Here’s a 2-year-old routine for make more peaceful days with your little one. 2-year-olds are so active, precious, and fun. They have much more time to play, but still need some independent play, a good nap (for most of the year, anyway), and an age-appropriate bedtime to make sure they aren’t waking at night or waking up too early in the morning. Know that these samples take into account “optimal” meal times and nap times according to common wisdom.
- Newborn sample routine
- 5 month sample schedule
- 6 month schedule
- 9 to 12 month sample schedule
- 18 month sample schedule
I love me some 2 year olds. I mean… they’re just *that* much easier than 1-year-olds (the hardest age for me) and they are so busy.
Developing skills, personality, and vocabulary.
They also need to be occupied well, supervised constantly, and stimulated more than their younger siblings.
This 2 year old routine is also generally the one I use for my 3-year-olds as well, but this is the age where they come into their own.
They’ve dropped their morning naps, are able to go with the flow a bit more, and can even play by themselves without constant monitoring for longer periods.
Read: The Common 2 Year Old Sleep Regression: How To Overcome
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What's in this post...
Basis of a Schedule or Routine for 2 Year Olds
Here are things to take into account when creating a good 2 year old routine.
- Wake times
- Nap times
- Bed times
- Play times
- Meal times
- Snack times
Read:Â Â The Crucial Elements of a Rock-Solid Toddler Schedule
Want your kids to learn to independently follow their routines? These visual routine cards do the trick.
Learn MoreNeeds of a 2-year-old
2-year-olds are their own breed.
Whew.
They are a lot of work, but they say the dangdest things, don’t they?
- Repetition | Toddlers need repetition and consistency. This is the easiest way to teach them to follow their routine without nagging.
- Boundaries | Your 2-year-old will push the envelope, test the waters, and find out where the family boundaries lie. This is good all around, but does require consistency on your part.
- Emotional help | There are big emotions going on at this age. You’ll need to both hear them out, make them feel understood, and teach them how they are allowed to express their emotions and how they are not.
- Sleep | 2-year-olds still need a nap. They’ll try to pretend they don’t and will even go a few weeks at a time where they lay in the crib talking to themselves instead of sleeping. Persevere, don’t give up because of a 2 year sleep regression, and they’ll nap again soon. Also, lack of sleep will contribute to night terrors so, we want to avoid that.
- Routine | Never is a routine more helpful than when your child is growing so much developmentally. Again, you don’t have to be hampered by the clock, but find something that works and stick with it. And know that not having a routine can result in over-tiredness and even bedtime battles in the evening.
Get my cheat sheets and find your family’s groove. Chore, independent play, meal, nap, bedtime, and MORE routine ideas!
Sample Routine / Schedule for a 2 year old
- 7:30 am – Wake up and eat breakfast
- 8:30 am – Free play or sibling play
- 9:00 am – Independent play in location chosen by mom (Quiet Time)
- 10:00 am – Outside play and snack (snacking tips here)
- 11:00 am – Indoor activity, reading, crafts
- 12:00 pm – Lunch
- 12:30 pm – Wind down to nap
- 1:00 pm – Afternoon nap
- 3:30 pm (or when nap is over) – Afternoon snack
- 4:00 pm – Free play, calm activity, screen time
- 5:30 pm – Dinner
- 6:15 pm – Bath and bedtime routine for whole family
- 7:15 to 7:30 – Bedtime
Get my cheat sheets and find your family’s groove. Chore, independent play, meal, nap, bedtime, and MORE routine ideas!
Now, let’s break it down.
Now, if you are not a “clock oriented” person you’ll be very interested to read my post on how South Africans manage their time.
This will give you all the benefits of a schedule, but that may better fit your own personality.
Because, no matter how good a routine is for your child, if you can’t manage to keep the routine, then you’ll be the one who’s frustrated!
7:30 am | Wake Up
Even if my toddler wakes up a bit early, he stays in his crib until this time. This is breakfast time.
Awesome tip: when you serve breakfast is when their metabolism signals them to wake up.
It’s the easiest way to get them to sleep later.
If you feed them at 5:30 am they’ll wake then.Â
I’m a stay-at-home-mom so I know this time won’t work for everyone. This clock might help if they are an early riser.
Want your kids to learn to independently follow their routines? These visual routine cards do the trick.
Learn More
8:30 am | Free play
We do breakfast leisurely. We eat slow, put dishes away slow, and mosey away from the table slow. After that I let the kids free play for a bit to ease into the day.
I try not to let this go on long enough they start fighting and going nuts.
But, I let them figure out what they’d like to do next whether it’s riding bikes, playing with the bunny, or just messing around with toys.
You can find age appropriate bestselling toys here.
Get my cheat sheets and find your family’s groove. Chore, independent play, meal, nap, bedtime, and MORE routine ideas!
