How Much Sleep Do Children Need? Part Three: 1 to 3 Years Old

Good morning, grab a cup of coffee or tea, and welcome to Part 3 of our 5-part series.  Today we're discussing:

How Much Sleep Do Children Need?  1 to 3 Years Old

1-3 Years Old: 12 - 14 hours per day needed. The average children actually sleep is about 10 ½ hours

As your child moves past the first year toward 18-21 months old and, she will lose her morning nap and nap only once a day for an hour and a half to two hours.

The transition to one nap may be a bumpy one, though, where one nap is not enough and two are too many.  If this is the case, you may try moving her bedtime earlier, so that she is more rested and better able to skip the morning nap.  Another approach involves alternating one-nap and two-nap days, depending on her sleep the previous night.

Most children from about 21-36 months old still need one nap a day, which may range from one to three and a half hours long.  They typically go to bed between 7 - 9 p.m. and wake up between 6 - 8 a.m. It is important to be regular (but not necessarily rigid) with bedtimes and naptimes and consistent with your routines or rituals.

If your child is sleeping well and is rested, occasional changes in her daily routine are generally well tolerated.  However, if she is not sleeping well, changes may cause quite a few problems.  Children at this age move to a bed from a crib and often develop sleep issues that include fears (monsters, the dark, separation), refusing to take naps, resisting going to sleep, night waking, getting out of bed, and getting up too early.

Though this may sound overwhelming, starting early and consistently maintaining healthy sleep habits prevents many problems and makes dealing with those that do occur much, much easier.

Come back tomorrow morning at the same time to read Part 4: 3 to 6 Years.

Link to the full article at SoundSleepSolutions.