Schedule

[newmama12]

What does your toddler's sleep schedule look like? I'm so confused as to how long my dd (21 months) can be up in between nap and bedtimes and such. I don't know if she's ot or ut or what! Last week we had a fantastic (albeit strange!) week with her sleeping. She must have been going thru a growth spurt b/c she was sleeping tons. It was great! But, of course, we're back to relatively short naps and night times.

Wake: 6-6:30am
Nap: 12-1:30
Bed: 7:00pm (sometimes not asleep till 7:30 or even 7:45p)

By 5pm, she's crabby and ready for dinner and bed, but that's way too early. Food energizers her and she's good to go again once she has dinner. But then it's bath time and some nights, I think bath gets her all hyped up b/c it's been taking her forever to fall asleep at night. The other night it took an hour - that's been the longest yet.

I guess I'm just curious to hear how long other toddlers can stay up for between waking and nap and then after nap and bedtime. I often wonder if she's up for too long?? If she only naps for 1.5 hours and then is up from 1:30 till 7:30 (or whenever she finally falls asleep), maybe she's ot? I've also tried to have her in bed really early, like 6:30p, and sometimes she still won't be asleep till after 7. Other nights, she falls asleep in 10 minutes. It's so strange and I can't figure it out. 

For today: she woke at 6:25am. Nap 12:45-2:15 (yes, later than planned ). So what time is bed?? Normally, it would be 7. Should I stick with it?? Do I go with 12 hour days, no matter what - which would mean 6:30 in bed?

[Mama2boys]

Hi,

My son is an irratic sleeper but can normally do about 4.5/5 hrs morning A time, then 2 hr nap and then 5.5-6 hr A time.

More often than not his day his 13 hrs with a 2 hr nap and night is about 11 hrs if I am luckly. But like I said he is an irratic sleeper.

[mommy2mason]

My 18 month old is the same way! He goes in spurts....a couple weeks of awesome sleep and then a couple weeks of taking a long time to fall asleep at night and EW. Right now we're in the phase where he's taking a long time to fall asleep for bed, shorter naps, and EW at 6! His routine looks very similar to your LO. He naps at about noon and falls asleep fairly quickly and naps 2.5-3 hours on his good weeks of sleep but only 1hr. 45min. on his bad weeks. Then with the short naps he wakes early. The past couple nights I tried putting him to bed at 6:30pm but he babbles until almost 7:30pm! I know he's OT and am really debating a 6pm bedtime. He's much crankier than usual and has bags under his eyes. I know, it's so confusing! On his good weeks he sleeps 12 hours at night and 2.5-3 hour naps....I'm wondering if he catches up on sleep for a couple weeks, then doesn't need as much for a couple weeks, and the cycle continues. I've debated limiting his nap to 2 hours to see if I can get him on a more consistent routine but I just have such a hard time waking him up. Wish I had some advice, but we're going through it too!

Amy

[lilmonkey]

We are the same boat over here.  Ds will give me several weeks of a good routine and then several weeks of a crappy one.  He can do about 5hrs in am and 5-6hr pm.  I don't expect him to do 12hr nights so our day is 13/11hrs.  On days where he has an EW I try to stretch him to his nap/bed times.  Last week when he woke at 5:30am, I put him to bed at 6:30pm and he woke the next day at 5am.  Early to bed does not mean later wakeup for him.  So I'm no help there.  If bedtime is 6:30 will he sleep in later?

[mommy2mason]

Mimi-Intresting how your DS does the same as mine with several weeks of a good routine then several weeks of a crappy one! I try not to freak out too much when he's in his bad phase because I know that eventually it'll get better....I just wish I could figure it out so we wouldn't have to go through it! It's confusing because he doesn't wake up cranky in the morning. I wake up to him chatting away and playing in his crib.

This morning was his worst yet! He woke at 5:45am. He took forever to fall asleep again last night and finally fell asleep at 7:30pm. Early to bed for him used to work really well and he'd make up for his sleep that he missed. I tried putting him down at 6:20pm last night but he still babbled until 7:30pm.

