Nap Question.

[caidan]

Can a baby get to much sleep? My daughter is 21 months old and still takes 2 naps a day. They are usualy an 1.5 - 2 hour each. Sometimes one is shorter but then the other nap will be longer. She goes to bed bewteen 8 and 830 and is up for the day between 730 and 8. Today she slept til 830am.

If we are busy she will skip a nap and be fine and then sleep for 2.5 hours for her only nap, but her night sleep seems to suffer on the one nap days.

She goes down easily and sometimes will ask to nap. SO I guess my question is can she be getting to much sleep? Can to much sleep be bad for her.

She really only is awake for 3 - 4 hour at a time before sleeping again. How did you know it was time to drop to one nap? And how do you determine the time for one nap?

[dcrunnergirl]

I don't think too much sleep is a bad thing. Some kids just need a lot. And, she'll let you know when she doesn't want two naps/day anymore.

We decided it was time for one nap around 16 months when they started fighting one of their naps, usually the afternoon nap. Or, they'd just skip a nap and then be a cranky mess. It took a few days, but they quickly adjust to one nap/day. However, even at nearly 2 years old, they do sometimes have a cranky period in the morning around 9:30am if we aren't out and about doing an activity, and will fall asleep for a few minutes if we're in the car.

[ijack]

some people like a lot of sleep. enjoy it

[sewpinkgal]

I also think that some kids just need more sleep than others. I feel like this is such a "read your child" kind of a thing. I took a sleep learning class with one of the authors of the Sleep Easy book and her comment was even though the book has suggestions as to average sleep needs for different ages, you still have to read your child and see what works best for them. Also, to the best of my remembrance, she said that kids can be up to 2 years old before dropping to one nap. In that instance, she is still well within their average range.

[brit1017]

Aug 9, 2012 11:27:25 GMT -5 sewpinkgal said:

I also think that some kids just need more sleep than others. I feel like this is such a "read your child" kind of a thing. I took a sleep learning class with one of the authors of the Sleep Easy book and her comment was even though the book has suggestions as to average sleep needs for different ages, you still have to read your child and see what works best for them. Also, to the best of my remembrance, she said that kids can be up to 2 years old before dropping to one nap. In that instance, she is still well within their average range.

I agree. We have always dropped naps when it affected night sleep- they would be up later and later at night and still getting up at the same time in the morning. Dropping a nap would move their bedtimes back up to a reasonable hour, while they were still getting the same # of total hours of sleep a day.

[drloretta]

Normal. Enjoy it.

[h]

People need different amounts of sleep; it sounds like your baby's sleep needs are just on the high end. Do you and/or your DH need more sleep than average? There is a pretty big genetic component.

That said, it sounds like your daughter is averaging around 15 hours of sleep a day, while the average for her age is closer to 13 hours. There is nothing wrong with that, but I would mention it to her doctor at the next appointment since it is somewhat atypical. FWIW, my kids have both been atypical on the opposite end of the spectrum (sleeping more like 10-11 hours a day at your daughter's age), and we talked to doctors about and got the "some people need less/more sleep than others answer."