https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Wed, 22 Apr 2026 20:10:52 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/nap-extensions-for-toddlers-do-they-work#post-2241988 Tue, 21 Jul 2015 13:57:51 +0000 luckygirl 2241988@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Thanks again to everyone for suggestions and ideas! To give you an update, after getting nighttime and early wakeups back on track last week, we put him down a bit early for his nap last weekend (12:15/12:25). And we did let him cry/fuss a little after he woke up, so he won't always expect to be taken right out of his crib right away. The first day he slept for 50 minutes, and the second day after he woke at the 40 minute mark he cried for a few minutes and then fell back asleep! So on the second day he napped for almost an hour and half!!! We were thrilled. Who knows what he has in store for us next weekend, but we're happy that his sleep has been improving, and we feel like we're heading in the right direction. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/nap-extensions-for-toddlers-do-they-work#post-2239727 Fri, 17 Jul 2015 22:50:31 +0000 SweetiePie 2239727@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I don't have a toddler (10 month old) but I also have read a lot about short naps/early wake-up meaning earlier nap and bed time are needed. Like if you put them down too late they get overtired which makes it harder for them to stay asleep. But, admittedly, I haven't read much about sleep past our current stage, so I'm not sure if that is still applicable to toddler sleep.<br /> Good luck though! I can't imagine one 40 minute nap, I hope you can find the magic combination to fix it :-) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/nap-extensions-for-toddlers-do-they-work#post-2239656 Fri, 17 Jul 2015 19:59:09 +0000 Mrs Green Grass 2239656@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I'd def try earlier nap and lave him in there (if he's not super upset). My lo will fall back to sleep sometimes. Have you changed anything recently? Stopped sound machine? More light in room? Etc? I tried to stop the sound machine at what point and it did not work well. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/nap-extensions-for-toddlers-do-they-work#post-2239604 Fri, 17 Jul 2015 19:02:53 +0000 Mae 2239604@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My 14 mo is on one nap and went from taking 2.5-3 hour naps to 1-1.5 hour naps and waking tired/crabby. For me what works is running up the very moment she wakes and grabbing her and rocking her. She usually falls asleep on me and sleeps another 30-60 minutes. It's not ideal since then I'm trapped under a sleeping kid for an hour... but if I don't do it she doesn't go back to sleep and then she's cranky all afternoon so it makes my life easier if i just do it :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/nap-extensions-for-toddlers-do-they-work#post-2239564 Fri, 17 Jul 2015 16:49:45 +0000 Woolly Mammoth 2239564@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>This probably isn't useful, but I nurse my 22-month-old back to sleep if he wakes up early and/or cranky during his nap. I need that nap!</p> <p>Other things that have helped are making the room dark, white noise, and making sure he gets plenty of morning exercise. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/nap-extensions-for-toddlers-do-they-work#post-2239516 Fri, 17 Jul 2015 15:23:20 +0000 charlotte 2239516@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@luckygirl: I was going to suggest trying to put him down earlier for nap too! At that age our little guy woke between 6/7 and napped at about 12-12:30..sooo about 6 hours of awake time in the AM. Maybe shoot for that depending on wakeup time and see what happens?</p> <p>My other random input is that last summer my son was waking early from nap and unhappy /sweaty. It turns out his room was too hot (75-77 per monitor, though it didnt feel that hot to me). He sleeps much better between 70-72 degrees. Our AC bill has been more this year but no sweaty angry wakeups! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/nap-extensions-for-toddlers-do-they-work#post-2239499 Fri, 17 Jul 2015 15:06:27 +0000 luckygirl 2239499@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Thanks so much for your thoughts so far! We're nervous about what to do about this weekend. He slept in this morning past 6am and woke up happy, so that was good progress on the early wakeups! But I just know that this weekend he’ll have another 40 minute nap. I guess we could try leaving him in the crib for another 20 minutes after; even if he’s not sleeping he should at least be resting. And then try early bedtime since it’s hard to imagine he’ll go back to sleep after having napped already.</p> <p>Anyone have any success putting a short napper down a little earlier for a nap? That’s another suggestion we’ve heard.</p> <p>@2peasinapod – it seems like he’s always going through something developmental! He did just start peeing in the potty before bathtime. But he’s had the short nap problem for months. Thanks for the feedback on crying for more than a half hour and how it didn’t seem to work to fall asleep again. That’s what we want to avoid – lots of crying for no good reason.