How long does your 2yo nap?

[MrsChipsreturns]

My son is two next month. He’s started waking up at 5.20 on the dot every day (used to be about 6.30) he’s always slept 11h at night before but now he is doing 9/10h at night. He generally naps for 2h during the day, we tend to wake if he goes over that… now wondering if we need to shorten the nap.

Just interested to hear how long other two year olds nap for?

Well, there is a huge difference between just turned 2, 2 1/2 and almost 3.

I have a 2y4m old, he sleeps 11h at night and has about 1-1.5h in the day.

My first started skipping naps at this age and his sleep needs were lower, he completely stopped napping at 2 1/2.

Mine are this age exactly, they sleep 2-2.5h a day without the nights going funny.

My 2.5 year old still naps for two hours, and she sleeps 6.30pm till 7.30am overnight. If anything I have found that her sleep needs have increased over the past 6/12 months as she's developing at such a pace now. If she gets any less sleep than that (about 14/15 hours in a 24 hour period) she is an overtired mess and we get much more toddler tantrums - her overall behaviour deteriorates rapidly on less sleep, whereas when properly rested she is normally a delight 99% of the time. I'd also strongly recommend you get a groclock and enforce it - best way to tackle any early starts and get little ones (and us) more sleep.

Ok interesting. In my mind I don’t actually think he’s napping too long I think maybe he’s going through a leap or regression of some sort because he has been an absolute gremlin recently, tantrums and screaming galore.

I always find my kids tantrum more when they’re tired. So I’d personally let him sleep if he’s being a gremlin. If he’s waking earlier then he may need to adjust during the day. And I don’t actually think there’s a lot you can do when they wake early. Just ride it out and pray that a more reasonable hour comes quickly!

Maybe! he seems so easily stuck in a bad routine I am very wary of getting up at 5.20 forever! 😂

I do think people are too quick to suggest cutting down naps. I'm of the 'sleep begets sleep' school of thought and have never capped naps. If his behaviour is getting difficult the last thing I would do is give him less sleep so I think your instincts are right on the nap - leave well alone. It's the early starts you want to fix, so I'd go for the groclock option, but you have to enforce it

@sexnotgenders I don’t think he will understand a gro-clock yet. My older DS has one and it works well for him but ds2 just doesn’t have the understanding yet.

Obviously you know your child, but I really wouldn't underestimate their ability to understand the concept of an alarm clock from a young age. We introduced one to my DD at 22 months and she got it quite quickly. Maybe try it and see? If it doesn't work, then just put it back in the box for a couple of months and try again later. But if he does get it, it will give you a structured way to extend his sleep, or at the very least, teach him to stay in his cot until it's a decent hour

My DD has just turned 2. We're contemplating reducing naps down from 1.5hr to 1hr as we're struggling to get her to go to sleep at night. Once she's down for the night she usually sleeps through but a few months ago I was pulling my hair out at pre-6am wakes but she just seemed to sort that out herself after a few weeks.

My daughter is 2 next month and dropped a nap 3 weeks ago! Still routinely put her in the pram at nap time but doesn't work just chills out for a bit 🤣 Sleeps 11-12 hours a night