How long is your toddler's nap?

[sunnyfields25]

Hi

DS is nearly 21mo and has a 2 hour nap. He'd sleep for longer but I wake him up then. He's taking longer and longer to settle at bedtime (over an hour) so I want to try shortening his nap, but don't really know what I'm aiming for.

So, how long does your toddler nap for? And if you shortened it as they got older, did it help them settle at bedtime?

Thanks

[Sunshine1235]

My toddler stopped napping at about 27 months, he would still go down for a nap but we found that bedtime was taking up to an hour. Once we dropped the nap bedtime became a breeze (and earlier too). I did gradually shorten the nap though so think it was about 45 mins by the end. Just gradually reduce the length and see if that helps bedtime. I also moved it forward so it was as early as possible as having longer between the end of it and bedtime seemed to help

[MrBrown]

My DS is almost 2.5. I tried cutting out/down his naps when he was 2 but he was just a bit of a nightmare so I reinstated them. He doesn't nap at nursery though (3 days) so I think it all catches up with him and he really needs a nap on the other days to make up for it. I just drop his bedtime back slightly and he sometimes takes a bit longer to drop off but he is generally fine and I find he will sleep in later in the mornings if he's napped the day before too. He goes down straight away and often before 7pm on nursery days or if we've had a busy day and not had chance to nap. Probably more like 7.30-8ish if he naps.

[MrBrown]

Sorry forgot to say he still has 2 hours sometimes longer if he needs it. Usually 2-4pm.

[mondayoneday]

My 3yr old still naps 2-3 hours every other day!

My 21m old naps 2-3 hours every day.

They go to bed ok but do wake up pretty early but shorter naps doesn't seem to affect this.

[UghFletcher]

2.5yr old DS here has a 45 min nap (usually between 11-12 or as close to as possible) and goes down no problems. If he goes over that or he naps too late then bedtime is game over

[riddles26]

27 month old and we aim for 1.5 hours. She sleeps anything between 1-2hours and we wake her at 2 hours if still asleep.

[Popandcrackle]

My 19 month old DD has one two hour nap a day. She probably would sleep longer but I wake her up if she goes past 2 as she won’t go down at bedtime if I don’t

[Smoggle]

My 18 month old sleeps about 1.5-2 hours, and needs a good 5 hours between waking from nap and bedtime.

[Purplepricklesalloverhisback]

27 month old DS has just dropped his nap but has been doing 2-3 hours between 12-3pm most days. He takes an hour to settle at night but stays in his cot so it isn’t a problem really.

Now he has dropped the nap I am not finding he goes to sleep any easier at night and am struggling with going out in the afternoon as he will fall asleep in the car at 4/5pm which I don’t want.

[Iminastoreandimsinging]

22 months and most days no nap. Bedtime at 7pm no problems straight to sleep.
The days he does nap it's no more than an hour and if it goes over the hour we have 30 mins of yelling and singing until he gets bored and falls off to sleep.

[PurplePotatoes]

My 2.4yr old has 40mins - 1hr x 3 days at nursery and doesn't nap at all at home the other 4 days. We cut it down and then out completely as he suddenly started taking up to 2-3 hours to settle every single night and it was killing me. Anyway he's out of that phase now so we tried to reinstate a short nap at home but he won't go back to a nap at home now and seems fine without.

[CatsCatsCats11]

25 months .... what's a nap?

[Beansonapost]

We have no more naps!

Or if my youngest 23 months does it's for 30 mins max.

Otherwise it's a nightmare at bedtime. No nap means we can get them swiftly off to sleep!

[E20mom]

My toddler naps for 2.5-3 hrs. She needs it. I'd never wake her up early from a nap.

[BalloonDinosaur]

DS was 2 in Jan and still naps any where from 1-2 hours. Sometimes he's resistant and we give up, but he tends to be very grumpy/more likely to meltdown by mid afternoon.

We'd like to hold on to them as long as possible, though I know it won't last forever. He naps mid-morning/lunchtime so doesn't tend to affect his sleeping at night.

Goes down about 7 after tea and bath.

[sunnyfields25]

Thanks so much for the replies It's interesting to read the extremes of some having no naps and others having 2-3 hours.

I feel awful waking DS after 2 hours as he's always dead to the world and a bit grumpy when I try and get him out of his cot, but I'd hate to make bedtime even more difficult. I think we'll try a few days of slightly shorter naps, and see if it helps bedtime at all. If not, we'll just go back to the 2 hours naps. They are a godsend for getting things done around the house (or generally collapsing on the sofa to recover).

The other thing I wondered is if I'm putting him to bed too early... Normally wakes from nap 2.30ish, and we put him to bed at 7pm. Then after a lot of chattering, cot acrobatics and dummy chucking he nods off after 8pm.

[BendingSpoons]

DD (nearly 3) has approx 2 hours 1-3pm. She goes to bed 7.45/8ish. Sometimes she takes a while to get to sleep but she stays in bed singing and chatting so not a big problem. I love her still having a nap and know we are lucky she does.

[GiveMeAllTheGin8]

As a toddler dd napped from 12.30-2.30/2.45pm. Would wake her up if she was still asleep at 3pm.
Bedtimes became harder when she was two and a half and she then naturally started dropping her nap.
She went to bed at 8pm with nap and 6.30/7pm with no nap

[Sipperskipper]

DD (21 months) naps for about 1.5 hours from approx 1.15-3ish.

Wakes up about 7.20. Put her to bed at about 7.50, but she takes about 45 mins to fall asleep (happy enough, singing and laughing in her cot!) but I think I may need to cap the nap a bit more (I usually have to wake her up anyway).

I love her napping - enjoy a cup of tea in peace!

[Therighthonourable]

16 month old has given up naps this week. But is sleeping from 7:30pm to 7:30am.

Doesn't seem groggy or moody come the evening so I am just leaving it and going with the flow.

[Bigonesmallone3]

Dd 23 months sleeps around 2hrs per day..

[Sashkin]

DS is just 2 and definitely still needs his nap. He wakes up around 6:30-7:00, naps for about 2-2.5hrs from 12, and then goes to bed at 8. Works for us - we both work long hours so if he went to bed any earlier we'd never see him. I leave the house before he wakes up as it is (which is horrible).

He does take a while to go down (he has a long splashy bath at 7 with lots of toys, then we start stories and cuddles at 7:30 and he usually drops off by 8-8:15). But we don't get home from nursery until 6, so I quite like all the messing around before bedtime.

[Shelbybear]

That is a long nap!

My 21month old sleeps 12/13 hours at night and naps anything from not at all to 30/40mins. Most of the time it's 20mins occasionally stretching to an hour.

[Fireballfriends]

My eldest had 2-2.5 hour nap every other day until she was 3.5. She was still having the occasional hour until she was nearly 5 and falling asleep the minute she got into bed at 7pm.

My youngest is 21 months and every few days has 30-60. I usually wake her after an hour and never let her sleep after 2pm or it takes her 1-2 hours to drift off at night.

They are all different, I don't think there's a one size fits all. Good luck, it's a tricky stage isn't it!

[BeakyPlinder]

Interesting how different they all are. My boy is two in a couple weeks and he naps for about 1-2hrs around 12pm. I don't let him sleep much past 2 hours although at times he would because I'm scared of the same thing. I have found if I let him nap later in the afternoon he will sleep longer but then is not at all ready for bed later at 7pm. The no nap days are few but when they happen he is a total nightmare come 4pm and has meltdowns galore