Length of naps for one year and older

Do you let you baby/toddler naps go on for as long as they will sleep or do you at some point wake him/her up?  

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83%

 (20) 

I never wake a sleeping baby/toddler

0%

 (0) 

After 1.5 hours I wake my baby/toddler

8%

 (2) 

After 2 hours I wake my baby/toddler

0%

 (0) 

After 2.5 hours I wake my baby/toddler

8%

 (2) 

After 3 hours I wake my baby/toddler

24 Members voted

[waitingwithhope]

If my kid is napping, I am one excited mommy!! I will let her nap for as long as she wants because she rarely naps more than an hour per day. Naps are an exciting event for me. Especially long ones!!!

[Kentbird]

I would wake a toddler after a nap but NEVER wake wake a sleeping baby! lol xxx

[sstaceyy]

when my kids were that age one of them I let sleep till he woke up the other one if he napped for 5min a day he would be up till 3-4am and wierd as could be.

[Tanker Chic]

So for the people who are voting "I never wake a sleeping baby/toddler" is that because your baby/toddler never sleeps that long or you would let him take a 4 hour nap if he/she would sleep that long?  

Oh and by baby, I mean over one year of age.  

just curious.. my MILand I had a bit of a power struggle.  After 2.5 horus I wanted to wake my 15 month old son, but she was nagging at me for it so I let him sleep till 3 hours.  At 3 hours I went and got him up and I could tell she wasn't happy about it... i just wondered what others did or would do.  

[Tanker Chic]

yeah, that is my issue.. if he sleeps too long during the day, then he is hard to put down that night and wakes really early.  I also still let him have two naps a day on the weekends.. during the week he is in daycare and only gets one nap a day, but then he seems tired and cranky in the evenings.

[sstaceyy]

i proply would put him down for a hour nap 2 times a day and see if that works. and if you want him to have 2 naps a day tell your daycare they are good to work with you.

[GRose]

My son takes 2 or 3 hour naps most days and if he wants to sleep longer there is no way in he** that I would wake him up, nap time is the only time I get alone so I LOVE it lol. I have had to wake him if we have plans but other than that No, I never wake a sleeping toddler.

[mami1323]

I'm glad you posted this, I was having this debate with my mom.  Normally my son sleeps from 1.5 to 3 hours for his afternoon nap.  Yesterday he slept 4 hours.  My mom was thrilled of course.  She always brags about the long naps he takes.  But here was my dilemma, last night he refused to go to sleep.  He was up until 10:30 pm, therefore, I got no "me" time.  I don't mind long naps but when it interferes with my ability to get him to sleep at night, then I have a problem with it extending past 3 hours.  

[tatorbug40]

I never wake a sleeping baby-  BUT my kids have never napped longer then 2 or 2 1/2 hours...  so, perhaps I would if they slept over 3 hours-  sometimes if they are taking a late nap, I'll wake them...  but not often.

[BearHitch]

My son usually does sleep for at least 3 hours for his 1 daily nap and if he was going to sleep longer than that, I would not wake him up at all!  He sometimes doesn't get the best of sleep at night and if I were to wake him I know the consequences - he is such a little bear when I wake him up.  The only exception to this is if he were napping late and it was coming up to be past 4 pm and then I would.  But unless he is sick he naps from 11:00 am - about 2 pm so that is not really an issue.

[AnnieBrooke]

I don't wake my napping son, am so glad he's getting some sleep that I wouldn't wake him at all.  However, I would wake him if it meant he would not sleep at night, especially if I worked outside the home and he was napping for the sitter and then staying wide awake for me until impossibly late.  I need some time to get house things done without him throwing the piles of folded laundry, getting into my desk, hitting the TV screen with something hard, etc.  But since I'm at home with him, if he's napping long, that's great time for me to get those dishes, laundry, bills, and mail all done.  I don't care at this point if he stays up later -- since he is not school-age yet, he can sleep in the following morning.  Once he begins school, we'll all have to adjust to not having him up in the evenings following a long nap in the afternoon, but not yet.

[kellym]

I get a 2 hr nap out of my 1 year old 2x a day. If he goes past 4, I crack his door or something. I don't want to jeapordize bed time!

[GRose]

Annie- That's why I dont mind long naps either, I am basically a SAHM right now so it's not like we have a strict schedule we need to keep or anything.

[tatorbug40]

man,  all this is making me want to take a nap...  

