Wake time for a young toddler (12-15mo)

[skfmama]

How long is your toddler usually awake between naps? What does a typical sleep schedule look like?

I'm pretty sure my little one is slowly transitioning to 1 nap. He's really hard to figure out lately - is he tired? Because he's crabby but at the same time hard to put down for a nap. And sleeping less at night - less than 11 hours, where he used to do close to 12. I don't know if I should help him just switch to one nap or continue trying to follow his lead.

I do think he's a little on the young side for only 1 nap (13 mo), and he seems to be able to handle 4 hrs wake time max.

Here's a "typical" schedule (at least before nap fights became a daily issue and I got confused)

Up around 7a

~2.5 hr wake time

nap (~1.5 hrs...this varies)

~3 hr wake time

nap (1.5 hrs - this varies. if he takes his nap later, I wake him up around 4:15/4:30 so he'll go to bed)

~3.5 hr wake time

bed (usually around 7:30 or 8)

Thanks for the feedback!

[Catubodua]

ours transitioned to one nap a day (typically) when he was about 11 months old.  he's not a great sleeper.

our usual day -

wakes up around 6:30 am

nap at 12:30 pm - so up 6 hours - until 2:30, but sometimes 3:30

up until 9:30 pm - so, up again for about 6 hours

sleeps from 9:30 pm to about 1:30 am, wakes, wants food, back asleep by 2:30 am

so, if he wakes at 6:30, he's only had a total of 8 hours sleep that night.  i've never been able to understand people when they say their babies sleep for 12 hours a night.  we've never had that.  it's more typical for him to be waking up every 3 hours or so.

[skfmama]

Thanks. Yes, DS wakes up 1-2x/night to nurse. He doesn't sleep anywhere near 10 or 11 hrs straight. :)

[BellyBean]

Our "sweet spot" was when DD was 12-15 months.  She had the exact schedule you described above (but she slept through the nights completely).  She wasn't a very good sleeper before that.

Now that she is 17 months she is not napping nearly as well, and we can't seem to get to a single nap.  We are in a horrible between stage right now, that I hope we can sort out soon!

[tzs]

dropping to a single nap is a little rough. luckily for me, dd was in am daycare at the time so it was forced on her about the time she would have dropped anyway. it was somewhere between 12 and 15 months. still even at 18 months she'll sometimes get tired, crabby at am naptime so we'll just rest our bodies for a few minutes on her bed. maybe have a bottle to get her to lie there.

i would think if you're having trouble putting down for either nap then it's time to drop. they say you can do a nap early and then move it later and later until it's properly in the afternoon wherever you want it. in any case our day is:

7-7:30 wake

anywhere from 12:15-12:45 down for nap (1.5 hours is short, 3 hours max)

bed anywhere from 7-8ish. and she sleep straight through most nights.

[redvlagrl]

Both my kids dropped their 2nd nap around 11 mths. They are both excellent sleepers. At 12-15 mths DD would wake at 7am, go down at noon and sleep for 2-3 hrs then bedtime at 7pm. DS is v similar (he has just switched to 1 nap) though he tends to wake at 6.30am. No night wakings. We knew the kids wanted to drop the 2nd nap because they basically wouldn't go down reliably in the afternoon so we dropped it and made the morning nap later until it got to around noon or 12.30.

Prior to this, DS would wake at 7am, nap 9-11, nap again at 1-3 then bed at 7pm.

Both my kids have been similarly good sleepers, luckily.

You might find an earlier bedtime - 7pm or earlier might be needed if you go to 1 nap.

[beebalmmama]

My 16 month old dropped his second nap around 10-11 months. I just found myself fighting to get him down for his first nap, which had previously been his most reliable nap. He still sleeps around 11.5 hours at night (wakes twice) and naps for at least 1.5-2 hours for his afternoon nap, occasionally 2-3 but not as often.

My first was a horrible sleeper and dropped his second nap around 6 months. But then he was a horrible napper and I couldn't keep him down for more than 30-45 min at a time. He also woke all night about every 1.5-2 hours. Just a pretty poor sleeper all around.

[Parker'smommy]

He's getting around 14 hours total sleep, which is good. That's what I look at. I think 14 hours is average amount of total sleep for the day for his age. I hate the transition time to 1 nap too. Ugh...hate it. 

SI read somewhere once, that if kids fall asleep in the car, they are over tired and should still be napping at/around that time. So, if you were to go out in the am, and skip babe's nap, would he fall asleep while in route somewhere?  If yes, then he probably still needs that nap. Also, nap times should lengthen if you go to one nap, and babe should go to bed earlier for the evening so that total hours of sleep stays the same. Good luck!

[octobermom]

mine was way for predicable when she was younger but a typcialish day.. she is 13 months BTW

Wake 6:30am

go hand baby to early waking DH and try to go back to sleep  

breakfast 8am typically eggs and toast

nap around 9-10am

sleep from 30 mintues to 3 hours and its hit or miss which..

Lunch between 11-1pm tpically after my oldest finishes her school work..

nap again around 4pm for about and hour at most..

bedtime between 8-10pm depedning on how shes slept

typically wakes twice at night to nurse..

Sehs is a frequent daytime nurser as well..

[Nicole730]

My daughter is 13 months.

She wakes up around 6am to nurse, then back to sleep for another hour or two.  I used to think 6am was wake up time, but one day I put her back in her crib and she went back to sleep.

Awake for 2 hours

Nap for 2 hours

Awake for 3 hours

Nap for 1-2 hours

Awake for 3-4 hours, bed around 7pm.

She sleeps a lot, I think.  Today was especially sleepy, awake at 8am, bed at 7pm and over 4 hours of napping!

[carmen358]

DD transitioned to 1 nap around 13 months or so. She has had sleep challenges since about 7 or 8 months so probably isn't typical in the amount of times she wakes up but her schedule is fairly consistent every day.

Wakes between 7:30 and 8:30am

Down for a nap between 12:30 and 1:30

Sleeps between 1.25 and 2 hours

Bed between 8 and 9

We have totally followed her lead and she has pretty much always set her own schedule and it is quite consistent.

[chel]

My dd is15m and has just settled into 1 nap. For the past couple of months she would alternate between 1 nap with an early bedtime one day then 2 naps with a late bedtime the next.

Now she goes down around 8pm, eats 1-3x a night, wake at 730 am and nap about 1.5 hrs around noon

[paxye]

My toddler sleeps from about 8:30pm until about 7am... 

then in the day she naps when she is tired on her own schedule... lately she has been taking one nap in the early afternoon for about an hour or so... 

[McGucks]

BabytoSleep--you might want to check the rules about this forum.  Solicitations are not allowed.  And there is NO such thing as a "typical schedule" for a child who is a year through 36 months.  That is a huge age range and your recommendation may make parents feel that there is something wrong with their child if he/she doesn't follow what you put forth as "typical."  Please be more thoughtful and cautious with your posts in the future.

[Perdita_in_Ontario]

DS transitioned to one nap at roughly 12.5 months. For a while he still needed to nap in the mornings (wake at about 7, down for nap ~9:30) but then wouldn't nap in the afternoon. Talk about looong afternoons.. he was cranky!!

Now I've managed to move the nap to starting at about 11:30, and he sleeps for about 2 hours, and then he's ready for bed around 7. We co-sleep so he doesn't sleep through, but he doesn't fully wake either.