My two year old has been a bit of a puzzle for me lately. The two year sleep regression hit us early and hard.
She was still sleeping in a beautiful rhythm, but that rhythm led us to 3 hour naps! At first I reveled in that long “break” during the day and considered her later bedtime to simply be a minor inconvenience. But work has picked back up and I would like to keep her schedule as close to her brother’s as possible.
So, I attempted the very dangerous experiment of eliminating her nap all together. Also not the schedule I want for her!
Now that we have moved past the no-nap schedule, we have regrouped and she has naturally shifted into an hour nap schedule.
The key has been 30 minutes of “quiet time” before she takes her nap. I have her lie down and call me when she gets sleepy. I help her ease into a nap and she sleeps for an hour.
Here is a variation of our current schedule:
7:00 a.m. wake up
11:00 a.m. lunch
12 p.m. “rest” time
12:30 p.m. nap
1:30 p.m. wake up
2:00 p.m. snack
5:00 p.m. dinner
6:30 p.m. bath (alternating nights)
7:30 p.m. bed