Ok, please feel free to weigh-in on this.
Carter is in that small 20% of kids his age that still NEEDS a morning nap. I'm not forcing it by any means. After about 2 to 2 1/2 hours of being awake, I ask if he is ready for a nap and he almost always walks himself over to the baby gate and we go upstairs and down he goes. He naps about an hour and a half each morning.
He also naps for an hour to 2 hours every afternoon.
That said, I've been trying to schedule more activities with kids his age. Here is the problem. They pretty much are always scheduled for 10:30 and we usually need 20 - 30 minutes to get there. This seems to always mean that I have to wake him from his nap. Sure, he gets a good hour in, but I HATE to wake him.
So.... do I wake him so that I can take him to these "fun" activities (I say "fun" because sometimes they aren't fun with a toddler who has been woken up from his nap) or, do I let him sleep since he seems to need it??
FYI: This morning I decided to wake him. I went in and did the "C'mon little man, time to get up" and he didn't so much as stir so, I then changed my mind and ran from the room. He's been asleep another 15 minutes so far...
3 comments:
Let him sleep. He has the rest of his life to "play". He won't even know he's missed your planned activities. Don't forget you have to share his crabbyness, if he's so inclined, from lack of sleep.
You're not a bad mom for listening to your kid and understanding his needs. You're a great mom! Carter is lucky to have you. Besides, Carter doesn't know he's "missing" anything...and if he doesn't know, then he's not really missing anything.
my daughter is 18 months old. she is still napping twice/day. (she's asleep right now actually). she sleeps 15-16 hrs/day. my doc says it's fine, but i'm with you that it's hard to schedule things.
if there is something really fun or really important to do in the morning (we had a playdate on monday, for instance) i just won't put her down for that first nap. by she'll then go down at 1 and sleep 'til 4 or later. it works for us. :)
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