Require mathematician to figure out toddler's sleep schedule

gp2.0

Fri, May 04 2012, 11:34 am

OK so DD is 2 years old. We need to leave the house every weekday morning at 8:45. Recently she's started throwing a fit with getting dressed (can be another whole thread) and she wakes up very slowly in general, so it takes me nearly two hours (and about six tantrums) every morning just to get her up, dressed, fed and out the door. So an ideal wake up time every morning would be 7 a.m.

Now here's the problem. Day 1: She wakes up at 7, then by 2 p.m. she's exhausted and falls asleep for an hour or two. (I don't put her to sleep - she's just so tired that she falls asleep.) HOWEVER because she had that nap, she isn't ready to go to sleep until 11 p.m. that night, no matter what time I put her into bed, she just can't fall asleep.

Day 2: If I don't wake her up, she'll sleep until 9. (Because remember, she went to sleep 11 the night before.) However on Day 2, because she slept until 9, she isn't tired in the afternoon so she skips her nap and will stay up until 7/7:30, at which point she's exhausted and ready for bed.

Day 3: She wakes up at 7, and the cycle begins again. (See Day 1.)

What is the way out of this endless cycle? Should I let her nap when she's tired, but only for a half hour at most? Should I wake her up at 7 every morning and deal with crankiness later if she hasn't had enough sleep?

Please tell me if you see a practical solution here. Thanks!

CherryBerry

Fri, May 04 2012, 11:44 am

here's my solution, see if it works for you.
wake her at 7, always.
always put her down for a nap at around 12-1
let her sleep for an hour, then wake her up.

her late nap is causing her to not fall asleep at night, not the fact that she had a nap.
she still needs the nap just make it earlier.
and the reason she is so cranky in the morning is b/c she hasn't gotten a good nights sleep.

another option is to never let her nap, and put her to bed at 6.
if she sleeps from 6 pm to 7 am she will get all the sleep she needs.

I think you can calculate that she needs about 13 hrs of sleep, day and night included.

gp2.0

Fri, May 04 2012, 12:32 pm

The problem is that she is in playgroup from 9-2. And they don't put her to sleep at all. I will ask the teacher if she would be willing to try putting her to sleep from 12-1. However DD has always been able to keep herself up if there's exciting stuff going on, even if she's exhausted. So I don't know if that will work...

gp2.0

Fri, May 04 2012, 12:43 pm

CherryBerry wrote:

Also, how did you get to the 13 hour calculation?

granolamom

Fri, May 04 2012, 2:04 pm

this is so funny...because my 2 yo is on practically the SAME schedule as yours.
my 2 yo is my youngest of a bunch so I have no time or ability to cater to her sleeping preferences. some days she goes without a nap and is cranky. some days she stays up till 11 because she took a nap at 3 or 4. in theory, I guess it would be better to be consistent, but I have other carpool responsibilities so I'd have to wake her up if she napped any earlier.
this too shall pass.......

MMCH

Fri, May 04 2012, 2:17 pm

yikes thats an exhausting day.
its obvious that she's cranky bc she went to bed @ 11. a 2 year old shud not be going to sleep so late.
ur only solution seems to be to ask the daycare to put her down from 12-130.
try it out on shabbos/sunday and see what happens.
I was under the impression a 2 year old needs 12-13 hours total of sleep. so if she goes to bed a 7 and wakes up at 7 and takes a one hour nap. that shud be fine.

granolamom

Fri, May 04 2012, 2:40 pm

there really are no 'should's'
some kids need more sleep and some need less. although I agree that if she's tired/cranky she needs more.
my dd has trouble napping at playgroup even though the whole group does have rest time at 12:30.

as far as taking so long to wake up/get ready in the mornings, I will admit that I am not above letting my dd sleep in clean clothes so all I have to do in the morning is change her diaper, put on shoes and brush teeth/hair. I give her some crackers or dry cereal or a banana to eat in the car. this way I can let her sleep a bit later.