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Naps are a natural part of a toddler’s life. When a child is only a few months old, she’ll likely take as many as five or six naps a day. But that pace will slow as your child ages. By the time she’s a year or two old, she’ll take one or two naps a day.
Children at this age don’t get all the sleep they need during the night. They need naps to get the rest they need. You’ll surely know when it’s time for your child’s nap. She’ll get cranky and upset, typical symptoms of a lack of sleep. That’s the time you should set your child down for some sleep.
The ages-old question is how long you should let your child sleep during these naps? Well, when they’re under a year old, they’ll likely sleep and wake up like it’s no big deal. But as they get to be about a year old, you’ll have to dictate how long they sleep. It basically depends on how much sleep you’ve determined your child needs, based on their normal sleep patterns. If you decide your child needs 12 hours a day of sleep and she has already slept eight hours over night, the napping time during the day can be about four hours. So if she begins her nap at 11 a.m., you should wake her up by 3 p.m. If she sleeps any more than that, you’ll only be hurting yourself. These are hours that you’ll be making up the following night. When you think it’s time to go to bed for her, she’ll still have plenty of energy from her nap.
The biggest thing you should keep in mind is routine. Be sure to do the same thing each day. Go to bed at the same time each night. You’ll learn when you can expect your child to wake up. Then have nap time set at the same time each day--during the late morning or early afternoon hours.
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