Never Wake a Sleeping Baby, but How About a Toddler?

Hello I am a mother of a 3 year old boy. I would cut his naps to one a day as opposed to two. The one naps he takes can be as long as he will sleep and you dont have to feel the need to wake him up. Too much sleep in the afternoon will definitely cause him to go to bed late and wake up way to early.

it may be time to take away his morning nap, stay busy and then right after lunch somewhere let him go down for his afternoon nap. It is usually around that age that they start going to just one nap. It may be hard to keep him awake til lunch and you may have to deal with a few tired moments of crankiness but once he gets in the new routine it will be all worth it. That way he can sleep in the afternoon til he wakes up and still be tired to go to bed and sleep at ngiht. Good luck!

When I wanted my babies to sleep more at night I woke them up from their naps. There is nothing wrong with that. Parents have been doing it a lot longer than we've been parents.

Hi J.,

My son is 13 months old and I have followed the Babywise sleep method since he was about 7 months old. I wish I had known about it sooner. In this method, the mom, not the baby, decides when nap time starts and ends. My son slept through the night early on quite naturally, but had a cranky disposition during his waketime. He became a happy baby during his waketime and still slept through the night within a few days after I started to follow this method. The Babywise method is totally flexible to the hours you want to set for your son to be awake and asleep. This is our typical schedule, but it can vary a little from day to day. I usually wake up around 7 am and go to bed around 11:30pm. That gives me 7 1/2 hours of continuous sleep which I desperately need or I turn into Franken-mommy. My son wakes up at 8:30am, takes his first nap from 11:00am to 12:30pm, takes a second nap from 5:30 pm to 7:30pm and then is asleep by 11:00pm. That gives him 13 hours total sleep per day. I didn't follow the books suggestion completely. It suggests an afternoon nap. I preferred to have socializing time with my son in the afternoon. I can take him to the park or run my errands easier that way. This schedule works well for getting laundry done in the morning and cooking dinner in the evening. I still let my son have individual play time as well as play time with mommy, or daddy. During his individual playtime, I have mommy time and read or do something for myself. THis book helped make it possible for me to get my housework done, run my errands, and still spend plenty of time with my son. We have three reading times during the day (before he takes his naps and bedtime), he has two or three individual playtimes in the playpen (one in the morning and one in the evening so my husband and I can have some shared time in front of our son and sometimes a third in the afternoon if mommy's having a hard day), we take a daily walk wheather permitting, and I play with him for two or three play sessions a day depending on my schedule. There were a few things I didn't follow, but for the most part this book offers some great advice. And it's not too late to start for you. Some of the information may not apply since your son is already 14 months old, but the basics will work. There is a chapter at the end of the book that tells you what to do if you are starting late. I'm sure your library would have a copy of this book, if you don't want to purchase it. Hope this helps.
D.

It's been awhile, but I, most of the time, didn't have any trouble waking my daughter. I usually did it with: "Let's go to the store", "Let's go to Grandma's", Let's place a game", "We are having company", or something to get their mind off the nap. Hope it works out for you. When they take too many or too long a nap, it really blows schedules for any one else trying to sleep.

My son (23 months) has only taken 1 nap (30 mins--2 hours) every day since he was one year. At 16 months he began day care and they only allow them to nap for 2 hours in the afternoon. He then goes to bed about 7:30PM (asleep by 8PM--usually) and then gets up between 5AM and 5:30A. He has always been an early riser! I did notice that, unless he's sick, if he takes longer than a 2 hour nap, he would have difficulty sleeping. So by all means, wake him up!

