How much awake time for your 18-19 month old before bed?

[becky1969]

We had such a good thing going, and of course now things are wacked again.

LO is nearly 19 months old. We've been on 1 nap for about 4 months now, and he's consistently sleeping 2-2.5 hours.

He was easily going to sleep at night about 4.5-5 hours after wakening from his nap. Now all of a sudden he's a bear to get down for sleep! I'm just trying to figure out if it's because he needs more A time before bed, or if he's teething or sick. 

He's been showing signs of SOMETHING - extremely fussy, pulling at ears, and he had 2 NWs this week after 3 weeks of no NWs.  I took him in to the doc yesterday and no sign of ear infection. He has all his teeth except 2 year molars. I pray to God it's not the 2 year molars because we just finished 6 very long months of teething 3 weeks ago. I need a longer break!

Anyway, if you could give me an idea of how much awake time your LO has then I can maybe figure out if he's OT or just needing a little more A time before bed. tonight he fell asleep at 5hr40

[KathrynK]

hey stranger! long time no post 

I think Owen and Sophie were seperated at birth, they are so similar in this- since Sophie transitioned I had to have her back in bed no more than 4.5hrs after waking but in recent weeks she has taken ages to fall asleep at night (instead of her usual zonking out in under 3 minutes she was playing for up to an hour). I've played with nap times and now she's having at least 5 hours before bed and things are back to normal. I also have to make sure she gets lots of physical activity, running around, in the afternoon to wear her out before bed.
I've also noticed lately that if she has a shorter nap (for example at nursery she will typically sleep 1hr 20-30mins) she'll add the missing time to her night sleep that night and wake 30 mins later in the morning. I've not started regularly waking her from her nap -I really don't want to have to do that, god knows we all did it for long enough during the transition- but I do wake her at 2hr 15 if she's not already awake, as any more day sleep and she'll be up the next day at 5.30 
Our current routine looks like this:
6.30am wake
11.45am nap
2pm wake
7pm bed

hope this helps!
lots of love xxx

[Layla]

Hey Becky!

I was also going to suggest try cutting the nap to 2hrs so that he is able to fall asleep sooner at night. Our A times at that age was 5hrs & 5.5 in the morning.

[becky1969]

Thanks guys! I knew I could count on you! 

Limiting his nap doesn't seem to help him fall asleep earlier. Yesterday he only had a 1.5 hour nap, went to swim lessons, and then it took 5.5 hours to fall asleep!! Since he woke from the nap at 3:30, that meant he was up until 9 pm.  Mama not happy.

I woke him this morning at 8. I think one of our problems is that he's been sleeping until 8:30/9:00 in the morning. That pushes nap to 1:30 or even 2 (like yesterday).  So, I'll start with 8 am and wake earlier if that doesn't work out. I hate waking him because frankly I've been enjoying the 1-2 hours to myself in the morning! I've been able to start exercising again! But, the late nights aren't any fun since I need that time to work, and we tend to do a lot of WI/WO when he doesn't fall asleep right away.

Today he only napped 1 hour. Not sure why. Hope I'm not starting a whole new problem!


How are your toddlers doing? Kathryn, are you totally loving being on the other side of the transition? I&Js mom - are you there yet yourself? Seems like you had to start the transition pretty early - are you done yet?

[Layla]

No, not there yet . Slowly getting there though. No major hassles, occasional ew's but thats about all.

I think you know what the answer is... wake him up, earlier nap & he gets tired earlier for the night!

Good luck

[KathrynK]

just like Layla said- if you want him to go to bed at 7/7.30pm, you're going to have to start his day at 7.30/8 am!
It would be lovely to have that time to yourself in the morning, but I figure if I can have time to myself either first thing in the morning, or in the evening, but not both, I'm going to choose the evening every time.

I love love love being on 1 nap a day. Can you believe how fast they grow up? Sophie has been stringing 2-3 words together for a while now but only walking independently for about a month. she is a lazy chatterbox, just like her mummy! 
Layla how are things? I am very conscious that I have been a crap friend and neglected to ask you how it was going. Are you still getting early wakings?
love to you both x

[Layla]

Thanks - you haven't neglected me at all!!! The early wakings are almost non-existant (thanks to you ). Occasionally we get one (maybe 1ce a week) but she is more than happy to play until I get her, which I am very thankful for 

[becky1969]

I can't have everything? But I want it! I want it! 

We've got things sorted out, I think. He needs 5-5.5 hours of awake time before bed. That's the way we avoid NWs. Thank God we are done with those! Good lord, his last 4 teeth nearly drove DH and I out of the house. Sheesh. This morning I woke up after 9 solid, delicious, hours of sleep. If you'd have asked me last year if that was even possible I would have laughed myself purple.

So, I'm now waking him at 8 am at the latest. But with a 7-7:30 pm bedtime, he's typically waking on his own around 7:30-8. I prefer him to wake on his own b/c he's happy in his crib 30-60 minutes, which STILL leaves me time to exercise!  If I wake him, it means he wants out out OUT immediately, so no me time. Boo hoo.  Nights are for working, so while I need them they don't make me skinnier! 

Glad to hear the other toddlers are adjusting nicely to 1 nap! Now all we have left to dread is the disappearance of naps altogether! PLEASE let this lovely 2-2.5 hour nap phase last a long, long time!