Sleeping patterns fr 2.5-3 years

[MiMo]

Hi

We have finally seemed to have gotten on top of getting our lovely girl to settle at night, it stil takes 30-45mins for her to drop off but she is staying in her room. My concern is that she wakes up between 4:45-5:30m and wont go back to sleep. Usually she comes and hops in our bed but just lays and talks or wiggles until we get up. She has always been an early riser but Im worried she isnt getting enough sleep.

Our days are
5:00AM wake,
11:30-12:30 sleep,
6:30PM stories and then bed

She usually drops off at 7:30 PM and I wake her up at lunch time after an hours sleep coz if I dont she wont settle until much later at night and still wakes up at 5 the next morning which is a disaster the next day.

So....do you think she is getting enough sleep and would I be better off dropping the lunch sleep and working on getting her to have a longer sleep at night. At the moment as she is awake so early in the morning she really needs that lunchtime snooze. How much sleep does a 2-3 year old need?

[Jayney]

MY DD#1 Did a similar thing just before she was two. I cut out the nap and she was back to sleeping through the night.
I was sad to see the nap go as I was about as preg. as you at the time. And it was painful to be not sleeping at night and no naps during the day.

Good luck

[MantaRay]

Toddlers up to age 3 generally need from 10 to 14 hours per day (just like adults some need more than others). It sounds like your DD is getting around 10 - 11 hours a day which is probably enough for her.

It's tricky to know what to do about the day sleep at this age. My DS is 2 1/2 and starting to drop his day sleep. When he has it, he can sleep for up to 3 hours, but at least every second day now he just won't sleep. I would like him to keep having the sleep for as long as he can, but I think our days are numbererd. But even if he doesn't sleep, he has to have "quiet time" in his room. I am not sure what you should do in your case, I think your DD needs less sleep than my DS, but my gut feeling is that while she will sleep during the day you probably shouldn't stop it.

Good luck with it all.

[wardygirl]

My DS is 2.25yo and he sleeps (generally) 8pm until 7am, with a nap during the day for 1.5-2.5 hours. I'm hoping he'll keep sleeping at least until the end of the year so I get a bit of a break when #3 comes along!

[Charlyfrog]

My DD wakes somewhere between 7&7.30am and then goes down for a nap around 1.30pm and usually sleeps for 1.5 - 2hours. If she's had a full on morning (ie running her nuts in the park ) she runs out of puff by 1pm and then can sleep for almost 3hours hehe! She is then in bed around 7pm-ish and depending on how busy her afternoon has been, she will either chat to her teddy for 1/2hour or so or crash straight away. Although, I have found too that it doesn't matter how late DD goes to bed at night she still wakes up at the same time the next morning.

Occasionally we do let her skip her nap if we have something planned or are out and about, plus we have learnt that if she is obviously tired and isn't down for her nap by 1.30pm, she goes into delirious mode and won't sleep but will sing and chat for the whole time she is in her room! Then it's bed by 6.30pm!!! But we still don't let her skip her naps that often because she has proven that she can't quite yet cope without that sleep top up.

Each little person is different and you know best when your little one is tired. I do agree with MelanieR that while your little one is sleeping during the day, maybe don't drop it cold turkey iykwim......but you could always experiment for a few days by dropping the nap and seeing if that improves the night sleep and still leaves you with a happy little munchkin during the day.....

......hth!!

[Willow]

My DD is 2.5 also and she generally follows this pattern:

Wakes up at 7.30am
Has a sleep between 1pm and 3pm (if she's not awake by 3.30pm I go and wake her up)
Goes to bed at night between 7.00-7.30pm

She also takes a while to fall asleep at times and talks and sings to herself but I know she isn't ready to drop her afternoon nap (I'm due the same time as you with #2 and REALLY need that down time).

We recently moved her out of the 'nursery' into her new room and her big girl bed. The new room is at the front of the house so gets a lot more light in the mornings - prior to this she was waking up between 8-8.30am and it was bliss! I miss my sleep ins!

[scarlet121]

Hi there I just wanted to chime in and say that 5am waking is generally because they are cold, well that is what I have read, when Parker starts waking this early I put him back in his gro suit and he starts sleeping later again.

He just turned three and he sleeps

7.30pm-6.30/7.00am
then a nap 12.30pm for somewhere between 1.5 and 3 hours, it always varies.

[~Jo~]

Hiya...Sammy is a bit younger but he sleeps from 7:30-8 until 6:30-7 each morning with an hours sleep during the day so sounds pretty spot on.

Jo