We often get a lot of questions about naps..how long a little one should be napping for during the day, how many naps they ‘should’ be having, how to transition to less naps, and when to stop naps all together.
We are excited to work with Naturalmat again to put together a few top tips for you!
The sleep your little one needs during the day will vary depending on their age. As a guidance, this is what we would expect to see:
Newborn- 3-6months- Generally most little ones at this age are asleep more than awake. You are likely to see a total amount of sleep ranging between 16-18hrs in a 24 hour period
6-12 months- The goal for a little one between 6-12 months is to be sleeping a total of 12-15 hours in a 24 hour period. This would include around 2-3 naps per day.
2 years old- At this age your little one is ideally getting 12-14 hours sleep in a 24 hour period, with 1 nap during the day.
3-4 years- At this age we would be expecting to see your little one sleep for 12 hours in a 24 hour period. This may include 1 nap during the day, although you are likely to find that this will no longer be a regular part of their day-to-day routine.
There is no ‘set age’ at which your little one should stop napping during the day. For some children, they will still need to nap until they are 3 /4 years, and for others, they will be able to manage through the day and stop napping younger than this. It very much depends on how well a little one sleeps at night, what time they go to bed, what time they wake up in the morning, and how busy their day is, which will determine the best napping schedule for them.
When asking yourself ‘when should my little one stop napping, we would encourage you to think about the following:
How easily are they going to bed? Are they snuggling down and going to sleep quickly, or are they tossing and turning for a while?
What is their behaviour like before and after a nap? Is it becoming a battle to get them to have a nap or are they waking up really grumpy and more tired after their nap making the afternoon a struggle for everyone?
If you feel that bedtime is tricky, nap time is a battle, behaviour becomes a problem around nap time and after they’ve napped, then it may be time to think about reducing or cutting out naps completely.
There may be a period of time that your little one refuses a nap but you can see that they are still really tired and need one! We would encourage you to try not to stress about it too much.
We often discuss with clients about introducing a ‘quiet time’ for your little one. Initially when you introduce ‘quiet time’ you may still wish to do this in their cot/bed with some books so if they fall asleep it doesn’t matter. This may also help you to encourage a little one to have some quiet time, especially if they are becoming more reluctant!
Quiet time could be; your little one going up to their bedroom and spending time looking through a few books, to have some time alone either snuggled in their bed or on the sofa with a cosy blanket, it may be having some alone time in their cosy teepee, or if you have strict rules with TV in your house, this may be the time that you allow them to have a bit of TV time for 30 minutes. For adults, when we take even 30 minutes out of our busy day to sit and have a coffee, tea, or to read a chapter of our book, we feel rested and it often gives up a boost of energy for the rest of the day. This is the same for a little one..its ok to allow them time to have a reset for 30-40 minutes. It also means you can get that time for a little reset too!
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