</p> <p>@2littlepumpkins – he’s been on one nap since right around 12 months! He did transition between 1 and 2 for a bit, but then he spent a couple of months napping an hour and 15 minutes – which wasn’t great, but was better for sure. And it’s been since March that he’s mostly had 40 minute naps at home on weekends. We tried to ride it out, but it seems like this is the new normal, which is not OK! And his night sleep started getting worse (including night terrors) over the last month, so we know now we really need to address it. Our goal is to get him back to an hour and 15 minutes nap at least.</p> <p>@truth_bombs – I wish he would let us soothe or snuggle him back to sleep! He has never once slept next to us in bed or anywhere; he’s just not that kind of kid. And he never even really liked to be rocked to sleep. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/nap-extensions-for-toddlers-do-they-work#post-2239370 Fri, 17 Jul 2015 13:12:46 +0000 Truth Bombs 2239370@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>The only way to get my toddler to extend her naps is to pick her up and let her cuddle on the couch with me. It doesn't bother me because it's the weekend and I have time for snuggling and it's never affected her night sleep at all. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/nap-extensions-for-toddlers-do-they-work#post-2239367 Fri, 17 Jul 2015 13:10:53 +0000 2littlepumpkins 2239367@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>How long has he been on one nap? I think it's pretty common for them to take one short nap when they firt switch to one nap as weird as that sounds but then they lengthen it. I've seen posts about that happening to other people and it happened with my dd too. My dd was also more of an independent sleeper; having us there trying to soothe her just woke her up more most days. To be honest some days I did earlier bedtime and some I just put her in the car and drove around and hoped she fell asleep. I am definitely no pro at extending a toddler nap. But she did lengthen them on her own. We started using blackout curtains (at least on one side even if there was light on the other side of the room) and that seemed to also help a bit. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/nap-extensions-for-toddlers-do-they-work#post-2239366 Fri, 17 Jul 2015 13:10:50 +0000 2PeasinaPod 2239366@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Is he going through any developmental milestones right now? Has he just learned how to do something or could he be getting teeth? </p> <p>LO had a nap strike around the same time when his canines were coming in. It was really hard to deal with a cranky toddler, and all 4 canines took FOREVER to come in. In this case, I can only commiserate! </p> <p>We also would do for both night sleep and naps, but once LO was up and crying for more than a half hour, it wasn't likely that he was going back down. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/nap-extensions-for-toddlers-do-they-work#post-2239353 Fri, 17 Jul 2015 12:56:01 +0000 luckygirl 2239353@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Anyone have experience with a toddler taking one super short nap a day and/or working on extending the nap? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/nap-extensions-for-toddlers-do-they-work#post-2238387 Thu, 16 Jul 2015 11:10:28 +0000 luckygirl 2238387@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I could use some help with nap extensions. Please see my question below. Here is some background:</p> <p>My son is 19 months old. He happily goes to sleep on his own for bedtime. In the middle of the night when he wakes up and cries (about once a night) he usually puts himself back to sleep on his own after a few minutes, and the majority of the time he goes down fine for naps as well (if he protests naps we do CIO with checks). He is not easily soothed back to sleep by us, so we try to let him do it on his own.</p> <p>The problem is that he has been taking really short naps. Only one 40 minute nap a day on weekends when he's home with us. When he wakes up after 40 minutes he's crying and seems tired still. We've tried calming him to go back to sleep, and then also let him cry for 30-40 minutes after he wakes up but he just stands and cries. We know he needs to sleep longer for naps. He used to take one nap that lasted a little over 1 hour, which was on the short end, but was better than this.</p> <p>It sounds like at daycare he naps a little longer, usually an hour or 1.5 hours, and then often stays on his cot resting, so he's napping/resting for the full 2 hours. When we travel he usually takes an hour long nap too.</p> <p>He's been waking up early lately, but he used to wake up around 6:30am. We've been leaving in his crib until 6/6:15am and sometime he falls back asleep, sometimes he doesn't.</p> <p>His schedule recently is:</p> <p>Wakeup: 5/6am<br /> Nap: 12:45/1pm- 1:30/2pm (at daycare they have him nap/rest from about 12:45-2:45pm)<br /> Bedtime: 7/7:30pm</p> <p>My question is - how do toddler nap extensions work? If he has already slept for 40 minutes for a nap, can we expect him to fall back asleep after crying for 45 minutes or longer?</p> <p>I am usually the one on board for more of letting him work stuff out on his own (CIO with checks), but my husband has a hard time with it. Then that makes it hard to be consistent.</p> <p>Apologies for the long post, and thanks so much for any thoughts you have! </p>