How many hours between nap and bedtime for 23 month old?

[cookie cookie]

Hi. I think our routine needs some tweaking. DD's routine looks like this most days:

7am awake
12:30-1pm nap
3:15-4:00pm awake from nap
8:30-9pm bedtime

If she wakes from nap by 3:15-3:30 then I get her into bed by 8:15-8:30 but it is always close to 9pm when she falls asleep.

If she wakes from nap at 4pm then I put her down for bed at 8:30-9pm. She falls asleep by 9:30pm.

Two problems.... one is that Mommy and Daddy don't get much adult time with her going to bed so late and two is that a lot of nights she really resists going to bed. I'm not sure if the resistance is her age or because perhaps she is overtired. She never shows signs of being tired but when she finally gets her head on the pillow she yawns like crazy.

If she is sleeping at nap time until 3:30-4pm should I still get her into bed by 7:30-8pm even though it has only been four hours that she's been awake? That is the bedtime I'd really like for her but for some reason I feel guilty making her go to bed after only being awake for four hours. She sleeps through the night most nights but sometimes goes through spells where she wakes up several times a night. She usually settles herself but I'm wondering if that could be because I've let her get overtired.

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks! Sydnee's Mom.

[Layla]

Sydnee's Mom - this is what my dd's routine looks like at 23 months (well 5 days short of  ):

6.30 - awake
12-12.30pm - nap (1.5-2hrs)
7pm - bedtime (asleep by 7.30)

So, I would actually cut her nap right down to 2hrs so that she is able to fall asleep at earlier bedtime. I would say the long nap is what's affecting her ability to go to bed earlier. Mine can last up to 6hrs of A time before bedtime but I try not to get her over that. Its usually 5.5-6hrs.

hth
Layla

[imsmum]

I would say it's really up to you if you want to try to limit her nap and try for an earlier sleep time so you can get more peace and quiet in the evenings, because her overall length of sleep is about right for her age--13 hours. 

She is definitely reaching the age where the length of nap can interfere with an early bedtime, or, at least with my dd, the time she wakes from her nap will interfere with an early bedtime.  I think most lo's Sydnee's age have a 13+ hour day (from wakeup to bedtime)with about 5 to 5.5 hours of that after nap.  It looks like Sydnee needs 5.5 hours after nap before she can fall asleep so I would set a time by which you will wake her ie. 3:30, then slowly bring that back to say 3:00 to allow her night sleep to adjust so she's napping closer to 2 hours during the day and lengthen night sleep to about 11.

It may be though that her nap isn't interfering with the night sleep but the long nap is makeing up for a short night's sleep. If her night sleep isn't lengthening when you shorten the nap you may be stuck for a while with the current schedule.  I think some lo's are set for  10 hour night and she uses the long nap to make up for that.  For a long while I couldn't budge Margot from a 10 hour night for love nor money, and even now that seems to be her "default" setting. 

So I'd definitely try shortening the nap, but move slowly to see if night sleep adjusts ( I would imagine there will be a slight lag in the night sleep adjusting) Good luck and here's to an early night!

[cookie cookie]

Thanks ladies. I had Sydnee get up from her nap at 3:30pm today and had her into bed at 8:30pm and left the room without any trouble tonight. I'm going to try working back about ten minutes each day to see if we can't get her back to an 8pm bedtime and a 3pm awake from nap time. She does seem to be stuck on the 10 hours of sleep at night though no matter how she naps. I'm not sure that that part will change. She used to sleep 11 hours at night but for a long time now its consistently 10. Maybe if her nap is consistently shortened to 2 hours then it will lenthen to 11 hours again at night. Wish us luck! Thanks again for your replies!