Sleep: Too Much Sleep During the Day? Making Bedtime More Difficult??

Hello. My little girl is 14 months as well and she recently transitioned from two naps per day to one nap per day. She typically sleeps from 8pm - 9am. And her only nap these days is from about 12:30pm to 3pm. By the time 8pm rolls around, she is ready for bed time. Prior to this she would be fussy at bed time and appeared to be full of energy when it was time to go to sleep. Good luck!

She might be teething. Molars come in around this time. They notice the pain more at night. That could possibly be the entire problem! Just a thought.

Here's a link for you:
http://www.babycenter.com/0_how-much-sleep-does-your-chil...

At this age, to me, yes, her morning nap can be later, and/or turned into 1 nap/day. At that age, my son was napping at about 9:00 or 9:30am. And then again at about 2:30pm. Whereas when he was an infant, he napped earlier at that 8:30am timing. And like your child, my son wakes up for the day at about 6:30-7:00am. He goes to bed at night at 8:00pm.

BUT, the caveat will be, if you do turn it into 1 nap a day (before she is ready for that)... she WILL have days that she DOES need those 2 naps a day, still. And if you completely forfeit the 2 naps for 1 nap... she may not transition to it that well. Or she might.

Typically, a baby/child will get tired after about 2-3 hours of 'awake' time. That is how you can gauge it. If you miss this window, then the child gets "over-tired" and then putting them to nap/sleep gets arduous and harder as they will "SEEM" to be not tired, but actually are....and then they get fussier/grumpier and then will fight sleeping/napping. BUT it is because they are over-tired. OVER-tired babies/kids, actually get more 'hyper' and have a HARDER time to fall asleep and wake more.

But also at this age, they are having a sense of self... and independence, hence the 'protesting' at their usual routines. But, just keep consistent. Its a phase and will go back to normalcy. They need to know their routines. And even through this nap aberration... which is typical at certain age junctures, it WILL get back to normalcy if you keep a staid consistent routine about it.

To me, bedtime at the 6:30-7:00pm time slot, is a tad too early. Try putting her to bed maybe at 7:30pm instead. But keep her naps as usual... .SINCE she IS taking her naps well, and routinely as usual. It is her rhythm right now and she is still doing that. If you mess with her nap times too much, or too rapidly... it will get messed up. And that won't be fun. Because the child will get irregular about it, when it didn't have to be messed with.
*In your daughter's case... I personally feel she still needs the 2 naps a day, since she does well with that and does go to nap at those times. Still.
But just adjust her bedtime. Later.

Just my take on it. My kids, nap regularly everyday. My eldest child was still napping until about 5.5 years old. My son, who is now 3 years old, still naps everyday... at about 12:00. I don't force it. But, I have a regular consistent routine about it. When my kids are tired, they know to nap. My son will even get himself in his nap/bed routine by himself now just by verbally cuing him, when I say "nap soon, lets get ready..."

Just my thoughts,
All the best,
Susan

At 16mo my son is transitioning too. But just as you need different amounts of sleep or food, so does your little one.
My schedule is sleep 8-6:30/7 nap 10-11:30 (2nd)nap 3-4:30.
Other days it's one nap from 11:30-2:30. It varies about every third day he takes the one nap. He does have days where he fights it, but he still needs the sleep...and he crashes early for evening sleep. Dr says to keep that 2nd nap as long as possible.
Hope that helps.

You may be right that she's ready to give up one of her naps. Try keeping her pretty busy in the morning and see if she naturally takes a nap around the noon hour.

My son is also 14 months right now & still "needs" 2 naps/day. I put him down around 8:00 p.m. & he sleeps until 6:30-ish. He then takes a 1 1/2 hr morning nap from about 9:30-11:00 and then another 1 1/2 hr nap starting around 2:30/3:30. Maybe push back bedtime until 8:00 and see if that works. And/Or you can wake her up earlier with her 2nd nap...make it 1 1/2 hrs instead of 2+.

Good luck!

Okay... first, don't get frustrated and just try to monitor your child. These patterns are continuously changing and there is no "right" way to do it. You just have to find what is right for you. Both of my girls are great about bedtime and sleep through the night (12hr) in their own beds. I have a 2.5 yr old and a 5yr old. They both still took two naps per day at that age and then we just began to get busy doing things by around 18 months to 2 yrs and sometimes just couldn't make routine naps... only when home all day. My girls both go to bed early... I have tried everything to change our routine so they will sleep in, but it just makes them grumpy cause they still get up with the sun and just get less sleep.

