late naps...

[nelson]

DS 20 months is not a good sleeper, never has been. In the past month or so, he has been skipping naps. He goes to bed super well at night when he doesn't sleep during the day. If he does nap, it will sometimes take an hour of nursing to get him to sleep at night. Anyway, my question is this. I would still prefer for him to nap, but when is too late? He used to go down between 11:30 and 1:00 and if he missed that window I assumed he wasn't going to take a nap that day. But sometimes he gets tired around 2:00ish or later now, and I have not been letting him sleep at those times because he would not go to sleep until really late at night on those days. I have many friends who do let their toddlers take late naps, am I depriving my child of sleep? I used to work at a daycare and had parents who would not allow their child to participate in naptime, as to make it easier for them to go to bed in the evening, I always thought it was so mean, and suddenly I wonder if I am being like those parents? What is the latest you will let your toddler nap?

[Emmery'sMom]

What times does your DS get up in the morning?

My DD wakes between 8-9am typically, and goes down for a nap between 1-3pm. If she not showing signs yet of being ready for a nap by 230pm I just get her ready for naptime anyway. I try not to let her sleep later than 4pm otherwise it throws off her 9pm bedtime. If we've been out running around and she didn't nap all day I will let her take a late nap (like a 6pm one), but usually only for 30 minutes then we start making noise so she'll wake up...otherwise her sleep gets thrown off easily and then we're awake til 1am!

[smeisnotapirate]

I let my 20mo DS nap whenever. He's had naps as late as 5pm, slept for an hour, had dinner, and then been asleep again by 9. We try to all be asleep by 10pm or so, but we're very child-led when it comes to sleeping so his bedtime varies a lot (8pm - 11pm usually), because sleep is something I refuse to fight about.

If he's not cranky, I don't see a problem trying to engage him into staying up, but I wouldn't force the issue.

[Catherine12]

My dd (22 mos) naps from 3 pm to 6 pm and goes to bed at 9. She doesn't have any trouble falling asleep at either time, even though she is weaned now.

My ds was a different story though - I had to stop giving him a nap at 18 months because he had so much trouble getting to sleep. Once we dropped the nap, he had a much easier time at bedtime as well. We transitioned to a "quiet time" with his older sister in their bedroom during the time he would have been napping.

I don't think it matters much when you do the nap, it's more a question of how much sleep does your toddler need. It sounds like your toddler is needing less sleep - you may not be able to stop the naptime struggles without reducing the amount of sleep he gets at night (or you may not be able to stop them at all).

[Baby_Cakes]

If DD (16 mo) fights her nap and doesn't want to sleep, I try really hard to keep her up until at least 7:30 or 8 pm. And she's TIRED by then, like, ready to crawl into my arms and pass out. But, on the other hand, if I let her fall asleep at 5 or 6, she will wake up at 9 or so and be very screamy and hard to put back to sleep.
The latest I'll let her take her nap is until 3 pm. Meaning, if she doesn't go down till 2, she'll only get that hour. But if she goes down at 12 (or so), she's usually up by 2:30 or 3 and that's fine.

[nelson]

DS usually wakes up at 7:00am and goes to bed around 7:30pm. I guess I'm just not used to the idea of him getting to bed much later than that, especially since no matter when he goes to bed, he is always up at the same time. Thanks for the responses, I guess it sounds like most kids who nap later, go to bed later- that makes sense. I enjoy my evening alone with my DH so much, it would be hard to give that up.

[just_lily]

I figure that most toddlers can handle being awake for 5 to 6 hours before needing to sleep. My DD gets up around 7am, nap is around 12 or 12:30, she sleeps for about two hours, and then goes to bed between 7 and 8pm. She is generally a pretty good sleeper.

I run a daycare, so we have a pretty consistant routine and I think that helps all of the kids (I have four nappers) wind down as they know what to expect. We are pretty free flowing the rest of the day, but I always try to have lunch ready right around 11:30, and then we get ready for sleep.