Will my child sleep better if I put her to bed later or stop letting her nap?

Many parents believe that eliminating their child’s daily nap or keeping their child up later will make them so tired that they will fall asleep faster and sleep better at night. Unfortunately, parents who do this will soon find this technique is counterproductive. A child who does not get the proper amount of sleep and are overly tired during the day will experience sleep deprivation will wake up more often at night.

Eliminating your toddler’s daily nap will also cause sleep deprivation and sleep disturbances. Without a daily nap, a toddler will have trouble falling asleep and staying asleep throughout the nights.

As your toddler gets older nap times can change, but this should start to happen around the time they begin preschool. Until then, the best course of action is to establish a routine nap time and bedtime and to be consistent with your toddler’s schedule.