My son went through this with his daughter when she was around 18 months. She was sleeping more and wanting to get up and play at 3 to 4 in the morning. They finally decided to cut out one of her naps and keep her busy so she wouldn't think about it. It worked, she started heading for bed around 1 or 2 in the afternoon and sleeping for a couple of hours and then they kept her up until bedtime at 8. She heading into 3 yrs now and is a very bright and happy little girl who now puts herself to bed around 9 when her mom comes home from work and sleeps until about 7 or 8 the next morning. I had to do the same thing with my kids and my daughter followed this with her son who is now 4 1/2 yrs old and sleeps a regular schedule. He would get up at 3 or 4 and want to play until daybreak. If they really get tired and cranky, let them take a little nap for an hour or 2 but I wouldn't go past that, sleep is important to their growing bodys since we tend to grow more in our sleep...at least some of us did (I'm only 5' 2", I didn't grow much). Try to make sure that nap time doesn't mimic bedtime. Hang in there...this too shall pass. :)

Hi there,

I've had to do this.
I like my kids in bed by 8pm and like them to be tired so...

WIth both my son and daughter I have woken them up if they sleep past 5p.m.
My daughter goes down at 1, ocassionally her nap goes later cos of errands etc, she's 2a. That's when I'd wake her up if she goes into 5p.m.
My son, who is 12 months, naps twice a day, 10 to 12 and 2:30 to 4:40 more or less but I can see he's staring to need a little less time, he's waking up faster from the afternoon nap.

So, yes, I would wake them up and get him used to getting MOST of his rest at night.
Just shorten his second nap some.

Hope this helps some ;)

At his age he is becoming more and more active. He might need more sleep than he did before. I would wait a few weeks to see if the trend continues. If he continues getting up way too early then I would wake him. I believe my son took two naps until he was almost 2. They would last about the same time periods. He would then sleep from 8:30 to 7:00. He was always a good sleeper. Good luck

I think I would try condencing both day naps into 1 after lunch. It might take a week for his body clock the re-adjust, but that way he can sleep a full 2-3 hours, his body seems to need and still sleep a lengthy time at night for you. Good luck..

I wake my toddler up if she is sleeping too late in the afternoon. Play around with the schedule some and see how much of a nap he needs without getting cranky (never fun) and still sleeping well at night. My daughter's schedule is to take a two hour nap right after lunch. Then she goes to bed for the night at 8:15-8:30 and wakes up at 6:15-6:30. Every now and then she gets cranky at night and I put her to bed earlier (around 7:15) and she still sleeps through the night. It will just take a little time to figure out what works best for your son. Good luck - Moms need their sleep at night too!

Time to graduate to one nap a day, I'd say. For a good hour, at least.
Good luck!

I would not let him nap longer then 1 hour at a time if he is taking 2 naps a day. Try to coordinate his first nap before lunch because when their tummys are full they tend to sleep alot longer. And the other in the late afternoon.

A. B.

Happily married fulltime carreer women,wife and mom of 4 wonderful boys all under the age of 6!

Personally I would begin to cut it down to one nap. My son started to take one nap at this age. He goes down right after lunch 12:30 and will sleep until 3 or 4. That way he is up and has a little play time before dinner and play time after dinner. By 8 he is in bed and he is up at 7:30 in the morning.

I have always woken my son, I mean after about 8 months or so. I am big on napping schedules and he would sleep and sleep. It sounds like you should move to one nap. Have you tried it? My son is 16 months and we just switched to one consistent nap (he could do it from about 13 months, but we were traveling so much, I did not want to change too much). He sleeps from 1-anywhere from 3:15-4:15. I have noticed that he sleeps later in the AM.
When you first try it, either be out for the AM or take a walk around midmroning so he can zone out if he needs to.

Two naps a day might be too much. Perhaps try giving a 1 to 2 hour nap about 30 minutes after lunch.

Otherwise, I would limit the two naps to no more than 1 hour per nap.

When does he go to bed at night? The problem may not be the naps at all but the time he goes to bed. I am a mother of 3 (the oldest is almost 4) and they ALL go to bed at 7-7:30. It seems early but it works well. My 8 month old still takes two naps (about 2 hours) and sleeps through the night. My daughter (23 months) takes one or two naps of about an 1 hour or 1.5 hours and sleeps from 7:30pm-9am. My son who is almost 4 doesn't take a nap. He goes to bed at 7:30pm and wakes up at 7-8am.

Sleep leads to sleep so if they are getting enough sleep at night they will attempt to sleep more during the day. Read the book Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child. If you have problems with behavior you should REALLY read this book. A lot of times hyper kids are tired kids. Let him sleep and push his bedtime back 15 minutes a night till you notice that he is getting the sleep he needs.

