This week, we’re talking all about toddler sleep with a certified sleep consultant. How much sleep do they really need? When should you cut out napping? And why she thinks a lot of parents transition from the crib to a big kid bed too soon. 

ASK AN EXPERT: Making bedtime with kids easier

We sat down with Kristen Jacob, a certified pediatric sleep consultant. For more sleep help, you can check out her Instagram page and website. 

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Let’s start with napping. How do you know when to transition from 2 naps to 1? 

The amount of daytime sleep that they’re being offered is impacting the amount of sleep they’re getting at other times. So they’ll take a good morning nap but then can’t fall asleep for their afternoon nap. Or they get their two good naps but then can’t fall asleep at bedtime. So you’re looking for sleep to impede other sleep. 

And what about from one nap to zero? 

I say you put that decision in the hands of our child. Because even if you get rid of the nap, we’re still going to have quiet time. So you say, you can sleep, you can read, but you have to be in your room for 45- 60 minutes. 

BTW: Kristen has two great blogs on this topic if you want more info– 

the 2-to-1 nap transition 

Dropping naps

Ok, one more transition. How do you know when it’s time to move from the crib to a big kid bed? 

I have one hard and fast rule– either they can climb out of their crib or they’re old enough to ask several days in a row to move out of their crib. If they can’t get out of their crib and are too young to have an insightful conversation about moving to a big kid bed, keep them in a crib as long as they can. 

At what age are most kids ready to transition out of their cribs? 

Usually about three or four. 

What is the benefit of keeping them in the crib longer? 

If they’re not ready developmentally to handle the responsibility of staying in bed, then they’ll get up, because why not? It’s this newfound freedom. So it’s about getting them to understand the concept of staying in the bed. 

It’s all about understanding expectations. If you do it too early, they’ll be too young to understand the expectation that they need to stay in bed. And likely what’s going to result is some sort of disruption in sleep because they’re going to be helping themselves right out of their room because they can. 

For toddlers, how much sleep do they need? 

They should be getting 10-12 hours at night. Usually by the time they’re 2-3 they’re doing zero to an hour and a half during the day and 10-12 at night. The nighttime doesn’t change until they’re much older.

This is one of the things that parents do too soon. Parents often end up thinking– ‘I’m experiencing some sort of disturbance in sleep and it must be because they are ready for a bigger bed.’