Do you adjust bed time when your toddler has a late nap?

[Ruby2]

I always second-guess my decision in this situation. For instance, today DD (23 months) went to sleep about 1.5 hours later than usual, not waking until 3:30. I let her stay up an hour later...but she almost always wakes at the same time in the morning regardless of what time she falls asleep. Then she's exhausted the next day. BUT, if I try to get her to sleep before she's ready, it's a nightmare. Even the one hour later situation like tonight resulted in her taking about twice as long to fall asleep.

I'm just curious what others who have been in this situation are thinking...

[Mal85]

Well, we recently dropped DD's nap because her napping for any length of time was keeping her up super late at night. She is the same as you describe too. It doesn't matter what time she goes to bed, she is almost always up at the same time every morning. Very, very rarely she will sleep in a little later if she comes to snuggle in bed with me... but I also work a few days a week so her sleeping in is not an option on those days.

So, yeah, for us the best thing to do was stop napping. Now she goes to bed 2 hours earlier and is getting the sleep she needs at night. But, if she does nap at all (fell asleep in the car or was just soooo exhausted she can't last), I plan on bedtime being much later. I try not to let that happen unless I know we don't have anything going on the next morning so I can at least try to get her to sleep later in the morning.

[breastmama]

I don't feel proud to say it, but yes, I do adjust the bed time. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't and sometimes I just don't feel like fighting, lol. My little guy is the opposite though - if he goes to bed later, he sleeps in a little later, which means I generally do too

[iheartwren]

We actually wake up our daughter from her nap always by 3:00 (if she hasn't woken up by herself) or she will not go to bed at her normal bed time around 8. 

[cristeen]

My guy has to be up from his nap by 4 to go down again by 8.  So I will wake him up at 4 if I have to.  I don't like doing it, but pushing bedtime back doesn't accomplish much since he'll be up early regardless. 

[newmamalizzy]

I generally plan to push bedtime back, but she often surprises me by being ready for bed earlier.  She usually takes short naps if they're later than usual, though.  I'm sure that makes a big difference.

[AKA_PI]

Yup, if my little guy naps late, I normally shift his bedtime back by the amount of time he slept. Typically if he goes down later I will also not allow him to sleep for longer than hour and 15 minutes.

[Perdita_in_Ontario]

Yes, I do, and it's not really a choice in this house! DS nurses to sleep, and if I try to get him down at a normal time if he has a late nap, he just won't sleep. Period. He'll just nurse and roll around for hours. If he naps after 2:30, I can be sure he won't be asleep until 9. We just adjust our lives around this, because I'm not ready to give up his naps at this point - he's only 20 months.

[Mom2M]

Yes, I do. Normally, DD will go to sleep for a nap anywhere between 1:30-3. So if she sleeps later than 4:30, I know she'll stay up later and we will go to bed around 9-9:30. She also sleeps later in the morning, though. In fact, she's still asleep now, lol, bed was at 10 last night because she was sleeping with Daddy until 6! I'm going to get her up because I want her to take a nap earlier today.

[Lillitu]

I see nothing wrong with adjusting the bedtime. It shows flexibility and going with the flow! We adjust bedtime if DS has a late nap, and if he has no nap, we adjust it as well (earlier).

[KellyandBean]

We also adjust a little most of the time if she naps late. But not by much more then a half hour because like yours she only will sleep until 6 no matter what time i put her down to bed. I rarely let her nap past 3:00 if i can help it and i also try to count her "awake hours" in the day as well and if she has been awake for 11ish hours that day i put her down anyway no matter if she has only been awake for 4 hours since her nap...usually it takes longer to get to sleep but at least she doesn't end up overtired and wired.

[coldandsleepy]

Not usually... my son seems to be equally tired at bedtime regardless of when he had his nap so late naps don't usually impact bedtime.

Which is not to say that he always goes to bed at the same time at all.  If he is totally totally wide awake at bedtime (regardless of naptime), we will let him stay up maybe half an hour later.  Similarly, if he's exhausted and it's still half hour before bedtime... we're not waiting.  I like to watch his attitude more than the clock.

[CanBoo]

Originally Posted by iheartwren 

We actually wake up our daughter from her nap always by 3:00 (if she hasn't woken up by herself) or she will not go to bed at her normal bed time around 8. 

Or at least with dd2 it is the case. Our two dd are sharing the same room, not putting them to bed at the same time never works out fine. So NO napping past 3 pm. If on some exceptional busy days she falls asleep after 3, then nap is limited to 20-30 minutes which seems enough to give her a quick recharge of her batteries until bedtime, but not enough to keep her awake.

That said, when we only had dd1, we adjusted all the time. The logistic of two with one napping and one not napping has changed my answer.

Edited by CanBoo - 10/17/11 at 11:41am