Letting toddler sleep in

Is it better to let a toddler sleep as late as they want or keep them on a
schedule and have them up by a certain time in the morning? My 28 MO DD has
been sleeping longer than usual in the mornings. Of course this has been
interferring w/ her PM nap which is she isn't taking one. She just plays in
her bed until I go get her. Thoughts?

"ChitaShines" wrote in message
...
Is it better to let a toddler sleep as late as they want or keep
them on a schedule and have them up by a certain time in the
morning? My 28 MO DD has been sleeping longer than usual in the
mornings. Of course this has been interferring w/ her PM nap which
is she isn't taking one. She just plays in her bed until I go get
her. Thoughts?

What's "better" is what works for you both. If her lack of an
afternoon nap is causing a problem for either of you, for example if
she get's cranky and tired by dinnertime, it might be something you
need to address. However, if she's happy and getting enough overall
sleep, and if her schedule works with yours, there's no reason to feel
that you need to artificially move it around to be more typical.

Bizby

In article ,
"ChitaShines" wrote:

Is it better to let a toddler sleep as late as they want or keep them on a
schedule and have them up by a certain time in the morning? My 28 MO DD has
been sleeping longer than usual in the mornings. Of course this has been
interferring w/ her PM nap which is she isn't taking one. She just plays in
her bed until I go get her. Thoughts?



Personally, I'd let a toddler sleep until they woke up, unless I had to
get them up for some reason, as long as they were still going to bed at
night at a reasonable time. If she's able to give up her afternoon
sleep (and she's young for it, but it's not unheard of) without problems
and is going to bed well, and her sleeping later doesn't interfer with
other things that need to happen, I'd let her body set it's own schedule
by letting her sleep.

--
Children won't care how much you know until they know how much you care

ChitaShines wrote:
Is it better to let a toddler sleep as late as they want or keep them on a
schedule and have them up by a certain time in the morning? My 28 MO DD has
been sleeping longer than usual in the mornings. Of course this has been
interferring w/ her PM nap which is she isn't taking one. She just plays in
her bed until I go get her. Thoughts?

Are you okay with no afternoon nap and late rising?
I don't think there's any magic in "early to bed, early to
rise" or any general prescription for when to sleep, but I
do think there's value to a reasonable degree of consistency.
So, if her late rising means that you're frequently going
to have to haul her out early to get stuff done, or if
no afternoon nap doesn't work for your schedule, or whatever,
then I would discourage a late waking time. If it's fine for
you if she gets her sleep by skipping naps and sleeping later
in the morning, then I don't see anything inherently wrong
with that.

Best wishes,
Ericka

"bizby40" wrote in message
...

"ChitaShines" wrote in message
...
Is it better to let a toddler sleep as late as they want or keep
them on a schedule and have them up by a certain time in the
morning? My 28 MO DD has been sleeping longer than usual in the
mornings. Of course this has been interferring w/ her PM nap which
is she isn't taking one. She just plays in her bed until I go get
her. Thoughts?

What's "better" is what works for you both. If her lack of an
afternoon nap is causing a problem for either of you, for example if
she get's cranky and tired by dinnertime, it might be something you
need to address. However, if she's happy and getting enough overall
sleep, and if her schedule works with yours, there's no reason to feel
that you need to artificially move it around to be more typical.

My DD is doing this at 20 months. She's started sleeping until about 9:00 in
the mornings, going to bed about 9:00 at night, and not napping at all
during the day (although I'm putting her in her crib for a "Rest time" in
the afternoon, she sits, looks at books, and talks to her dragon-she does
the same the two days a week she's at MDO). Maybe once or twice a week,
she'll actually fall asleep during rest time. If I wake her up earlier, I
don't get a baby who naps, I get a cranky, tired child all day. So, I'm kind
of resigned to having a non-napping toddler who seems to do fine on 12 hours
straight of sleep. And, since most toddler activities, playgroups and the
like don't seem to start before 10:00, it's really not an issue.

Chita, the deal is that kids sleep a given amount in a 24 hour period
(and some need more than others). Biologically, as long as they get a
good long stretch at night, it doesn't matter if they go to bed early
and get up early, or go to bed late and get up late, or nap early or
late, long or short. What DOES matter is the impacts of the sleep
schedule (whether set or ad hoc) on behaviour, activities and parental
convenience. So, you can play with the chunks of sleep time a bit.

You have to arrange things so they are optimized for everyone based on
the specific needs of kid, parent and household circumstances - so the
kid is rested and not grouchy, that they get to participate in the
activities they should, and that the parents are not pulling their hair
out.

I'm mom of three - just to give you a for instance, it worked out
better for us to have kids go to bed later than average and sleep in a
bit later than average (so they weren't underfoot really early when I
was trying to get ready for work, make lunches etc. etc.). This was
strictly based on what worked for our family circumstances and
preferences - if I put my preschoolers to bed at 7 or 8 pm, I'd see
their shiny faces at 5 or 6 am...when I'd druther they were sleeping.

For us, late and very long napping was also the kiss of death i.e. if
kiddos had a long nap later in the afternoon, they would be revved up
and awake half the night, and I would be DYING since I needed to go to
bed!! (nothing worse than being exhausted and wanting to go to bed and
having a bright cheery 2 year old bouncing off the walls at 11 pm).

No best answer - just what is going to work for you as a family, given
everything you've got on your plate.

M

"ChitaShines" wrote in message
...
Is it better to let a toddler sleep as late as they want or keep them on a
schedule and have them up by a certain time in the morning? My 28 MO DD
has been sleeping longer than usual in the mornings. Of course this has
been interferring w/ her PM nap which is she isn't taking one. She just
plays in her bed until I go get her. Thoughts?

Personally, I never wake children up when they're sleeping, with the
exception of something in the morning - school, appointment, whatever.
DD will be 1 - in 8 days!!! - and she's in bed about 830-9ish. The last
week or so, though, she's been sleeping VERY long. Often hasn't gotten up
until around 11am at least. I do blame this on the heat that we've had
here, so if it's abnormally hot where you are, or if it's just downright
hot, she could just be sleeping through the heat. Babies tend to deal with
heat a lot better while sleeping.
I had concerns and even called my mom (as well as asked a girl friend with a
little one similar in age) and it was confirmed by both that the chances of
late sleeping is because of the heat, and also the lack of appetite!

I would say as long as she's going to bed at a reasonable time, let her
sleep unless you have something on your adgenda for the morning or if this
new schedule she's getting into is not working for you. If it's working for
you, then let it go. She won't starve or sleep herself to death
DS refused to nap during the afternoon by about 2ish years of age. I didn't
even bother fighting with him anymore and it worked fine for me, and for us.

ChitaShines wrote:
Is it better to let a toddler sleep as late as they want or keep them on a
schedule and have them up by a certain time in the morning? My 28 MO DD has
been sleeping longer than usual in the mornings.

She may be going through a growth spurt. My general rule is, if he
wants to sleep, let him.

-L.