How much sleep does your 2 year old get?

[Chloris33]

I have a 2.5 year old. He's always been at the less sleep end of the spectrum. Until recently he was having a 2 hour nap in the afternoon at 2pm-4pm. But then he started not getting to sleep at night until 9.30pm or so, and still waking early at 6am, so I've just tried dropping the nap. At first I tried to do an earlier and shorter nap but it just didn't work most of the time - he wouldn't fall asleep until at least 2pm (and only naps in buggy or the car), and if I wake him half way through he curls up again and goes back to sleep whatever I do. So now he's sleeping 7.30pm-6 am or 6.30am with no nap. I'm just worried this is not enough sleep for him. He seems really tired in the afternoons. It's been 2 weeks. Maybe he'll adjust a bit more and start sleeping in a bit more in the mornings, or maybe not. Not sure I've done the right thing, with dropping the nap...

My dd decided to stop her nap just after she turned 2. She had previously been sleeping through 7.30pm-6am plus a 2 hour nap in the afternoon but then she stopped sleeping at night and was fighting the nap times so we gave up on the nap. I often felt she wasn't getting enough sleep but trying to get her to have anymore wasn't working either as a she would fight going to sleep incase she missed out on something. She is now edging closer to 3 and she sleeps from 7pm till 6am and has also started napping randomly again. I don't put her down for a nap but sometimes she asks for one or falls asleep in the car but like your ds is a pain to try and wake up if she falls asleep too late in the day. When she had her 27month check with the HV they said not to worry and so long as she was sleeping at night then she would self regulate the amount of sleep she needed

My dd2 dropped her naps age 2. She's now 3.5. as soon as she dropped her naps she has about 10-11 hours a night. Sometines 10, sometimes more like 11. It seems enough for her as she wakes on her own terms . Occasionally she will have a sneaky nap but it always then means she won't sleep until about 10pm so if she's tired I try to avoid driving anywhere after 3pm!

I'm just worried this is not enough sleep for him

"...for him"

How much sleep my 2 year old has (loads) or how much sleep another child who dropped daytime napping at 18 months is irrelevant to your child.

Getting enough sleep is important. There's recent suggestions by the NHS that sleep deprivation might be in a par with obesity in terms of the effect on childhood health. However there will be natural differences in what is "enough sleep" for each person.

Getting enough sleep can be judged mostly by the way a child looks or behaves -
clinginess, poor behaviour, concentration levels, tetchiness, tantrums, crying etc

There will be a transition period (up to a couple of months) to establish any changes in sleep routine. But in my experience the child usually makes up for lost sleep initially, (for example seeing 1-2h being added into the night sleep when daytime nap is dropped), then reduces overall sleep after transitioning. So it isn't a necessity of changing sleep routine to have a period of time being more tired than usual.

How much sleep does your 2 year old get?

Mine was born Sept 2014, so similar age. She sleeps usually 12 hours at night but the variation would be downwards, so 11-12h

Then she sleeps 3h at lunchtime, 12-3pm. I wake her (for the school run), she would sleep longer.

I have just, literally since the weekend, noted the beginnings of her not going straight to sleep when she goes to bed at 7.30-8pm. I could hear her awake on the monitor until 8.30pm tonight and yesterday was the same. She's normally asleep straight away, within 5 minutes.

I am just starting to think about maybe moving the start of naptime to 12.30 or 1pm, so 2h-2.5h nap instead of 3h. I'll see how it goes for the next week or two before I decide.

Around 20 min every other day, as needed as she has taken herself off for naps for at least the past six months.
Night time is normally 6:30/7pm to 4:30/5am.

She seems rested, happy, doesn't cry much, so i guess it is how much she needs.