-M.

I my DD slept past 4:00pm she wouldn't go to bed at night. Wake him up and don't worry about it. What could it hurt?

My toddler is one of those rare gems that can take 2-4 hr. naps every afternoon and still go to bed on time at night. I know not every toddler is like that, however. There are some occasions that I have had to go in and wake Ben up from a nap, because we have to leave the church (I'm our church secretary, he naps in the infant nursery cribs), or we have to go somewhere (from home to where ever). I just do it very gently. I walk in quietly, say his name very softly and let him slowly wake up that way. Typically he's okay with that method. If he's JUST layed down, say within the hour, then he cries & is cranky. So go ahead, if you feel the naps are getting too long. Wake him up. Just do it gently.

I think your observations are consistent with mine as well. My advice would be to: reduce your child to just one afternoon nap a day. It may take him a week to adjust to this and you may have to fight some crankiness (your child's too. ;) until he gets used to missing a morning nap. Try your afternoon nap around 12:00 or 12:30 at the latest. He may end up napping 2-3 hours in the afternoon. That's what both my sons did. Keep your bedtime consistent and resist the urge to move it later if/when he has a longer afternoon nap. That has almost always backfired on us. We found that when we pushed back our kids' bedtime that they actually woke up earlier in the morning. So, set the bedtime around 7:30 or 8:00 at the latest and leave it there, regardless of what he does during the day. Just remember that a well rested child sleeps best. It's the wound-up, over-tired child, that struggles to sleep soundly and long. Hope that helps!

At his age I would think one afternoon nap lasting about 1 1/2 to 2 hours should be enough. This is what I did when my kids were one. Then, at age two I stopped the naps, unless they had been up really late or seemed to need a nap. And they went to bed by 8:00 PM, which is nice. It gives you time to be with your husband.
(I have 3 kids, youngest now 17)

Hi J., By toddlerhood he should really only be taking one nap a day and then it could be 2-2.5 hours. Right around lunch time usually. I personally would work with him to get him on a better schedule. Good Luck with it!

My son is 9 months old. He tends to take naps late in the evening, which is fine, but that late I don't want them to be more than an hour, so I wake him. I truly doubt it will scar him for life. Besides, kids thrive on schedules. The more routine their lives the more adjusted I would think they would be.

My daughter is 15 months old and I have been waking her up from naps for over a month. She is allowed a total of an hour during the day just so she will sleep through the night and wake up no earlier than 6:30 am. It seems to be working fine. I would give it a try.

Yes you can cut the nap time down to about an hour to a little over an hour but no more than an hour and a half tops. Another thing you can do is to cut out one of the naps during the day. It wont hurt him any to have one nap cut out or to have his nap time decreased.
D.

I am 31 and have been married for almost 12 yrs. My husband and I have 3 boys ages 10,7, and 4.

Yes I would.. I personally don't let me kids sleep past 4 b/c I want them in bed at a decent time. Now on the weekends I tend to let them sleep a little later only b/c my husband is only home on the weekends so they stay up a little later with popi, occasionally.. not all the time.. My 3 yr old still takes a nap & if I let him sleep past 3 he's up till 10-10:30 it's crazy.. He's got to get up! But in the same sense he's got to have a nap or he is a major bonehead!! So definetly I would wake them up and start to re-schedule ur little one. it should only take a few days and then maybe he'll be back into the swing of things and wake up on his own. Good Luck!

My thought is to take it down to 1 nap and let him sleep up to 2 hours, maybe more at first. It will take a bit of adjusting and some patience on your part. It seems like, if my memory serves me right, your son is at the age where I had to take it down to one nap with my kids. Ususally, when they start sleeping less at night, it indicates a change being needed in the daytime nap schedule.
Good luck.

I had that problem too, you may want him to take only one nap for about two hours and let that be it. My daughter adjusted well to that when I did it, one nap still works for her (she is 3 now) hopefully your son will adjust well too! Remember to have patience during the adjustment period!