[megmil]

My son is almost five and still takes a 1 and ahalf to 2 hour nap every day. When he doesn't he's really cranky. He will throw fits, cry for no reason, scream and it just drives me crazy. I usually do not wake him because he will wake up on his own after one or two hours. If he sleeps longer I will wake him to see if he's alright. When he sleeps longer he's usually not feeling well. I also will not let him sleep too long or he doesn't want to  go to bed at night.

[Tanker Chic]

Wow, I am amazed that the overall majority will let their baby/toddler take over a 3 hour nap if they want to.  

My son takes two naps a day still... I will let him take a 2 hour nap twice a day but if a single nap goes on for 3 hours.. i gotta get him up... even if he was sick I would get him up and give him some milk or water or something and let him go back down if he wants.. I guess I just can't leave him a lone for that long..  :)  

[chantal21]

I don't usually wake him...but if he goes too long, I will go in and get him up. He usually goes down for a nap by 2pm...most times he sleep until 4 or 4:30 which is fine...but if it gets to be close to 5pm I will usually go get him because his bed time is at 7:30 and he needs to eat dinner. He will then sleep until I wake him at 7:30am to change his diaper and I put him right back to bed until he wakes up again...usually not until 10am. Thankfully I have never had a problem with him going to bed even though he may sleep from 2-5 during a nap. He has been sick the last couple of days, so I have been letting him sleep however long he wants to. I would never wake him as I cherish that time he naps, but I guess it really depends on the situation too. If he sleeps longer than normal I go check on him to be sure he is okay. I'm glad he is a sleeper though, because I enjoy my sleep-ins in the morning now that I'm pregnant. =)

[smjmekg]

My son's almost 11 months, and I let him sleep as long as he wants. He's not on a schedule for naps, it's usually three short (20 min-1 hour) naps or two good hour to two hour naps. Occasionally it's only one nap if he has slept very well the night before, i.e. last night he was down at 830 and didn't wake up for a bottle until 4, then went back to sleep until around 845, so today I don't expect him to go down for a nap until between 12 and 2 then sleep about three hours. But I usually wake him if he takes a late nap and isn't up by 530-6 so he will go to sleep around 8-830. He occasionally sleeps longer than three hours, but I don't wake him, unless it's more than 4 hours. He gets cranky when his nap really long, and is then tired again soon after, but mostly I let him sleep and don't wake him.

[Diane1003]

My son never gets to the point where we have to wake him up. If we get 90 min we're thrilled. I do get concerned about how long of a 2nd nap he'll take b/c I wonder how that'll affect what time he goes to bed...  It's rarely a problem though b/c he takes short naps - almost always 1:15/1:20.

[GRose]

Wow, Chantal, you are one lucky mommy!!

[chantal21]

GRose..thanks...I honestly have been blessed from day one with him!! He was never on a strict schedule and I kinda let him determine when he wanted to sleep and we slowly just got into this schedule. Everyone kept telling me do this and do that, but I let him sleep when he wanted to. Now that I'm pregnant again, I am ever so thankul of his sleeping patterns. He is like mommy...he LOVES his sleep. haha. Daddy is an early riser. I hope the next one takes after me again. =)

[pinkbelle]

wow! my daughter rarely takes even one nap during the day.. she waskes up in the morning anywhere from 6-8 am and then she is up for the whole day.. and she doesn't go to bed until 9 or 10:30 at night.. honestly from the minute she wakes up she is on the go.. its so exhausting.. now the other day she took a 3 hr nap.. boy was i happy! but she was teething and i think thats why.. now yesterday she woke up at 6 am and had no naps the entire day! and she didn't go to bed until 10.. ugh! so im one tired momma!

[tatorbug40]

pinkbelle-  try getting her to bed earlier-  it might be tough to change the schedule,  but I have heard that putting them down earlier will help them to sleep better, and sleep longer actually-  and times I have "tested" this theory with my kids, it works!  Just this week I started trying to get Colten in bed by 8pm, instead of closer to 9,  which is tough for me, becuase I ususally don't get home until 7-  but he seems to be sleeping better this week....  

[pinkbelle]

i try to put her down but she screams bloody murder... she always falls asleep while dh is holding her and usually he is feeding her.. her bottle is her safety net... she is just soo wired all day its exhausting but i will try tonight.. thanks so much for the advice.. i really appreciate it!