toddlers and sleep.. tired signs or set nap time

[Olive]

for kids on one sleep a day, do you watch for tired signs or do you have set time?
just curious

we have a set time for DD2 for day sleeps, she goes down around 12-12.30pm

[Laranna]

We have a set time of 11:30/12. DS usually sleeps for one and a half to 3 hours. It varies. If we are out and about we tend not to worry too much, if he's really tired he will fall asleep in the car or pram.

[Sterla]

A bit of both here, but mainly a set nap time. Usually somewhere between 11am and noon here - but if DS seems tired I might try earlier. It depends on what time he woke up for the day too.

[Just Me]

We do a bit of both. I watch tired signs and put them down when they need it, but if they aren't showing tired signs by 1pm then we do the nap time routine anyway. DS always has a daytime nap but DD1 has been staying up through hers a couple of times a week now. It is fine because she uses the time to read in her bed so she still gets a rest and some downtime during the day (and so do I )

I guess it just depends on what's been going on for us. Some days are really busy and others are more quiet. I have found though that if I go out in the morning and really wear them out, they will only have a short nap that day, and if I have a quiet day at home the next day, they will all have lovely long naps (usually). They seem to be ready to sleep earlier in the day too if we have had a quiet morning at home. I guess it just takes a bit of time to unwind if we go out and they are possibly a bit overtired.

[melsa31]

We have a set time usually 11:30 - 11:45am. He always goes to sleep regardless of when he woke up in the morning. DS won't sleep anywhere but at home and daycare though

[meow]

Ours is somewhere in between- probably more on the tired signs thing (putting a child to bed who is not tired seems crazy to me). But just to help me be aware of thsoe signs I do a little clock watching. He goes to sleep anywhere between 11am and 2pm so it's a very wide window but I'll judge it based on how many hours since he woke up so I can understand if he's probably cranky for sleep, food etc.

[~Gee_Whizzy~]

Set time here. DD goes down between 12.30-1.00pm and sleeps for 2-3hrs depending on what we've done in the morning

[Heaven]

Tired signs I guess but it's mainly the same time anyway. DD tells me when she's tired. She rubs her eyes and comes up and asks for booby and falls asleep feeding.

[feeb]

Set time here 1330 - 1400 and will sleep 2 - 4 hrs. But in last 3 weeks he has decided that he doesn't need a sleep! But he does as he is feral by 5pm!!

[{sarah}]

1.00pm here unless she is tired beforehand & she asks to go to bed.

[allycat06]

Tired signs here....What time DS wakes up in the morning varies greatly so therefore so does nap time. His second feed for the day usually results in a nap....anywhere between 12 and 3pm. He'll sleep for about 45mins most of the time or sometimes if I'm lucky I can feed him again and he'll sleep again for another hour or so.

[Mak]

Generally between 12-1 depending on when she got up. When she goes to sleep, that is a whole different story, atm, lol!

[AliBaby]

We have a set itme of 12:30 but sometimes if the tired signs are there than it might be as early as 10:30am

Over the past few days, I have put DD down at 12:30 and she hasnt been going to sleep. Instead she chucks things out of the cot and bangs onit with the dummy doing the 'fake' wa wa cry. You know the one?
So I have been gettig her up and letting her play. Before you think I am crazy (LOL) I have been asking DD "Do you want to go to bed?" and soemtimes she will shake her head but soon enough she will actually nod and go running down to her croom and stand at her cot waiting for me to put her in it Go figure!!!!

We had family over on Sat night so DD didnt go down at 7pm (which is the usual bedtime) and when 10pm came round, I asked her if she wanted to go to bed and she nodded and blew kisses to everyone!!! LOL! It was the cutest thing.

SO I guess its just a case of whatever works on the day.

[Nai]

A bit of both. With kinder days we have to keep her awake sometimes when she really would like to have a nap but generally she goes down sometime between 12-1. The other morning she woke up at 5 am and was absolutely shattered by 10.30 so I asked her if she wanted a sleep and she said yes, so I put her to be at 10.45. She slept for 3 hours and was fine for the rest of the day. So if I can leave it up to her then I will otherwise she goes down when it's time.

[*TripleJ*]

tired signs werent working for us so now he goes into the cot after lunch and takes about 10 mins to go to sleep and nights well last night it took a bit of whinging and he was asleep within half an hour hes been so much better today already

[~Kim~]

bit of both. Usually between 11 and midday depending on what we're doing but often it's before.

[Olive]

very interesting, thanks everyone!

DD has the same lunch routine so know that after that its naptime, she often goes and gets her sleeping bag for me and lays down on the couch with it waitng for me, she also still feeds to sleep/drowsy during the day, so even though she doenst show tired signs shes asleep pretty quickly on the boob!