slightlywinded / Flickr My thoughts: I think you're right to be worried since 9 hours is definitely not enough for most toddlers. If your child is fussy most of the time, seems clumsier than usual and is difficult to wake in the mornings then you're seeing the signs of sleep deprivation. It's not just for adults, unfortunately. Making sure your toddler gets just a few more hours of sleep each day can improve everything from your toddler mood to his motor skills. This can be accomplished with a longer nap plus an earlier bedtime. Learn more about how much sleep toddlers need...
What do you think? How do you make sure your toddler is getting enough sleep? When did your toddler give up the morning nap and was it your idea or his? Please leave a comment and share your advice with this mom.
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My daughter took 2 naps a day till she was 21 months old. She would have a 45 min 9 am nap & a 45 min 1 PM nap. She goes to bed at 8:30 PM and wakes up around 7-7:30. Now she takes one 1-1 1/2 hour nap at 12:15. I highly recommend the book ‘Healthy Sleep Habits. Happy Child’. Children thrive on routine and it has made it so easy for her to fall asleep because she expects it. Its a fact that people cannot properly function without enough sleep. IMO 9 hours of sleep is not enough for a one year old.
My daughter is 2 1/2 and gets 8 hours at night (from 8pm to 6am sharp). Her nap takes place mid day and can be from 1 to 3 hours. About 1 year ago we moved her from two (2 hour) naps to one 3 or 4 hour nap. She was sleeping a total of 12 hours a day. Now it’s more like 10 hours, and if she is late to bed or nap she becomes super emotional due to being over tired. Hope this helps!
My son (17 months) sleeps about 9 hours at night, with one two-hour nap during the day, so about 11 hours. But when he was younger, he didn’t even sleep close to that. He would fight sleep until he couldn’t anymore. Then one day, he magically decided sleep was OK, and we haven’t had trouble since.
A few things to try that work for us – 1) Only one naptime after lunch (and if we’re lucky a poop) every day 2) a very steady routine, bedtime is at 7 PM every night, after a bath and tooth brushing, she knows what’s coming so there is no question. 3) Darken the nursery – cover the windows and no nightlights. 4) White noise in the nursery, we have a fan that blows but not at her. My daughter was sleep-challenged until about a year but now will nap 1-3 hours and sleeps 12 every night.
Do yourself a favor and go to this site –
http://www.sleepyplanet.com/
Buy their book (see the “Products” section) and you and your kid will be all the happier for it. (By the way, I’m not affiliated in any way to their business – just a diehard fan and mum who swears by their methodology).
My first-born was a terror when it came to sleep. He decided he didn’t like daytime naps by the age of 6wks. I could tell he wasn’t getting enough sleep by his cranky moods which often became impossible to deal with. In the end, I did as was recommended by the Health Visiter and placed him in his cot at the same time every night (7pm in our case), with toys to keep him busy and a bottle of water. I knew he was safe and wanted for nothing but attention, which he soon learnt he wasn’t going to get! He grumbled and cried the first few times but when he realised I was ignoring him, he’d amuse himself. I won’t lie and say it was easy to listen to his cry for attention (it tugs the heart strings!) but it certainly worked out for the best in the end. It took between a week and a fortnight before it dawned on him, that was bedtime. Once this was established, he fell asleep soon after going in the cot and slept right through until 7am. Heaven! Much easier when they think it’s their choice. It was like having a different child in the daytime; it was much easier to deal with a happy kid who has had all the rest he needed. And an added benefit; it’s so much easier when it comes to moving them into a bed.
There’s nothing worse than trying to deal with an over-tired child. Their tempers get worse until you feel you can’t please them at all. You try to comfort them and they push you away with sheer frustration because they can’t understand their own tiredness. You get highly stressed because you feel as if you can’t do anything to help. You have to take the lead and show them how to deal with it, even if they don’t like it at first. Sometimes you’ve got to be cruel to be kind. By placing them in the cot, they get quality time with themselves, which is needed for them to learn about basic independence (a vital motor skill). You need to break the cycle of comforting them at all times, that’s the hardest job for any parent.
I now have a 4 month old who does nothing but sleep! I started early by placing him in the cot when he shows signs of tiredness so he’s used to falling asleep on his own, before getting over-tired. Up to now, it’s worked great. He has a bit of a grumble but soon nods off. If there’s one thing I’ve learnt through my first child it’s the fact kids love the assurance of routine. It’s just hard trying to install one in the first place. But who said parenthood was easy?!