At age 4 years, 57% of children are napping one nap/day about 5 naps/week. 80% of children who nap are napping between 1.5-2.5 hours.
Napping is less influenced by genetics than parenting practices.
Marc
Weissbluth Method Infant Nap App.
Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child
February 20, 2012 at 7:51 pm |
Our 42-month-old daughter has recently started fighting naps and stalling at bedtime. She’s begun following her sleep rules again, staying in bed at nap and bedtime. The “treat fairy” comes if she follows all her sleep rules and goes to sleep. Bedtime is getting better, but day care has told us she’ll only nap there if they lay down next to her. At home, we put her in bed at 12:30 (the day care nap time) and she will usually play quietly for an hour or more before falling asleep, if she does. This means some days she doesn’t wake until 4 or 4:30. Bedtime is at 7:30 and can’t be pushed much earlier on weeknights. We all get home at 6, eat dinner right away and move right into the bedtime routines for her and her four-month-old brother.
So, is it normal for her to be cutting out naps at this age? Is it okay for her to nap at day care but no longer when she’s home Saturday, Sunday and Monday? Do I need to cut off naptime/quiet time at 2:30 regardless of when she fell asleep? Or do we let her sleep and do early bedtimes on the weekends only?
Thanks for any advice. We love your book.
January 30, 2012 at 7:45 pm |
Hi Dr. W
My son has always been a long and dedicated napper. He rarely fights naps and goes down easily even when traveling and at daycare. He will be 4 in May. Currently his naps are between 1.5 (when at daycare) hours and 2.5 hours. He simply doesn’t need 12 hours at night so we don’t even try to put him to bed before 8. He often ends up staying up too late sometimes coming out of his room at 9 or 10 at night. Other nights he falls asleep earlier I think. He wakes up between 6 and 7. How many hours does a child this age need at night if still napping and how do we maintain a reasonable bedtime? Should we limit his nap to a set amount of time and if so how long? If I tried to do rest time with him I am pretty sure he would just fall asleep. Any advice from others would be appreciated. By the way he is mostly well rested and happy. It does seem that on nights he is up very late he ends up waking up earlier than normal and the takes a longer nap.
Thank you.
February 7, 2011 at 7:18 pm |
Our daughter now wakes up most days in the 5-5:30am range. She’s 4.4 years, no longer naps, and goes to sleep by 7pm most nights. 10 hours just aren’t quite enough for her – she’s red eyed, weepy and/or hyper by 5:30-6pm every evening. This started when she finally parted ways with her pacifier, just shy of her 4th bday, so I suspect she always woke briefly around that time, but simply popped the binky in and drifted back to sleep until 6:30-7am. Should we try putting her to sleep at 6pm? We’re afraid she’ll be up and ready at 4am if we do that. Or is it time to try a later bedtime? Like 7:30pm? Please help! On the rare days she sleeps 11 hours at night, she’s a much happier child. Thank you in advance for any guidance you can provide.
February 1, 2011 at 4:57 pm |
Hello
I have been leaving my info with your office manager a few times for information on a sleep consultation and I haven’t had any luck so far. I am hoping that if maybe I leave a short question on here that you can give a yay or nay.
My son just turned one. He had a nasty habit of waking up at 3:00 every morning and I was totally playing the supporting role by going in to him. We broke that habit a week or two ago but now he’s pushed that wake up call to anywhere between 4:00 and 4:30. I let him work it out but then it goes past 5:00 and I know that you have said if your child wakes up at 5:00, then you’re cruel if you leave them to work it out because they are just an early riser. However, I feel like because he’s woken up way early that he should still work it out. I feel like when I go in to him at 5:00 if he’s been crying since 4:30 that it is just teaching him that if he cries for a half hour then Mommy comes. So what say ye? Do I leave him to work it out until 6:00 or something? Or should I still go in at 5:00? He’s been doing this for about 2 weeks now and he’s not sick or messy or especially wet or anything.
Thanks!
P.S. He goes to sleep for the night typically around 6:00-6:30ish depending on how long of a nap he takes in the afternoon.
January 25, 2011 at 11:46 pm |
Do you recommend the child weaning fully off naps themselves (at age 4 or older)? For example, say a child sleeps more in 24 hrs with no nap and an ultraearly bedtime (like the recent post where putting to bed at 5/5:30 PM and sleeping in til close to 7) then a when he/she has nap and a shorter night. Would you look at the 24 hr total or place more value on the daytime rest? At a minimum, I would think some “quiet time/rest time” would be good even when they drop naps. I am curious to your thoughts at this age. Thanks!
January 24, 2011 at 10:05 pm |
I have an almost 4 year old (in about 3 weeks)…he still naps/rests about 5 days /week. Those days, when he actually does fall asleep he seems to have trouble at bedtime falling asleep at a reasonable hour, despite being put to bed. He has been a great sleeper since we sleep trained him around 6 months following HSHHC. Since this nap has been shrinking he also seems to wake earlier on some days. Do we just bite the bullet and eliminate the nap, or only let him sleep (or rest) for an hour? On the days he has preschool and cannot nap we do put him to bed at least 30 min. earlier. He seems to be tired several days of the week, and this affects his behavior (it’s much worse when he is tired). Any advice please?
January 30, 2011 at 1:18 pm |
The former.
Marc
January 24, 2011 at 7:14 pm |
My son is 3 and a half and will still nap a few times a week for about 2 and a half hours. On the days he doesn’t nap he goes to bed at 7:30 but I’m not sure what time to put him to bed on the nights when he does nap. I’m afraid to put him to bed too early as he shares a room with his sister and I don’t want him not tired and talking in there. What is an appropriate bedtime for him on nap days, he wakes up at 7 each day.