The evening thing happened for us as well, but it really was just a phase that they were testing us, because they didn't want to go to bed not because they weren't tired. It was more the separation and sometimes just not allowing themselves to settle down. I suggest making sure your routine isn't too long, and stick to it... even when it doesn't seem to be working. One thing we did with my oldest is allow her to pick a book to look at by herself until she could sleep if she would stay in bed quietly. This allowed her to calm herself down without us telling her she had to sit in the dark alone. She usually went to sleep without fussing. If I went in with her, she just learned to keep herself up longer... and they are smart! Watch for her signs of being tired and let that guide your naps... if you can push her a few minutes later then you might try that as long as you don't wait until she's overtired. In our house naps are more about routine of how we go to bed than when. Try to make bed time a pleasant time and talk about what will happen tomorrow... that's my first goodnight- after that they get grumpy mommy so they don't really want me back unless something is really wrong. Good luck- be prepared for this issue to present itself again a few more times before you are past it.

My son is 3 1/2 and he went through the same thing, I dropped on of his 2 naps and then moved his bed time up by a 1/2 an hour, then another 1/2 hour. so he was taking his afternoon nap earlier (11ish) and his bedtime was 7, then months later, 7:30. So that might be it. I have a really good sleep book that gives a guide on when and what to do about naps and sleeping, if you would like it (ebook) you can send me you email address to : ____@____.com now goes to bed at 830 and he has his nap around noon. If he doesn't take a nap (if he hasn't fallen asleep by 3, we don't want him to nap as he wouldn't fall asleep and it would mess up his routine.) then we move the nightime routine up by about 1/2 hour or so. I hope this helps, let me know if you want me to email you that book (I loved it!)
J.

WOW she sleeps alot! I'd try for one nap, probably around 10 or so. My daughter transitioned to one nap from 10-1 and then she would sleep all night.

It might be worth a shot. My son transitioned to one nap per day at around 12 months and it's worked well for us (aside from missing that extra down time myself). I would try to split the day in half and put her down right after lunch. Best of luck!

Usually by that age most kids are down to one nap a day. It is usually around 11:30 and goes anywhere from 1.5 - 3hrs. Hope that helps

if she is still wanting the naps during the day but fussing at bedtime i would think of pushing her bedtime back. seems like my daughter was still taking a couple naps most days but went to bed between 8/9 each night.

good luck.

Good morning L., you can try that, or even more her bed time back an hour, my kids are grown now but I was still rocking my toddlers (probably more for me than them) but our routine started around 8:00 by rocking, singing, story, prayer, and between 830 9 was tuck in time. I always felt that because bed time being at the end of the day it was important that my children fell a sleep feeling loved, safe and secure, but not matter how the day went unless we we were out their bed time and routine was inforced. If she's sreamimg, and she knows you will go in there, she will continue to do so, children learn how to manipulate at a very early age. We had put a fish aquarium in our sons room, with a blue light, the movement of the fish and water under a blue light was very soothing and calming. J. L

I would probably try going for one nap a day, but beware your daughter will probably be very cranky and tired for a couple of days. By the time my daughter was that age, she was more than ready to transition from two naps to one, and I did push her bedtime to 8:30. The bedtime routine starts at 8, but by the time she's in bed and asleep, it's 8:30.

L.,
My daughter has been in day care since she was an infant (now 2) and when she moved out of the infant room to the next room at about 12 months they transitioned her to one nap a day. I thought it was a little too early because she would fall asleep in the car on the way home at 5pm. Eventually, she adjusted and the one nap worked. Just be aware that when transitioning to one nap you may have to deal with alot of crankiness. I would think that your daughter is ready for one nap a day, give it a try. Good luck!

the answer is YES and YES. congrats on having a baby who actually sleeps, as mine does not. I moved her to one nap by 9 months because of this terrible 30 minute nap business. She won't go to bed because she's not tired. I'm surprised she goes back to sleep after being awake for hardly 2 hours. I'd push back bedtime myself too so you can sleep in later unless you need her to wake up so early for work. Try a 7:30-7:30 night sleep and nap about 11 or 12. My 14 month old currently goes to bed at 8, wakes by 7 and (if she doesn't fall asleep in the car) naps for 1 1/2 hours at 1pm (if I try any earlier she won't sleep that long). Good luck!