Why is my 12 month old tired all the time?! Is this normal?

[Flingmoo]

He has 12-13 hours of sleep at night, sometimes all the way through, sometimes wakes up once or twice for us to give him some water and his dummy.

If he wakes up at 7am, like today, he's already completely exhausted by 9am and by 9.30am he's in full on screaming mode, banging his head on the living room door angrily because he just wants to go to bed. He's asleep now and could have anywhere from 1.5 to 3 hours nap.

Later on it'll be a similar story - tired already after only being awake for an hour or two, despite having had plenty of sleep. He usually has two naps a day adding up to 3-4 hours of daytime sleep.

I don't understand why he seems to be getting more tired these days instead of being able to stay awake for longer periods as he gets older. I was expecting him to be able to stay awake for at least 3 hours by this age before getting cranky.

Any thoughts?

If he needs more sleep, he needs more sleep. My two boys always wanted more sleep than most other children their age. They still do. Both kept their lunchtime nap until school age, something many friends who's toddlers stopped napping at 2 years old got really envious about.

Your DS start staying awake longer when he is ready. Use his night time sleep or how he settles for naptimes as a pointer. As long as he goes to sleep easily at naptime and continues to sleep well in the night, then he needs the sleep.

Mine went through a huge growth spurt at this age and slept loads. At least 12 hours at night and a 3 hour nap during the day. They also ate tons too.

So do you think I should bother trying to "stretch him out" to stay awake longer? E.g. Today I was trying to keep him awake til 10.30 as 9am seems so early to have a nap - wish he'd just sleep til 9 in the morning to begin with! But he was never going to make past about 9.45 without blowing a fuse!

He's walking around lots now. I guess that tires him out, I swear he was less tired than this when he was about 9 or 10 months old!

7am wake up and then a nap starting from 9am-10am sounds quite normal to me. I wouldn't change anything as long as his nights sleep is good.

I have always let my dc sleep when they are tired for as long as they need. If their daytime naps start interfering with sleep at night time I may change my mind but at the moment if they are sleepy they sleep.

So do you think I should bother trying to "stretch him out" to stay awake longer?

Don't see why you'd do that - just go with his needs, as you're doing now.

All 4 of mine slept for the same length of time as your dc at a year old - 12 hours at night, and 3/4 hours during the day. It isn't unusual and as long as he's active during waking times, it's what he needs.

I wouldn't leave him to become so exhausted that he's screaming and banging his head, though - just put him down when he starts to look tired.

My dd1 was exactly the same, it used to seem as though all she did was eat and sleep but she obviously needed it. Dd2 was the opposite and hardly napped at all. I did used to feel quite isolated at times though as when other people were out doing nice things with their babies mine was just sleeping!

DS1 and DD were sleeping this much at 12m. They dropped the morning nap around 14-15m, and both slept at lunchtime until 2.5-3yo

DS2 has been a rubbish sleeper in comparison but now is a lot better and does 10 hours at night 8-6, then 9-10 and 12.30-2.30

It sounds like your DC is a completely normal 1 year old. Just go with it.

Sounds familiar to me. DD1 only dropped down to one nap at around 2yo. I was the envy of my friends for a good couple of years. Enjoy it while it lasts!

My 2 yr old can still enjoy a 2-3 hour nap on the days we are at home. I like it!