18 month old different nap schedule at home to nursery

[elmo1980]

Ive been reading up on typical schedules for toddlers and it seems my nearly 18 month old ds follows the classic one at nursery i.e. nap after lunch (from 12.30 for about 1.5 hrs).

But when he's at home I can't get him to stay awake that long hes usually rubbing his ears and acting clumsy by 9am so I end up putting him down then hes awake for the rest of the day from around 11.30.

When I told his key worker this the other day she couldn't believe he stayed awake until bedtime and then I read that they shouldn't be awake for longer than 4-5 hours at this age.

I have tried to put him down for a short afternoon nap as well but when I wake him hes in a terrible mood and doesn't want his dinner and seems to act as if he thought that nap was him going down for the night.

So far I've thought the early morning naps are due to him being so tired from a few days at nursery and hes just catching up but I'm now starting to think I should try harder to keep him stimulated in the morning then maybe give him lunch early, say 11.30 then put him down.

Does anyone have any ideas? What do you do with your toddlers?

I have a 17 month old now who is usually awake around 6am, and she naps 1130-1...sometimes 130. She then goes to bed at 630.

She always seems tired by around 9am, but a small snack usually perks her up and then she is fine until 1130 although usually goes straight to sleep. I try to get out and about in the morning, even just a trip to the park or shop to keep her distracted.

I give her lunch early, around 11am and then she has a snack after her nap to keep her going until dinner.

I hope that helps!

My dd is the same, at 20 months she sleeps 12.30 - 2 is at nursery, but at home will look for a nap at 10.30.
I either make sure we're doing something really fun in the morning so she doesn't look for a nap, or if not let her nap to her own schedule.
Absolutely no harm in a bit of flexibility to the routine, especially in this heat.

Is he going to sleep easily and staying alseep all night? If so I wouldn’t worry about it as it clearly works for him.

My DS is younger- just under 14 months but he hastily dropped to one nap at 12 months. Sometimes has 2 if we are out and about as he nods off earlier if in the pram or car. On a normal day he’s up about 6.30, nap about 11.30- normally 2/2.5 hours now. He then goes to bed at 7ish. I’ve know him to only sleep for an hour, refuse a second nap and be happy to stay away till bedtime 😂

Have you tried giving him a shorter morning nap on your at home days or wake him after an hour max, then trying another short afternoon one?

Thanks that's helpful. I think I may have been scarred by a trip to soft play a few months ago when I took him in the morning to try and keep him awake but by the time we got home he was completely overtired and having exorcist style tantrums before I bundled him in the car and drove around aimlessly until he went to sleep.

He is a good sleeper at night, self settles and rarely wakes but i do worry he is a bit overtired by the time we are putting him to bed and sometimes we are taking him up so early (5-6pm) just because hes so shattered.

I might try giving him a morning snack tomorrow then going out for a bit then early lunch and see what that does.

You're right that this heat is certainly not helping at the moment.

Yes I would drop the morning nap. Try to keep him occupied a small snack and then maybe some kind of craft or cooking cakes/biscuits. I also used to put music on and we had a 10 min jump and dance around session. It used to wake my toddlers up and keep them going till lunch time.

If he sleeps well at night then don’t worry at all, follow your instincts on any one day and it really doesn’t matter if nursery and home are different.

Could you try pushing the nap later gradually? So it’s not so much of a shock to his system? Say 30 mins every few days? My DS is another one that gets a bit moan you at about 9.30/10 but I just give him a snack and that perks him up too

My 14 month old is similar, one nap around half 12 at nursery but at home, has one around 9am then 1pm. If he wakes late on a morning, I always keep the morning nap short so I can fit in an afternoon nap. Sometimes I even try and skip the morning but try and keep him busy. It works for us at the moment. Maybe you should limit the morning one to half hour or something so he has time for an afternoon

Good idea on doing it gradually, I will try that with the snack approach.

Thing is I've got a 7 week old as well so am on maternity leave and will be cutting his days at nursery from 4 to 2 over the next couple of months so it would be nice if we can get out and about in the mornings and maybe attend some toddler groups (which only ever seem to be in the mornings) then we can have afternoon's at home to play and wind down.

I'm nervous of waking him up from a nap - I know that sounds silly but I've always taken the approach with him that I'll let him wake when he's ready and the couple of times I have had to wake him haven't gone too well. Will certainly give it a go though if I can't get anything else to work.

If it's working well, it doesn't matter if it's the same on different days/different settings. And his needs may change over the next couple of months, so I wouldn't necessarily try to alter things this far in advance.
My DD needs a fAirly significant snack around 11 or she has a huge energy drop and is awfully cranky by 11.30 and will start looking tired. You may also find that when attending groups he stays awake - my DD never used to notice if we were late for naps if we were out an about, but at home she is much more if a stickler for her usual routine.

(all said with the caveat that DDs naps are currently causing bedtime problems, so feel free to ignore me!)