do you wake toddler up from naps?

[StarMeKitten]

18mo DD is going through a lot of developmental changes at the moment & she's waking up.early in the morning (I figured it was as a result of developmental leaps, or if not that then I just don't know!!)

Anyway as a result she can sleep for up to 3 hours in an afternoon. I have Been waking her up after about 2hrs but yesterday I let her sleep for 3hrs and she actually slept in a bit more this morning (only 20 mins extra but that makes a difference on a Saturday morning).

Wwyd to wake or not to wake?

I put my charges down for a sleep between 12-1 depending on activities etc. They can then sleep for as long as they like BUT must be woken by 3pm; regardless of whether they have had 30minutes or 3 hours

I always woke the DC if they'd had 3 hours or at 4 o clock - whichever came first.

I've often found that the longer the nap (to a max of 3 hours) the better the night that follows. Also, putting DC to bed later than usual tends to cause waking earlier than usual here

Yes mogandme I agree with the 3pm wake up. Yesterday she slept 12-3, but I wouldn't let her sleep past 3. Normally she wouldn't go down til 1pm in the day but maybe the earlier naptime is better for her!

procrastination I think the longer nap seems to be working here too, maybe she was overtired with the shorter nap. Seems like a lot of sleep for an 18mo but could be due to the developmental leap maybe.

The 3 hour thing isn't random BTW - I remember reading that 3 hours is the optimum maximum for a nap, is to do with the sleep cycles which are 45 minutes long and 4 cycles making one big one.

I know it was always particularly easy to accidentally wake DC at 45 minutes, 1 1/2 hours and 2 1/4 hours into the nap. So, if you need to wake DC after less than 3 hours those are good moments.

No way is 3 hours a lot (or too much) at 18 months! Both of my DC regularly slept the full 3 hours until about their 3 rd birthdays and needed it quite often up to about 3 1/2.

Yeah that make sense, before DD was 6 months she only slept 45 mins at a time in the day. I guess that explains why she's grumpy when I wake her after 2hrs now, I'd be better waiting til 2.15mins if I was gonna wake her.

I think DD has always needed a lot of sleep too, its just a lot of her peers seem to sleep much less.

Wow that's brilliant them sleeping 3hrs up to their 3rd bday - im dreading her dropping her nap, but maybe that's a long time coming

I don't think you need to worry about nap dropping just yet - from the DC I know it seems to generally happen between 2 1/2 and 3 1/2. By the time it does happen it can actually be quite a relief - gives a lot more freedom of movement!

It's quite common to have short periods of refusing to sleep that isn't genuine nap dropping.

I wake my DS. I have never never been able to let him sleep what he wants because if I do then his nights suffer as a direct consequence. He has been a chronic early waker & when he was younger he always wanted to nap for 3hrs in the day but then he wouldn't be tired at bedtime and he would wake early again the next day. The only solution for us has been to push the nap later & to cap it & also have a slightly later bedtime. At 18 months we did:

Up: 7am
Nap: 12.30-2.30 (I woke him after 2hrs if he was still sleeping)
Bed: 7.30

Now at almost 23 months he does:
Up: 7am
Nap: 1-2.30 (I wake him after 1.5hrs if he's still sleeping)
Bed: 8pm

If we put him down any earlier at bedtime eg 7/7.30 he just messes around until 8pm anyway. And if I let him nap for longer, he wouldn't fall asleep til 9 & would be up at 6am. So this is the only way to manage it.

I guess he is at the lower end of sleep needs. Those that are still taking 2hr naps at age 2+ are either high sleep needs, or they have to be sleeping a shorter night surely?