am and 1pm, sometimes she sleeps, sometimes she just lies quietly, it's a wind down from getting up and trashing the place (she is 20 months)

[MeeWhoo]

Hmm, so it seems that around 4 hours after waking up is quite usual then.

I think I'll see how he gets on for the rest of the month and if things don't improve I'll leave the playgroup and try again in a few months when he can naturally last longer.

[Iwish]

My DS is 18 mo. he gets up between 7:00 and 7:30 and has his one and only nap about 1pm. He won't sleep before that xx

[MeeWhoo]

Ohh Iwish, what an apt nickname! I wish ds would keep to that timetable (even better if he woke up at 8 instead) He already missed playgroup today and yesterday as he was asleep by 10:30 after 2 shorter nights than usual because of teething...

[JacqueslePeacock]

DS wakes around 5.30 to 6 am and has his nap at 12pm, straight after lunch. He is grumpy for an hour or so before that, though, and if I could I'd put him down earlier, but he's on the nursery's schedule.

[JacqueslePeacock]

Also, what do you mean when you say won't let you leave? My DS (18 mo) would cry if I tried to leave him at a playgroup (I never have), but probably he would be fine as soon as I'd gone. At nursey he is sometimes very clingy when I drop off, but he has a great time when I've actually gone. It's the transition he doesn't like.

[MeeWhoo]

On the first two days i left him for 1 and 1,5 hours with no problem (he was waking up a bit later that week). Once he knew it was an everyday occurence, he started complaining more. I have left him again a couple of times when he was "protesting" for me not to go and Istood outside the door for a while but could tell that althoug he was calling for me, he would be fine for a while. Those 2 times they called me a while later to go and see him (I asked them not to leave him cry for more than a few minutes). Last time I left him, I stood outside the door for 5 minutes and had to get back in. He was all red, and hiccuping, sobbing, etc. Which is not like him, it took me over 5 minutes to fully calm him down, and then I had to bring him back home to nap.
He does love going and if I stay in the room next door he comes to see me every so often, generally when they ask him to do something he doesn't like, i.e. Sitting dowm, but I give hima kiss and send him straight back with not too much trouble. However if I say i'm going home and does he want to come with me or stay, even though he wants ro continue playing, he now always says he wants to come home and falls aslee within five minutes of getting there, irrespective of whether I want to leave at 10:30 or 12:30. That's why I think he would be a lot better suited to an afternoon group because the fact that he is tired means he gets really upset, crying tears and sobbing, rather than a more "moaning/protesting" cry, which is what I think he would do if he wasn' ready for a nap..
Sorry for the looooong post..

[Misty9]

Hmm. Difficult. My 18mo ds is similar in that he wakes 7-8ish and is naturally ready for a nap about 3-4hrs later. For eg, he is sleepy now and keeps putting his head on sofa/my leg with thumb in - so I know he'd probably go if I took him upstairs and sat down with him (this is how he goes to sleep for naps). BUT, most activities are during the mornings and he also seems to sleep longer (than 45mins) if he naps in the afternoon. So lately I've been trying to push his nap to 1pm or later and if he's kept busy this often has worked.

I'm not sure I'd leave him in a play group situation yet though (doesn't go to nursery either) and he's worse doing anything when he's sleepy too.

Sorry for long winded answer that probably hasn't actually helped!