A two-year-old should ideally get around 11 to 14 hours of sleep. At this age, your two-year-old might still be taking one nap a day at this age, so depending on what time your child takes a nap, the ideal bedtime would be around 6 pm-7:30 pm.
Bedtime for a 2.5 year old
It's common to see bedtime between 7:00 - 9:00 PM at this age. Bedtime should allow for 10 - 12 hours of nighttime sleep, depending on whether your kiddo napped or not.
6 - 12 months old - 6-8pm. 12 - 24 months old - 6:-7:30pm. 2 - 10 years - 7-8:30 pm. 10 years+ - 7:30-9pm.
Once your little one is no longer napping in the day, they will need an early night, especially if they are at daycare or school, so don't be afraid to bring bedtime even earlier if needed - anytime between 6-7pm is fine. They may also need an earlier bedtime when they've had a very active day or early start.
By 2 years of age, your child's bedtime should be fairly consistent, although it may fluctuate slightly if your toddler takes a longer or shorter nap than usual. Bedtime for 24 month olds is generally between 6:00 and 8:00 PM and should be early enough to allow for at least 11 hours of nighttime sleep.
What time should a toddler go to bed? For most tots, lights-out is around 9pm (give or take 30 minutes), but pushing it later—or trying to force it earlier—may lead to more middle-of-the- night waking! I've found the sweet spot tends to be around 8 to 8:30pm, but every child is different.
Many toddlers are early risers, getting up between 6 and 7 a.m. Whenever they awake is fine, as long as they're getting enough sleep and their rising time fits into the family schedule.
so don't be afraid of an earlier bedtime. Find your child's “sleep sweet spot”, then stick to it – for babies younger than 12 weeks, bedtime should be around 9PM to 10PM. Babies older than 12 weeks do best with bedtime around 7PM to 8PM.
However, once your toddler's one-nap schedule is well-established, you will likely need to shift gradually towards a later bedtime. Between 2 and 3 years of age, if your toddler is still taking a solid afternoon nap, you may need to bump bedtime back as late as 8:30 or even 9, depending on when the nap ends.
If your toddler is still napping, we generally want bedtime to be 4.5-5.5 hours from the end of their nap. Wake windows typically increase with age, so a two year old will likely need around 4.5 hours of wake time before bed, while a three or four year old may do better with closer to 5.5 hours.
While there are no official guidelines on how long a 2-year-old should nap, most toddlers at this age can nap for around one and a half to three hours per day. Children of this age get the majority of their sleep at night.
There's no exact age that your toddler will stop napping: it's generally between ages 3 and 5, but for some kids, it could be as young as 2 (especially if they have older siblings running around and not napping).
“Most children do well with a bedtime between 7:00 and 8:00 PM; 8:30 is the very latest bedtime we recommend all the way up to age 10.” Sleep experts tend to prefer earlier bedtimes over later ones for a few reasons: Late bedtimes don't always translate to late wake ups.
Autumn said that most babies and toddlers do best with a regular bedtime falling somewhere between 6-8:00pm. She added: “When I talk about super early bedtimes, a bedtime as early as 5:30 p.m. is NOT meant to be their new normal forever.”
The most likely cause of early waking is being overtired. When your little one is over tired they produce cortisol (or what I like to call baby red bull). This cortisol is a shot of adrenaline designed to keep your little awake and in a state of high alertness.
If he's simply singing, playing, or chatting quietly, then let him do so. But if he's waking others up, poke your head in the room and let him know it's time for bed and go back to sleep. Don't try to comfort him or make it any bigger than that—close the door and move on.
How long does the 2 year sleep regression last? The 2 year sleep regression can last up to six weeks but can be as short as one or two weeks. Having a good understanding of the importance of naps, bedtime routines, settling and nutrition can help get you and your toddler through the regression.
A 2 year old needs between 1.5-3 hours of nap time. We're still aiming for 10-12 hours of night sleep, so keep this in mind when trying to determine how long to let your 2 year old nap. Reminder: most need around 13-14 hours of total sleep in 24 hours.
Make sure your child's nap isn't so late in the afternoon that they aren't tired when it's bedtime. Experts recommend keeping at least three hours between the end of a nap and bedtime. So if your child's bedtime is between 7 and 8 p.m., don't put them down for a nap after 3 p.m. or so.
The 2,3,4 schedule for napping is pretty simple - two hours after your baby wakes for the day, you put them down for their first nap. Three hours after that nap ends, you put them down for their second nap. Then 4 hours after that 2nd nap ends, you'd put them down for bed.
For younger toddlers between 12 and 18 months, the ideal schedule might include a morning nap at 11 a.m. and an afternoon nap at 3:30 p.m. On the other hand, 2-year-olds may only need a single nap in the early afternoon.