Now I'm trying to decide if I should keep his normal naptime at noon or move the whole day up since he's waking early. Then I'd have nap a little after 11 and early to bed. I'm just not sure if that will help or not.

Hope things are going better for the rest of you!
Amy

ETA: Also, the past few nights we've heard him at 3am moaning and groaning for a few minutes but then falling back asleep. He never has NW's so I don't know what's up with this either but I'm sure it's just from OT.

[willowonyx]

Before my DD turned 2 and then had a bunch of sleeping problems all by herself, this was her schedule:

Wake 6:30
Nap 1-3
Lights out 6:45

I found that until she turned 2, she got very grumpy around dinnertime IF she did not get enough sleep at naptime for if she got up early from nap.  At least with my LO, she could go longer in the morning than at night.

I would say to try to bump up the bedtime a bit.  It will not be clear right away if it is helping, could take a week or so, because your LO may be in an OT mode.

[lilmonkey]

Amy, could you try to wait as close as possible to 12?  And if he wakes early from the nap, can you extend it to the usual wake up time?  That's what I do when ds has and EW and the day is out of wack.  I am truly convinced that ds body has set sleep time especially when it comes to bedtime.  Dh and I noticed over the last few weeks that no matter how short the pm A is (as long as it's at least 3.5hrs) he will go to sleep around 8pm (8:30 at the latest).  DS was sick so we had days of 2 naps (one nap ended at 5pm and he still went to bed at around 8:30pm.)

Don't really have an answer for the moaning other than teething?  We also have been getting a EW/NW (not sure?).  Ds is becoming more aware of his dirty diaper so we have been hearing him around 5/5:30 am.  I just give him some water, change his diaper and put him back to bed.  He does scream at first but then he's quiet and goes back to sleep.

[Fiona (Leah & Kians Mom)]

Hmm, all these little men giving us a hard time. Like many of you we have good weeks and bad weeks. In general ds will sleep 11 hours at night or just under. I dont want to keep him up later than 7.30 and he is usually asleep by 8 at the latest sometimes before. Wake up is 6.30 ish.  I find he has to have a longer A time in the morning or I get a rubbish nap usually 45 mins . Up until a week ago I was getting an almost 2 hour nap now its down to 1 hour 15 mins. Bed time remains the same and nap time remains the same. So we do
6.30 Awake
12.45 Sleep, usually asleep by 1.00pm
2.30 Awake, wake him but usually awake now by 2.15
7.30 Bed, sometimes sleeps straight away sometimes takes until 8 pm.

Early bed means Early wake time here too which is why we follow a pretty strict schedule, though today he went down after 6 hours 45 mins wake time cos we were out and he woke after 1 hour 15. So I think for us our nap has just gotten shorter. Also very aware of body functions here, both kinds and this often causes an EW usually no earlier than 6.30.

Amy I would have stuck with the 12 nap and bed early if nap was bad. Tbh I would limit it
to 2 hours if you want a long night sleep.
NewMama do you think keeping the nap at 12.30 might help a bit so she wakes at 2? maybe with a 7.15 bed time? I think at this age it is just a question of finding the right amount of A time morning and pm.

[lilmonkey]

Off topic...Fiona are you considering of PT?

[Fiona (Leah & Kians Mom)]

No way, am not that brave, are you?

[newmama12]

Grrr!! I wish dd would be more on a regular schedule instead of all these different wake time! LOL! Yesterday morning, she slept 'in' till 7:30am! That's late for her. She napped 12:15-2:15 (again...long nap for her!). I figured she could do her usual 5 hours in the pm, which should have been fine with a 2 hour nap. So, she was in bed at 7:15pm and fell asleep fairly quickly. But...she was up at 5:20am this morning! WTH?!?!? She just sat in her crib and played, talked and listened to her music for an hour before I got her out. I thought, maybe she would go back to sleep, but nope! Should I have put her to bed earlier than 7:20 last night?? That would have been less than a 12 hour day, with a 2 hour nap. I have no idea. I suppose 2 year molars are bothering her b/c she is chewing on her fingers, but it's so odd. I'm going to try and keep with a normal nap time - close to 12pm. Then defifinetly early bed, 6:30pm.