Should a wake 23 month old from naps?

[daisiesandpeonies]

As the title really - should I wake her after an hour and a half? Or after 2 hours? She sleeps well at night, always down at 7pm then usually through until 6am - 7am, but I was wondering if when she does have a disturbed night it’s because I let her nap for as long as she wants in the day, her record in recent months is 2 and a half hours. Many thanks.

I always just made sure mine were awake by 2pm regardless of what time they went to sleep. That way they were tired at 7.

They usually went to sleep at 12noon (lunch 11.30).

As they naturally woke earlier than 2, I pushed the nap start time back bit by bit.

Depends on the child, I always woke DTs at 130 regardless of how long they had slept otherwise the nights were hellish. Friends could could sleep for way longer and still have a decent night / not get up at 4am.

Highly depends on the child. If my 20 month old has more than 1.5ish hours our night will be tricky. Some of my antenatal friends can only get away with 1h nap. Some still sleep for nearly 3. If she’s sleeping generally well at night, I wouldn’t wake her. If you start seeing a persistent pattern, such as bedtime refusal, split nights or early starts, then cut it down.

They’re all different - by 18 months any napping at all caused DD1 to get up at 4am, so luckily she started dropping the nap herself. Friend’s son of the same age even now at 3yo has a 2.5 hour nap and sleeps 12 hours solid overnight.

If it’s not broken atm, don’t fix it!

I never did if they still slept well at night.

If the nights are fine I wouldn’t see any reason to wake them and would enjoy the naps as long as I could.

I found that she wouldn't go to bed at night or have a disturbed night if I let her sleep more than hour especially if it was after 2pm.

I'd def try it if i were u she might also sleep in longer 👍

My dd is 25 months now and we don't do naps anymore unless they are quick or she's been up a bit earlier that day. She usually gets a wee 10-15 mins in the car most days.

She goes down about 7.30-7.45 and usually wakes at 8-8.30.

Deffo depended on your child. Both my DDs needed naps limiting by age 2, DD2 we’ve limited since 20 months. They both got/get an hour. If DD2 naps any longer, bedtime will be about 10pm. Whereas DD1 would happily still go to bed as normal after a long nap but would be up half the night!

However, I have friends with toddlers who can sleep 3 hours in the afternoon & still go to bed at 7pm & sleep solidly all night.

I’m envious of these friends 😂

I always wake by 3 so 4hrs before 7pm bedtime

I usually advise 1-3

But if always waking at 3 try 1230 bedtime

Quite normal for this age to want 2/2.5

In your case, no I wouldn't. I started capping the nap when it affected bedtime, so around 23 months.

Enjoy it while it lasts! You'll know when it's time to start capping the nap - for us it was like a switch was flicked overnight and suddenly every minute of day sleep was directly subtracted from bedtime.

If she’s out for the count - no never! Being woken like that is horrible and may just make her grumpy.
If she’s in a lighter sleep then you could try to rowse her gently. Perhaps put some quiet music on or open her curtains.

Thanks so much for the suggestions - I think I'm going to continue to leave her to sleep as long as she needs, and cut it down gently if disturbed nights become frequent.
I just worry a bit because she seems to sleep so much - works out about 14/15 hours out of 24 unless she's poorly. She's very active and happy when she's awake - running around like a mad thing. Sounds very different to how a lot of my friends' babies of the same age are. Maybe I should just enjoy it before it inevitably changes?!

I’d enjoy it! 11-14h is the average for a 1-2 yo. If yours is at the top end of that, then there is no problem!