Is my 18 month old sleeping too much?

[TinaFay]

I never thought i'd hear myself asking this question! I'm very lucky in that I've never really had any sleep problems with my little one. He generally sleeps through the night without a hitch - 7.30 - 6.30 approx. He's only started waking at 6.30am fairly recently (he used to sleep to 8am - bliss! - and then go down for a nap around 11am). However, since he's started waking earlier which I understand is quite normal, he only seems to be able to last a few hours before needing another sleep. I've never got him into a 2 hr sleep at lunchtime routine, mainly because I work afternoons and need to drop him with the childminder at 1.30pm, and he seems to have naturally fallen into the routine of having a nap in the morning and another late afternoon. however, just recently his naps seem to be getting pretty lengthy - yesterday, for example, he slept for one and a half hours each nap, and I had to wake him! This doesn't seem to effect his sleep at night, as he's still going to bed no problem. I'm just concerned that this could be a sign something's wrong. Or do you just think he might simply need more sleep than average? Does anyone else's 18 month old sleep this much - 14 hrs a day.
Thanks for any advice.
Tina

Is he otherwise lively? My DS is a little younger but will sometimes have 2 hours at a time which is unusual but it chops and changes. This probably doesn't help at all !

Dd did - 12 hours at least at night and then about 3 hours in naps during the day. This lasted till about 3 yrs.
Now at 3.6 she has about 10 hours at night - if I put her to bed at 7 she is up by 5 ish wanting to play. She still likes a nap in the day, which I try to stop/limit to half an hour.

Make the most of it!!!

My DS is 15 months and will sleep from 7.15ish to 6.00/6.30 ish. He will then have a 2-3 hours sleep in the morning. Sometimes needs a 'power nap' late afternoon but not always.

On the two days he's at nursery, he canbarely keep his eyes open past 6.30 but that may be because he doesn't sleep as long there and he's also been on the go all day.

Our DS2 is 19 months and some days I think he would sleep all day if we let him. He goes to bed about 6.30-7 and more often than not is asleep within half an hour. He gets up between 7.30 and 8 and most days is back in bed between 9 and 9.30. Often he'll sleep for 2 hours then will have another nap between 2 and 4. So thats hmm 16 hours a day .

He follows this pattern 4 or 5 days out of 7. Occassionally he won't nap at all during the day, others he'll have one big 1-2 hour nap.

We had cause to see a consultant with him when he was about 9 months old and asked her about it. She said it was of no concern at all so long as he was meeting his milestones and was bright and happy when awake - which he is. She (and other doc I know) said most babies are chronically sleep deprived and actually need much more sleep over a 24 hour period than the 'books' recommend and that this need persists into toddlerhood. She advised us to let him sleep when he wants to sleep and to let him sleep for as long as he wants to sleep. We don't go quite that far but he does get planty of opportunity to sleep and we generally only wke him if it looks like he'll miss a meal time.

He's a happy, healthy little boy, just starting to talk, hitting all his developmental milestones and keeping up well with his brother.

hth put your mind at rest