16mo; ONE three hour nap, what time of day should it be... When does yours sleep?

[newmomma]

Hiya,

My son has a good three hour sleep in the morning at approx 9am, which has been fine and convenient for me.

But he's started waking earlier and wanting to go down earlier. Waking at 5.30 instead of 6.30 and wanting to go to bed from 8am.

I've read that some small children use their first nap of the day to 'extend' their night-time sleep, which I think he may be doing.

A few friends have raised eyebrows that he has his sleep in the morning rather than after lunch and so I wondered when other people's similar-aged-children have their sleeps.

Perhaps if I try and slowly extend the sleep until later in the day he would sleep later in the morning?

But then how do I cross over lunchtime without him waking hungry?

Or rather thank inching it later in the day should I just start keeping him up in the morning (get out and about or something) and then let him sleep in the afternoons; hoping that he eventually just gets used to it.

Don't want to ruin his sleep routine as am 40+2 with DC2 and would hate the thought of screwing with his 3 hours sleep - its quite useful for me!

Thanks
x

when ds first dropped to 1 nap it was around 11am and it slowly moved to just after lunch. During that time I played it by ear re: snacks and lunch e.g. sometimes he had a mid-morning snack and a late lunch after his sleep (which could be around 2pm) or I would give him an early lunch and a snack when he woke. His nap eventually ended up being around 12.30pm just after lunch until he decided to give up napping at just over the age of 2!

I see - so kind of just feed around the sleep-time and not worry too much about when they have lunch.

It would be useful to have mornings free and be able to get out and about to toddler groups etc...

Sounds like he's waking up early for breakfast and then going back to sleep.

Have you tried letting him have a short nap at 9am ish, and then trying to get him down after lunch? It's great having a lunch break to yourself

My DS (18mo) wakes up anytime between 6.30-7.30 and has his nap at 12-30-1.30 for 1-3 hours.

He started having one nap at 11mo and at the beginning it was at 11am and he had his lunch after and we then extended it by 5-10 mins every day until it was at 12.30/1 and he could have his lunch beforehand. If he is ever tired enough to sleep before 12 then I let him and give him a late lunch at 2 or 3.

HTH!

Good luck with the new baby.

It's great, isn't it, a 3 hour sleep?

My DD gets up about 7, then has her 3 hour sleepathon from 11-2. She has a banana just before bed then a proper lunch afterwards.

Yes! The 3 hour nap is a godsend.

That's why I'm a little worried about messing with it.

I think you're right though Jareth the more I think about it I realise that he's doing exactly what you said - getting up for breakfast and then going back to sleep - I've had to drag it out this morning - he'd have happily gone back to bed at 8am...