Please Share Your Routine/schedule with Your Young Toddler

My son is 11 1/2 months old. He just recently started taking only one nap per day instead of two. As far as whether it is in the morning or afternoon, it is dependent on how he slept during the night, what time he woke up, and how his mood is. Most often he takes his nap in the afternoon though, sleeping for 2 1/2 hours starting anytime between 1 - 3:30p.

Our daily schedule, roughly, can be broken down like this -
7 - 7:30 wake up and have breakfast
end of breakfast - 10:30 play
10:30 milk (this is when he falls asleep if he needs to nap in the morning, will only sleep for 1 - 1 1/2 hours)
10:45 - 11:30 if not sleeping, more play time
11:30 - take the dogs for a walk
12:30 - lunch
1 - 3 - read books, independent exploring/playing, and/or start naptime
3 - 5:30 if not napping, having an afternoon snack and playing
5:30 dinner
6 - 7 play
7 my kid watches wheel of fortune obsessively... sits in front of the tv, claps and laughs hysterically. since this is the only time he watches tv, i am ok with it!
7:30 bathtime
7:50 - 8 pjs, night snack, milk and story time
8 sleep!

See this article on toddler routines by Dr. Pruett, MD
http://blogs.goddardsystems.com/Cedar-Park-TX/2009/10/30/...

Hello A.,

I was a nanny for many years, working mostly with young toddlers, and today I'm a parent coach specializing in the toddler years. Most of the time the morning nap will go away and a nap at about 11 am will start. This nap will last until about 1 pm. Then lunch and play, sometimes a quick nap around 4-5 pm. As the months go by, the 11 am nap will move closer to 1 pm, and I've found by about 18-24 months your child will have 1 nap around 1pm each day.

I hope this helps you plan.

R. Magby

My daughter is now 19 months and moved to 1 nap around the age of your daughter , I found (and still do) that by midday she cannot function any longer where she is so tired , so I gave her lunch a little earlier (11.30) and as soon as she is done she has a nap for about 2hrs , this get's her through the afternoon and by 6.30 she is ready for bed for the night.

When my daughter dropped from two naps to one it was difficult to alter her schedule and it took us awhile to get used to everything. I started giving her lunch early, around 11:00 and then she was ready for nap around noon. I slowly moved her back to lunch at noon and nap at 1:00 pm. She sleeps between 1 1/2 to 2 hours. It seems to work for her. I have a cousin that has to give her son a nap before lunch or he doesn't sleep. She gives him breakfast and then a light snack and then his one nap. When he wakes up around 2 or 3 she gives him lunch.

my kids wake up between 8-8:30 am they at the first birthday move to one nap is a midday at 12:00pm until 2:00 pm and they are ready to go to bed at 8:00pm

wake up between 8-8:30 am bottle 8 oz milk
play time
bath time
play time
11:00 am lunch time
play time
12:00 nap
2:00 wake up
2:30 snack
play time
play time
5:00 dinner
6:00 salty snack i don't like to give much sugar at night
7:00 play time
7:30 getting ready to go to sleep they drink milk while i read a book or my older son read a book and then brushing teeth
8:00 sleep time

usually play time is wondering around the house,playing with us,

Oh, my youngest child when from two naps to one faster then the tow other brother did. It was a sad day for me and I had to adjust to it more so then he did. He was somewhere about 12-15 months old the change started taking place. I made sure he got up when the oldest went off to prek the only change was he didn't nap in the morning but he did nap about 1:30-2:00 in the after noon and it was only for about 2 hours. I wouldn't let him sleep through dinner he took a nap somehow even if it was while I was driving to get the oldest. I have always had my kids off to bed by 8pm now but as toddlers it was about 7pm and they'd be up around 6-7am.
Best of luck on this with some kids it's temp situation others it's not, mine wasn't temp he gave up maps pretty early as a toddler.

As a mother and a provider who sometimes has to create a schedule for parents to follow with sleeping, and eating...this is what I would say:
wake around 7:30
breakfast/play/stories/play outside
snack around 9:45/10. Play hard
Lunch around noon
nap from 12:30-3
Wake no later than 3pm
snack around 3:30(only yogurt/fruit)
Play/help mamma with folding towels...seperating laundry...
Dinner/bath/relaxing....stories...
Bed at 8pm
Asleep by 8:30pm
Limit Tv time throug out the day, cause then when you really do need it, it will help you.
Very Very little TV in the evening...that should be her time to play blocks, and less stimulation on her brain....it will help her sleep better.