Wondering if your child still needs a nap?
Most children will still need one nap a day until they are 2 ½ to 3 years old. At this age the nap will be between 40 and 60 minutes in length. A good time for this nap to start is 5 ½ hours after your child wakes, then for bedtime to be 5 ½ hours from when your child wakes from this nap.
A day may look like this
7am wake up
12:30pm nap
1:30pm awake
6:30pm / 7:00pm bed time
Signs that your child is ready to drop their nap:
. Falling asleep at night time will be delayed
. They may wake during the night where previously they had not been
A great way to check is to go for a drive at the time your child usually sleeps to see if they consistently fall asleep. They probably still need this nap if they fall asleep.
How to Drop the Nap:
Most children will not just go from having a nap every day to never having one again. There will be a transition period where there will be a nap every second day, then 2 naps a week, then only one nap every now and then.
Replace the nap with some quiet time. This will still give your child the opportunity to rest and re-charge. Some great rest activities are: drawing, reading books, playdough, a basket of quiet toys. You can get out a special sleeping bag on the couch just for rest or you and your child can curl up in your bed together and snuggle and read books.
You will need to temporarily bring bedtime earlier as your child adjusts to their new routine.
If you need more information about routines or toddler sleep please check out my other blogs or get in touch to organise personalised one on one support.