What's your 2-3 year-old's general sleep pattern?

[mummylonglegs]

Just curious as I keep thinking dd, 2 1/2 may need to drop her nap soon, so wanted to compare with you guys.

At the moment she sleeps approx:

8pm - 7am
1.30 - 3.30pm

I've been having increasing problems getting her to bed in the evening though so am experimenting with cutting her nap down to 1.5 hours which has helped a bit so far.

crap AT sleeping through...

bedtime routines are essential for long term good sleeping habits, so I would say you are absolutely right!

My two, 4 and 2, go to bed about 7.30pm and wake at about 6.45-7.15am (it depends on our morning routine, whether they wake earlier or later). The younger naps every day from about 1.30-3.30, sometimes earlier sometimes later, and sometimes has to have the nap cut short because we have to go and collect ds from nursery. Ds naps about 3 times a week, usually going down about 30m after dd and getting up at the same time. He would easily nap an hour every day and not affect his nighttime sleep.

I absolutely agree with Crazy that you can train a child to sleep longer. Ds was easy to get into a good sleeping habit, whereas it took us until about 18-20m to get dd into a good sleeping habit. She used to wake at about 5.30am, and it was a struggle to get her to go down for her naps. It's all a matter of routine and perseverance. And gritted teeth .

Thanks all. Yes, I think I should make dd's nap a bit earlier, I just never seem to manage that as she's at a childminders 2 mornings a week and we usually do our major day's activity in the morning. I think ideally 1 - 3pm would be best. I'll have to make a bit more effort! When she wakes as late as 4pm she's a demon to get to bed at night.

I agree with the bedtime routine thing. Not sure what I think about being able to get ALL kids to sleep 13 hours a day though at this age. Most kids I know don't manage that much. Dd, for instance, has never done a 12 hour night in her life even though she's been good at sleeping through for ages, so that's why I'm reluctant to drop her daytime nap just yet.

Some children just don't need that amount of sleep. Even as a newborn baby my ds1 was only sleeping for 6hrs out of every 24. Yep. That's not a typo. He's slowly improving but even now at almost 5yrs old he falls asleep between 9pm and 9.30pm (in bed at 8.15pm) and is often wide awake at 4.30-5.30am.

glad we could be of some help MLL, hope it helps her to have an earlier sleep.

I will stress again, I'm not saying that all children of this age should be having 13hrs sleep a day, This is recommended sleep pattern for a child aged 2-3 year in the How to solve your childs sleep problems book. However in my experiance it seems to be about right give or take an hour.

CT you say not all children need a lot of sleep, is your 5 yr old ok on that little amount? not having a go , just curious

DD is 3 next month at will sleep at night from around 6.30-6.30

Somedays she really needs a nap and will sleep for about 2 hours but this meens that she won't go to bed till about 8 o clock and is really grumpy the next day.

I try not to give her a nap but some days she has too, especially if we have been to the park for the morning.

bed 9:30pm, up 10 am-ish.

Nap, 45 minutes, maybe at 3 pm, if he has one.

He is 2 exactly.

bed is 7.30pm-8pm.

usually uo between 7-8am.

no naps. hasnt had regular naps aince she was 1yr old.

I know what you're saying, Crazy. Dd usually gets 12-13 hours in a 24-hour period. I think I just have to manage it better for her. If she gets less than that she's exhausted. BUT I do know some kids who sleep less and seem fine. They amaze me. Dd would be literally a zombie or an hysteric if she had as little sleep as that. I guess on the other hand some of the other posters on this thread have kids who sleep about 15 hours a day which I could also never imagine dd doing.

Hi Coppertop by the way!

Helloooo MLL!

Crazy - He's absolutely fine on that amount of sleep. Like a lot of children with autism he doesn't produce much melatonin so doesn't sleep. The Paed did once offer to prescribe melatonin for him if we felt it was needed but we never really got to that stage. The only time he falls asleep in the daytime is when he's ill and feeling generally knocked out. It looks as though ds2 is heading in the same way. Both boys already have a pretty strict routine as they both need that kind of structure. They just physically can't sleep any longer than they already do atm.

DD has just turned 3 a couple fo weeks ago. Her routine for pasy 6-8 months has been roughly (and I mean roughy!):

wake: 6:45-7:30- (early time on my 3 work days)
bed:7:30 (ish) - may be a little later on weekends, depending on what we are doing

nap: she only naps at nursery (2 days a week), and that is not every time. Most she naps for is 30-40 minutes.

TBH our routine is very flexible and times do change. If we want a lie in we let her stay up later (which luckily for us does work).

Both of mine gave up their daytime sleeps at 2-21/4, so they woke between 6.45-7.30. Go to bed between 7.00-7.30. Asleep by 8.00.

Ds is 2yr7m. Bedtime is 7pm and he wakes up at 9:30am. Last couple of days has been 8pm, but he's just started potty training and asks for the toilet cos he doesn't want a wet nappy - awwww

DD was 2 in December. Her routine is bed at 7/7.30 and awake at 8.00. No naps during the day just maybe a couple of very short ones once or twice a week if necessary.

Ditched the daytime nap last month - grrrr. But will still lie in bed awake for an hour singing to his toys so I still get a cuppa!

MY DD (2.7)sleeps from 8pm til 7/7.45am, with a 2hr nap , sometimes reduced to 1 1/2hrs if shes stil reading at 9pm in her cot.

DS (2.6) 8.00/8.30pm - 7.30/8.00am.

He doesn't usually have a daytime nap anymore although he's an opportunistic sleeper so if he's in his pushchair or car seat in the afternoon he sometimes falls asleep and will happily sleep for up to 2 hours although I try not to let him sleep for more than an hour (especially if it's late afternoon).

My Ds (26.5mo) is about the same as yours, although sometimes I am letting the bed time slip till 8:30, but then he might sleep anywhere from 7:30 to 8:30, especially after days he is in childcare, as he only sleep about an hour to an hour and a half there. His arvo nap is from 12:30 till 2/2:30 normally but has been known to go as late as 3/3:15 depending what is going on with him.

We get in our pjs and sleeping bag and read a book and have a drink of soy milk from a cup and then straight to bed in dark room with door closed and that is the end of that. DS has been a GF baby from the start though.

My ds 2.3 goes down about 9 and sleeps till 6:30. It takes him a really long time to calm down enough to fall aslsep and I hate to admit this but I still wait in his room until he finally closes his eyes! In nursery he naps for 1.5-2 hours, but at home it's a nightmare, I suppose he isn't as active then. We're lucky in a way he doesn't need much sleep because we have a long commute, we leave the house at 6:40 and we rarely have to wake him up.