should I limit their napping like HSHHC suggests

How long on average does your 12 - 15 month old nap during the day? Mine do a minimum of 3 1/2 hours, sometimes 4 hours, which is great...however they wake up super early and I can tell they are still tired when they are awake for the day. I am going to try to put them down to sleep earlier tonight to see if that helps them to sleep in a bit more...or if it doesn't make a difference. I know keeping them up later doesn't matter on our side -- they still wake up early if they go to bed late.

ANYWAYS - I'm wondering if they are getting too much sleep during the day and maybe this is the issue. Thoughts/suggestions?

 

I definitely think there comes a point when if they have too much during the day then it affects their night. For me, if Max has more than 2 hrs during the day then he won't sleep as well at night. How many hours do they sleep at night? You can always try cutting their nap times back a little to see if it makes a difference. GL

 

Mine went through this phase at exactly that age.
I hate to say it and it was really hard but my husband held me down in the am and when they got up at 5 (bed was at 730 always) he would NOT let me go to them. We made a rule, you could go in once, put on the nighttime music and leave quickly, after that, we don't go in until 6 which is what we think is a good wake up time (ok we'd love 7 but 6 is 10 1/2 hours which is good sleep for this age)......anyway, it took a month!!!!!!! but now they sleep until 6:15am every am! And naps are about 1 hour in the am and 1 1/2 in the pm and they are 18 mo old!

 

My girls are 15.5 months (13.5 adjusted) and still sleep 3-3.5 hours during the day (in 2 naps). They still go to sleep around 7:30pm and wake up between 6:30-7pm. I just go by their cues...so, I'm not sure what is too much during the day at this age. I don't think we're even close to going to 1 nap.

 

At 16 months ours transitioned to one nap. My DD sleeps about 3 hours for her nap and DS is usually 2 (but today he slept for 3). At prior to going to one nap, they would have two naps that totalled 3-4 hours per day. I would try to put them down earlier and see what happens. Depending on their bedtime, I would make sure that they are up between 3-4 hours after their second nap (unless the second nap is very late). My twinkies go to bed around 7:30, so if they are not up by 4pm from their nap, then we go in to get them. Good luck!

 

At their 1 year well baby visit, our pedi told me that the average one year old needs a total of 14 hours of sleep a day. At 19 months, my boys get about 15 hours. We switched to one nap when they turned one and they go down at 1:00 and on average sleep 3 hours. They wake at 7:30 and go to bed at 7:30.

 

WOW- that is alot of sleep during the day-- mine sleep from 8pm-8am and take 1 nap 1.5-2 hrs from 12:30-2:30. What is their total sleep? Just as a side note mine didn't go to one nap until 13 months old.

 

it sounds like a pretty normal amount of sleep to me. my girls sleep 7:00pm - 6:30am/7:00am & take two naps a day totaling 3 - 4 hours.

how early is early? assuming they go to bed around 7:00pm-ish & they're waking around 5:00am-ish, it's probably an issue with a light sleep cycle. many babies hit a light sleep cycle around 5:00am, but because it's so close to morning, the drive to go back to sleep is almost non-existent. if you're confident they aren't getting enough night time sleep, my suggestion would be to work with them to extend their night time sleep before you start messing with their naps. there are lots of ways to do that - one option would be to wait 15 minutes from the time they wake up to go in to them. then gradually increase the time until it seems like they're waking refreshed & ready for their day. GL!

 

I think what matters is how much sleep they take overall. Kids who go to bed at 8pm but wake up at 6am will need longer naps than kids that sleep 7/7. At the age yours are they were sleeping 4 hours a day too... when it started interfering with bedtime is when we switched them to one nap (at 13 months)... then when that one nap started interfering with bedtime we put them down one hour earlier. It's worked out pretty well.

 

Desiree, how did you make out tonight?

 

Mine are almost 15 months and they average about 2-3 hours for naps a day. That's if they take 2 naps. More like 2 hours if they take 1 nap. They sleep 12 hours at night.

 

I put the kids down at 7pm last night..they both cried (which they typically do not) until 7:30pm...that's when their usual bedtime is....then Brody woke up at 5:50am this morning (AGAIN). He is definitely on his own schedule -- LOL. I don't know what's changing on him, but something...or maybe again a phase. I just posted about the seperation anxiety that I've been experiencing with the twins...I felt bad leaving them this morning with my nanny, but I had to go to work.

 

:hug: if you can, try & commit to maintaining this change for 4 - 7 days. then you'll be in a better position to really evaluate whether it's helping or not. it's hard to tell after just one night. :hug:

 

5:50 sounds a little early but I think a lot of babies this age wake up at 6 or 6:30 (or maybe I just tell myself so I don't feel bummed that mine are always up by 6:30). At just 12 months I think babies need more sleep than at 15-18 months, and every baby is different. If your baby seems cranky at 5:50 he may have not been ready to wake up. I do leave them in there until 6:30 if they wake up earlier. Like the PP said, you may need to stick with a plan for a week or two to see if it has an impact.

We put them in bed around 7 or 7:30 but they're not asleep for about 30 minutes. So they get around 11 hours at night typically. Mine sleep 2.5-3 hours over 2 naps. It sounds like that's a lot of napping, but if they are happy in between it may just be what works for them. I don't think it would be worth waking them up early from naps to get them to sleep more at night. I say if they're sleeping, let them sleep

From reading on this site, it seems like there are great individual variations in the amount of sleep toddlers need. So I'd base it more off how they seem to be handling the sleep.

Mine are nowhere near ready for one nap, it seems, because they are very ready for a nap at 10. I'm just going to keep the two naps til it seems like they can last til 11ish.

Good luck!!!

 

My two had two naps until they were 18 months old ! often 2 hours in the AM and 2 in the PM. They are 21 months now and the odd time I will offer two naps on the days that we don't have anything going on. Most times one of them will sleep well for both naps. I loved the book, I have found that around this age every child seems to really vary. My two do best with a 10 am - 12 pm nap. Most children have mid-day naps at this stage.