How long does your toddler nap?

[newmamalizzy]

DD (just shy of 16 months) has always been a lousy napper.  For the past month or two she's started napping once a day for exactly 1 hour and 20 minutes.  At least once a week, something goes wrong and she can't sleep at her normal time.  Then she naps for 40 minutes several hours later than usual.  I'm pretty sure this constitutes the low end of the napping spectrum for a baby her age, but I'm curious to see what other toddlers do at various ages. 

Edit:  Honestly, the latent scientist in me just REALLY wants to see a histogram.  I'm hoping for a bell curve :)

[wishin'&hopin']

DS (15 months) has been napping anywhere from 2-3 hours.  However, if he wakes up after less than 2 1/2 hours he has a VERY hard time--lots of weeping and gnashing of teeth.  When he sleeps close to 3 hours he wakes up smiling.  Overnight he sleeps 10 (10 1/2 on a good night)--so I've actually been a tad worried that he's not getting enough total sleep!

[dancingflower]

Ds is 17mo. He does a solid 2 hrs (sometimes more, less often less) in a quite late nap (5 to 6 hrs after waking. With him, contrary to most moms experience, I found that he sleeps best if I push his nap for as late as possible.

This amount is pretty good. But this is new. He was never this great of a napper. It started probably a month or so. Before that, his naps would be just around one hour and never longer than 1.5hrs, whether it was his first, second or the only nap of the day.

[P.J.]

I voted 1.5 hours. DS is 14 months and usually has one big (for him) nap either late morning or midday that lasts usually 1hour or 1 hour 15/20 minutes. On the rare occasion he has slept 2 hours, which was just unbelievable to us! Also, if he wakes up and I get in there and lie down with him and nurse him, sometimes he'll fall back asleep and sleep either 30 mins or another hour. I was just reading that this is a common pattern. Maybe you could try going in as soon as you hear her stirring and helping her fall back asleep.

We are also transitioning form 2 to 1 nap and it's tough because he often would fall asleep late afternoon, but if it's too late (like after 5), he will then be up til 10pm. But if he doesn't have that second nap he can be real grumpy for the last couple hours of the day. Also a typical toddler drama, and I expect the transition to one nap will take another few months at least.

[coldandsleepy]

When my son was 16 months, I considered myself lucky if he napped an entire hour. What's interesting is that when he was a bit older-- around 19 months-- he suddenly started taking these enormous 3+ hr naps. Changed my life. :P

He's 22 months now and has dropped back down to napping about 1.5 hrs but oh what a beautiful month or two we had.

[Coconut Chronicles]

DS is 23 months and naps 2.5 to 3 hours a day

[somegirl99]

DS is just over 12 months and is napping anywhere from 1 hour to 3.5 hours.

[Dot-to-Dot]

I just want to say that I am UBER jealous of people who have toddlers who nap 2-3 hours.  My life would be SO different if my daughter napped like that.  There's should be some sort of tax benefit for people who got short nappers.  It seriously limits your ability to function properly when you have a baby/toddler who doesn't nap or only takes a short nap.  At 22 months, my dd naps about an hour, sometimes not at all though.  If she napped for 3 hours I'd be in there checking on her every 5 minutes wondering what was wrong with her!

[Agatha_Ann]

My guy naps from 1-4 everyday. He will be a total monster if he sleeps less than 2 hours. He'll function fine on a 2 hour nap, but the next day he'll sleep for 4.

[Snapdragon]

3- 4 hrs total (2 naps)

Edited by Snapdragon - 8/2/11 at 1:37pm

[Hannah32]

I have a 13 m.o. He does two naps, usually about 1 1/2 to 2 hrs each. Sometimes, we have trouble with the second nap. He sort of wants to give it up, but he's not ready to do so. When that nap is only 45 minutes (usually preceding by 45 m of goofing around in his crib), it's often a sad afternoon with lots of grumps. 

[MJB]

My 12 mo. old naps once a day, for 1-3 hours. I voted 2 because it's usually between 1.5 and 2.5 hours. 

[newmamalizzy]

Originally Posted by Dot-to-Dot 

I just want to say that I am UBER jealous of people who have toddlers who nap 2-3 hours.  My life would be SO different if my daughter napped like that.  There's should be some sort of tax benefit for people who got short nappers.  It seriously limits your ability to function properly when you have a baby/toddler who doesn't nap or only takes a short nap.  At 22 months, my dd naps about an hour, sometimes not at all though.  If she napped for 3 hours I'd be in there checking on her every 5 minutes wondering what was wrong with her!

I TOTALLY agree!  Mine was the type that did 4 40 minute naps a day on my lap until she was, like, 8 months old, then did two 40 minute naps a day for a while, but I could only get her to sleep in the car during that stage.  These 1:20 naps in her bed are just amazing to me.  I can't believe all the stuff I can get done!  I can't even imagine how different my life would have been with a baby who napped for hours in a bed throughout babyhood.  It's totally, to me, the difference between parents who think having a baby is easy-peasy, and how crazy and stressed I've been the whole time I've had an infant.  I'm definitely claiming that tax benefit. 

[kitteh]

My 18-month-old usually naps 2-3 hours a day, but never at any real predictable time. We have a late-to-bed, late-to-rise lifestyle right now and she's a natural night owl. DH works nights, usually from 2-10PM or 3-11PM, and Ela likes to be up when he gets home. We wait for him to get home to have a late dinner together, so that forces our nights to be later.

She usually falls asleep for the night around 1AM (though last night she decided sleep was for suckers and tried to keep playing in bed til almost 3AM! wtf) She generally sleeps 10 hours a night, down from 12 a few months ago. The best-case scenario is when she takes her nap around 5PM and sleeps til 7PM. But sometimes she fakes me out, acting like she's sleepy but fighting it til 8 or 9. Those are usually the nights when she stays up well past midnight.

I'm starting a part-time job at the end of August, and I'll have to start getting up around 8AM. It should be interesting to see what this does to our schedule. I wouldn't mind it if we all started getting up and going to bed a bit earlier than we currently do, but I'm not sure how that will pan out with DH's schedule.

[Adaline'sMama]

My 16 month old either doesnt take a nap at all and is really cranky or she takes a 2-3 hour nap and stays up all night. grr....

[Terrilein]

ds is 12 months and stll has 2 naps mostly. He never sleeps for more than an hour at a time. So he basically gets 2 hours naptime during the day. He sleeps anywhere between 8-10 hours at night, usually waking once for a feeding, but sometimes it's all night. Like last night.

[octobermom]

16 months she takes one "alone" nap in the am ussually about 1.5 hours then sometims cosleeps a power nap around 20-30 mintues around 4pmish.

[EmTheWife]

At 15 months, ds sleeps 1.5-2.5 hrs for his nap, which is 5-6 hours after waking.  He's happiest if he gets the full 2.5 hrs.  He sleeps 10.5-11 hrs at night, usually 7:30pm-6:30am.

[Marissamom]

at that age DD was taking a 2 hour nap every day. now, at 26 months, she takes a two hour nap about once a week and doesn't nap the rest of the week. 

[Xavismom]

DS (20 mo) wakes up around 7:30-8:00

Nap begins somewhere around 11:00-Noon, lasts anywhere from 2-3 hours

Bedtime is 9:00ish.

This is his schedule, not mine. I just follow his cues. It changes every few weeks, just when I start to get used to it =)

Some days he has a much shorter nap, around 45 min to 1 hour... late afternoon to bedtime on those days is AWFUL.