Napping/routines

You can read what sleep expert Dr. Weissbluth and others have to say at http://billiediscoverytoys.blogspot.com/2009/07/healthy-h...

Our sched is like this.
7:30-8:00. Wake up eat breakfast
8:00-10:15. Get dressed/play/run errands if needed
1015 snack
1030-1200. Play more
1200-1230 lunch
1230-230 brush teeth/nap
2:30 snack
245-5:30. Play/errands
5:30 dinner
6:00-7:30 play/clean up
7:30 bath/bedtime

When our daughter was 19 mos, she would wake up at 6:00am, nap at noon until 2pm and then sleep at 7pm. It was pretty consistent by then.

My 17 month old son has already transitioned himself to one nap. Usually around 1pm, right after lunch. Mind you he has never been a great sleeper. Not the worst mind you, but just never great. He's also an early riser and seems to be able to function on less sleep than my daughter was/is able to. My son has been up (as have I) since 5am. They both fell asleep in the car on the way home from my parents, about 8:30pm last night. Now my daughter is still sleeping and it's 8:10am. If I were you, I would try phasing him out of that morning nap and give him lunch earlier and put him down for one nap in the afternoon. Good luck!

Kiddo usually wakes up around 7:30am, breakfast at 8:00/8:30. Lunch around 12/12:30, nap from 1-3:30/4, dinner around 6pm, bedtime at 8pm.

Hi D.,

I have a daughter who is 21 months old. She gets up between 6:30 and 7 every morning. Eats breakfast at 8 and then eats lunch around 12:30. I have her take a nap a 1 and she sleeps until 3 and sometimes 4. She goes to bed at 8pm. This routine works great for us. Remember every child is different - some require more sleep than others. I allowed my son to make his own routine but he is the oldest and I did not have other routines to deal with. He was a great night time sleeper (12 hours) but only took a 1 to 1 1/2 hour nap in the afternoon.

Every kid is different and of course the schedule has to work for the whole family, but here's the schedule that my son & daughter were on at that age:

Wake-up - between 6 and 7
Breakfast - 7:00 or 7:30
Snack - 9:00
Lunch 11:00
Naptime - 11:30 - 2:30 or 3:00
Snack when wake up
Dinner 6:00
Bedtime 7:00- 7:30

Best thing about this schedule was that we could do an activity in the morning and in the afternoon. Hopefully a slightly later nap will make him more tired (sleep longer during the day ) and less overtired before bedtime, which I have read is one of the main reasons that kids wake up before their full night's sleep.

I hope that helps - good luck!

My 17 month old gets up at 8 and we eat breakfast. Snack about 10:30 and he is ready for a nap by 11 or 11:15. He sleeps anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours, he never sleeps past 1pm. Then we eat lunch, snack at 5, dinner at 6:30. 7:15-7:30 starts the bath and bed routine. I think it would be easier if he would nap after lunch, say 12 or 1, but he is tired by 11.

Hi D.,
My youngest, who'll be 3 in 3 weeks, has had pretty much the same time schedule since birth. We just cut out a couple naps since birth.

Luckily,she gets to go to work with me, and we leave just after 6:30 am (I get her up at 6), do bus run, and get home around 8:30. We have breakfast, reading time, tv time, then nap time around 10. She likes to play at nap time, so I leave her in her bed until around 1 pm. She plays, sleeps, plays and sleeps again. She entertains herself and plays with her toys. This is her "quiet time".

After nap time, we have lunch, then back to work at 2, home at 4:10, dinner around 6, and bedtime around 8:30.

This schedule works great for us and she is not cranky or hard to talk to. It's days when we go shopping instead of take a nap that she can get a little difficult and whiney.

Have you tried to move his bed time a little later or his nap time a little earlier? This may tire him out enough to help him sleep better.

Another thought, how active is he before bedtime/naptime? Have him do some exercises, or take a quick run outside, around the house, make a game of it. I used to do this with my son, now 8. I'd have his sister run with him around the house to tire him out, burn up some extra energy; I'd time them, and because she was so much older, she would have to do 2 laps to his 1. Then we'd eat dinner, then shower, then to bed much easier than on nights we didn't do this. got a trampoline? this helps to tire out my littlest one.
Good luck

Hi There,
My son in 19 mos. also. He generally gets up between 6:30 and 7:00 and has breakfast between 7:00 and 8:00. Usually he has a small morning snack around 10:00 (depending on breakfast) and lunch around 11:30 or 12:00. He goes down for a nap after lunch (usally about 12:30 or 1:00) and sleeps for about 2 hours. He goes to bed about 7:30 pm... How long does he sleep at night? I think kids this age average about 11 hours or so. Does he only take 1 nap each day?? I think all together the average is about 11 hours of sleep at night and 2 hour nap eache day... (give or take and hour or so).

My 19 month old son wakes at 7am, has breakfast at 8am, lunch at noon, and naps from 1 to 3pm. We put him down for the night at 8:30pm and he's usually asleep by 9 at the latest. I have found that one nap, closer to the middle of the day helps.

When my kids were this age they dropped their morning naps. One nap a day is good at this age. My kids bedtime routine started at night at 7:30, lights out before 8. And their nap during the day was after lunch at about 1. So I'd stop the morning nap.