How much sleep should a 3 year old get?

[Lor124]

Hi! Just wondering what time people put their 3 year olds to bed, and how much sleep they get?
My 3 year old goes to bed about 7.30-8pm, but has been getting up at 5am, starting to think i need to move her bedtime!

Mine goes down pretty quickly at 7, and usually wakes about 6:30. He had dropped his nap but it’s crept back in after a cold so about 3pm he’ll crash for 20-90 minutes.

DS (3.5 yrs) is normally in bed for 7.30, and awake around 7am though the sun doesn’t come up on his gro clock until 7.30am. We had a run of early wakings for a few weeks before the clocks changed, I think because it was getting lighter in his room. Does your DD still have a lunchtime nap?

Yeah, she still has an hour nap after lunch. If she doesnt have it she falls asleep at 5-6 making bed time very difficult, so reluctant to drop this yet. Maybe i ought to get a gro clock?

Could you limit the nap? Make it a bit shorter every few days? Might help. It depends if, if she's bit tired when she wakes at 5am the gro clock wont make her go back to sleep. It sounds like she does to bed late enough.

www.nhs.uk/live-well/sleep-and-tiredness/how-much-sleep-do-kids-need/#3-years

Children aged 3-6 need 10-12 hours sleep per night, so with her nap your DD is getting about 10, which is okay. It depends how she is really on that amount of sleep. If she falls asleep easily in the car, then I think that's supposed to be a strong indicator for an overtired DC. If she's bright and happy and doesn't nod off easily in the car then she's probably fine. You could try a Gro Clock if you're fed up with 5am waking - I know I would be! Another trick for the summer is either a blackout blind (Gro also make these and they stick to the window with suckers), or to get her bedroom curtains lined with blackout material (which also comes in white).