Supporting your preschooler’s changing sleep needs
The holy grail of parenting is having a child who seems well-rested throughout their waking hours and then is tired enough to fall asleep easily at bedtime and stay asleep until morning. Even if you are lucky enough to have a toddler like this, there is one last sleep milestone to get through: dropping the last nap.
Research shows that babies and young children have a set number of hours that they need to sleep in a 24 hour period, spread across naps and night-sleep. As their total sleep needs gradually reduce, some children will naturally cut down on the number and length of day-time naps whilst maintaining a good night’s sleep (11-12 hours), but most will need a helping hand making nap transitions.
By 18 months, toddlers best meet their sleep needs by have one long nap after lunch and 11-12 hours of sleep at night. From around 18-months to 2-years-old, children will start cutting down on the amount of day time sleep they need and will then typically drop their last nap entirely between the ages of 2.5 and 4-years-old. This can be a tricky transition for the whole family - not least because as parents we may grieve the loss of this much-needed break in the middle of the day!
Yet it can also be a challenging transition to get right, to ensure your preschooler continues to get the sleep they need. As a society, we increasingly recognise the importance of getting enough sleep for our physical and emotional health. In his book ‘Why we Sleep’, the neuroscientist Matthew Walker explains the crucial role of sleep in the development of a child’s brain. (Caution – this book makes for uncomfortable reading if you are a sleep-deprived parent!) Getting enough sleep is an important factor in attention-span, memory recall, overall cognitive performance and mental and physical health for preschoolers. As every parent knows, a tired child finds it particularly difficult to regulate their emotions and can swing from hyperactivity to grumpiness in seconds.
This article offers a short summary of what I think is the best advice out there on supporting your preschooler through this last nap transition.
Signs your child is ready to cut down or drop their lunchtime nap:
They are cutting down on the length of their night sleep at one or both ends of the night. They might be taking an increasingly long time to fall asleep at bedtime or waking earlier than they used to. If the nap is already capped at 45 minutes, this is a good sign that they are ready to start to drop this nap. If they are still napping for longer than 45 minutes, try cutting the nap by 15 minutes for at least 3 consecutive days to see if this resolves the problem.
They are taking a very long time to fall asleep at nap time. Depending on the child, this difficulty can be manifested as either playing and chatting instead of sleeping or getting upset and resisting going for their nap. If they are still napping for longer than 45 minutes, try cutting the nap by 15 minutes and starting it 15 minutes later to see if this resolves the problem.
They skipped their nap for whatever reason and were able to make it through the late afternoon without showing signs of over-tiredness (hyperactivity, more frequent meltdowns, etc.) This is only a possible sign because over-tiredness can build up, so being able to ‘make it’ through one day with no nap does not mean they are ready to drop the nap altogether.
Top tips:
Don’t rush this process, especially if your child is younger than 2.5 years and / or still napping for longer than 45 minutes. There are many factors which affect day and night sleep and the signs for dropping a lunch nap can be temporary signs of something else. After a period of nap resistance, your child may go back to settling well for their lunch nap. Observe your child’s readiness for a while before deciding it is time.
It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. It’s ok for your child to nap some days and not others during this transition. Some continue to do this for a long time. Even once they have fully transitioned to not having a nap, on days when they are ill, had a particularly disrupted night’s sleep or had an unusually active morning they may benefit from a short nap.
Make the transition easier on the whole family by replacing nap time with rest time or ‘quiet time’. Let your child keep their light on or blinds up, give them access to some toys or books (ideally ones that are only available during this ‘quiet time’) or set them up with an audio player so they can listen to a story.
If having a consistent bedtime is important to you, set a limit for the end of the nap regardless of when it starts. For example, if you want a 7pm bedtime, ensure your child is awake by 2:30-3pm.
During the transition period, on days when your child does not nap, bring bedtime forward by about half an hour so they don’t get too tired.
More information: As well as being fully informative, this blog contains links to the references that it is based on at the end — https://www.littleones.co/blog/nap-transitions-how-and-when-your-baby-will-drop-their-naps
More support: If your child will be attending Two Hands Preschool, we’d be happy to work with you on this transition. You’ll be able to talk to us at drop off or pick up, or get in touch to arrange a chat. Many nurseries have a policy of not waking children up – at Two Hands, we know it can be important to cap the length of a nap in order to preserve the length of a child’s night sleep. We also encourage all our children to have ‘quiet time’ after lunch, which will support your efforts to set this up at home as well.
If you want more support on sleep or nutrition, we highly recommend purchasing this: https://www.littleones.co/sleep-and-nutrition-program.
How we wrote this article: The information in this blog is based on the expert advice found in trusted sources, such as the National Health Service website. The content on this page should not replace professional medical advice. Always consult medical professionals for full diagnosis and treatment.
