advice on 18 month old and moving naps to after lunch please

[sazlocks]

My 18 month old DS sleeps well. He didn't sleep through til he was 12 months but since then he pretty much sleeps from 7 til 7 with a 2 hour nap in the morning. Sometimes he wants to go back to bed as early as 9 am but once he has had a 2 hour ish nap in the morning he is fine until he goes to bed that night.
This might sound a bit ridiculous but it seems like quite a few activities and things are run in the morning and we are wondering whether it might be an idea to try and stretch his naps out so that he sleeps after lunch instead. That seems to be what most toddlers of his age do ?
Or should we just be thankful for the good routine he has found himself and not try and change it ?
At the moment he is looked after at home by either DH or I and we are not planning to put him into nursery until he is 3 ish. Number 2 is on the way and he will be 2 when he/she arrives.
Grateful for advice.

[peachsmuggler]

My DD is 17 months and sounds like she is in the same pattern as your DS. I don't want to move her nap as don't want to rock the boat IYSWIM but I too think about activities we could be doing in the morning as there are a lot about. Although DD is ready to go back to bed at 10 (or sometimes earlier!), if we are out and about doing stuff she is happy to wait till later and will go to sleep at 12.30.

I wouldn't worry about what other people are doing, just suit yourself, but it might be if you took him along to a playgroup or whatever, he would manage without his nap till after, but on the days you are home he can still go at 9.

[sazlocks]

thanks - there have been some days where we have done stuff and he has been happier to go to bed later but it would be a big shift to move the nap til after lunch. I guess we might just have to try a couple of things after the holidays and see how he gets on.
Look forward to seeing if anyone else has any other ideas too.

[peggotty]

Hi, am in the same boat with my 18 month old ds. My dd starts school in september and I would like him to start sleeping after lunch by then. I've been trying the last few days to keep him up til after lunch and he seems to be taking it to it no problem and still sleeping fine at night. If you can keep your ds occupied by going out, playing etc through the time he would normally sleep you'll find it should fall into place. I remember it being slightly harder work with my dd to get her to have a post-lunch nap as she was grumpy and tired but ds seems a bit easier. I think that him having his big nap in the morning is more of a habit with him than the fact he actually really needs it then.

[thatsnotmymonster]

If he is really tired by say 9/9.30am could you give him a half hour nap, then go out and then another nap after lunch? Or let him nap in car/buggy on way to outing?

All 3 of my dc's have started with a morning and afternoon nap till about 18mths then dropped the morning nap.

Oh and when I dropped the morning nap completely I moved lunch forward to about 11am and they went down for the afternoon nap by 11.30am. I was then able to move it later.

DD2 (3rd dc) is really flexible tho. She is 15mo and will go down for either nap at any time so maybe it doesn't really matter

[cookielove]

To give you a rough idea of a childs nursery routine most 1-3 year olds run on a similar routine for obvious reasons we put them to sleep after lunch, this means we tend to feed the 1-2's at 11.15/11.30, and put them down for a sleep after, to which most of them are awake by 2 and if not woken at 2 unless a parent request a shorter or longer sleep, the 2-3's have lunch at 11.30/11.45 and after they have finshed get put down to sleep and again woken up at 2 if not awake before, most of are two year olds are limited to an hours sleep at parents request.

Obviously this is a nursery routine but i hope that helps

[sazlocks]

really helpful feedback - thanks.
He is pretty flexible - although as I am sure is not unusual throws some great toddler tantrums when he is beyond ready for a nap . Maybe we will have to be brave and go out and do some more stuff in the morning and gradually move it back.

[slowreadingprogress]

agree with monster - try a shorter nap at 9ish.

He could still have his 2 hours kip in the day but just split over two naps.

My ds slept for 45 min at his 9am nap (I used Gina Ford's routine for guidance; she suggests a 45 min nap in the am and I think ds must have read the book because he used to have almost exactly that then wake up! Actually I think the sleep routine she suggests is based on many babies physiological make-up - apparently one sleep 'cycle' is around 45 min then you will come into lighter sleep.)

So you can be out of the house by 10am if you want to, then you can offer another nap after lunch.

Might be worth a try

[Chunkamatic]

Sazlocks are you me?! I am in exactley the same position, my DS is 17 mths though. Everything local to me starts after 10.00am, by which time he is starting to get a bit fractious.

Most weeks we do venture out to our nearest toddler group which is 10 till 12 on weds morning. However, sometimes this works and he's fine but others he starts to flag and get frustrated quite early. Other stuff I just do as and when it suits us. A tip would be to only sign up for things that you can do on a pay as you go basis, at least till his routine is more settled.

It's tough, as someone mentioned it might just be habit for him going back to bed at 10, but sometimes he genuinely seems like he is really tired and I feel mean for keeping him from sleep. It also occasionally has an adverse affect and he'll get overtired and then only sleep for 40mins for the whole day - that is a nightmare!

It's also easy to think that other people are out doing loads of things and their children are having more fun than yours, but they are still only little and their best friends are mummy and daddy (that's what I tell myself!). Also, from actually speaking to other mums at these groups you find most people just do what they can, when they can - It's the minority that have a very routined week of activities IMO.

[LittleMissNorty]

My DD is 2.2 and still sleeps from 10-12.30. I've also tried moving her nap but she fell asleep over lunch and was very miserable, so I gave up. If we need to go out, I either get her up early (so she can have an early nap), or go out at nap time so she can sleep in the car. All shopping etc is done after lunch.

I also have a 6 month old DS....he sleeps and eats when he can as life pretty much revolves around his sister!

Strangely enough, on nursery days her routine is exactly as cookielove says, and she seems to cope with that or perhaps she doesn't and I just don't know any different!