9:00 am | Independent play
Now, depending on the season, this time slot may change. Independent play is essentially letting your child play alone with their toys uninterrupted by you or siblings.
I try to have this happen daily. If your kids don’t know how to play on their own, this will help you teach them how.
Introducing a scheduled Quiet Time may be good idea at this time.
10:00 am | Outside play and snack
If we skip snack time, things go haywire. I am okay with letting the kids go hungry on occasion.
However, without a proper fulfilling snack they may stand by your side begging for veggie sticks or grapes until you want to bang your head against the wall.
I love sending them all outside.
We have a designated fenced play area, but if it’s summer we’re by the pool all morning or in the front yard with the hose and the dirt.
There is usually a lot less fighting outside and the squeals seem less… grating. (Here are 7 things to do when it gets too noisy)
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10:45 am | Indoor activity
I don’t do an indoor activity every day. And, the days I do, “activity” is loose over here.
This can mean building together, reading a book, or even doing chores.
There will be a time during the day when you need to do something structured or – at least – led by you.
This is character building, helps teach them to obey instructions, and means they aren’t trying to find something to get into or throw in the toilet.
11:15 am | Free play
I let my son (who is currently 2) find something he likes to do and either let him at it or join in if I’m able.
On the days when my mother’s helper (2 mornings a week) is here, she will often play with him.
This might be Spot It or it might be trucks in the dirt.
Want your kids to learn to independently follow their routines? These visual routine cards do the trick.
Learn More12:00 pm | Lunch
I aim for lunches that are filling enough to last through a good long nap.
I don’t do short order cooking, but I try to offer quite a few filling options on their plate so even if they don’t eat it all (and since I don’t engage in meal time battles) they are still fairly full.
After lunch, I have them put their dishes in the sink or dishwasher (ahem, if I’ve emptied it from the night before) then we mosey down the hall to get ready for naps.
Nap time can be a struggle if your child isn’t “buying In.”
Here is how you can get your child to buy into their routine.
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12:30 pm | Wind down to nap
This doesn’t always pan out as I hope, but all in all I try to utilize this calm down method or have someone else (if they’re around) read to some of the kids so I can get the others to their rooms.
Here are some wind down routines for bedtime and many apply to nap time as well.
1:00 pm | Nap
It doesn’t always happen at exactly 1, but 1 is the goal.
This means by around this time all the kids are in their rooms with lights out to nap or, those who are old enough they don’t need a nap every day, have a few quiet activities they can play independently.
My 5-year-old may only nap once a week, and my 4-year-old only 4 days a week or so.
4:00 pm | Wake up and snack
The time at which everyone wakes up varies.
If my older kids aren’t napping they can come out of their rooms after a couple of hours and do something quiet.
Or they often go into each other’s rooms to play quietly. Often all the nappers will sleep until 5:00 pm if I let them!
I’ve found waking up cranky is remedied by a quick snack (not too filling or sweet).
Get my cheat sheets and find your family’s groove. Chore, independent play, meal, nap, bedtime, and MORE routine ideas!
4:30 pm | Free play, TV, or calm activity
If the weather is good the kids may play outside.
If we are currently watching TV each day for a bit (I go through seasons where we do no TV all week except movie night for this particular reason) they may watch TV.
I like when the kids offer to help with dinner, but I can’t have all the kids underfoot so rotating which child can help avoids this and allows you one on one time.
Emotions are a H U G E part of a young child’s life. These “I Am Feeling” cards will reduce tantrums, meltdowns, and help your little one learn emotional awareness.
Learn More5:30 pm | Dinner
We aim for eating between 5 and 5:30 pm.
This is early, I know, but means we aren’t in a manic panic to do the wind down routine and the kids still get to bed at a reasonable hour.
Reasonable being between 7 and 7:30 pm most nights. This works for our family.
Read: 5 Dinner Time Hacks To Simplify (And Sanify!) Family Meals
(Our old fashioned dinner bell)
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6:00 pm | Bath and bedtime routine
If we haven’t swam that day then it’s usually bath time, books, pajamas, and calm play before bed.
That said, kids will be kids and calm can turn to chaos quickly.
My husband and I conquer and divide so each child can have a few minutes alone with each parent before bed. These wind down routines are key for babies, and I normally get baby duty.
A mommy privilege.
Emotions are a H U G E part of a young child’s life. These “I Am Feeling” cards will reduce tantrums, meltdowns, and help your little one learn emotional awareness.
Learn More7:15 pm | Bed
Sometimes this is a bit earlier or later, but around this time most kids are in bed.
My 2-year-old may often stay up and talk to himself (or sing God Bless America) in his crib if he’s had a late nap, but we’re okay with that.
He doesn’t cry or fuss so it’s less stimulating and more relaxing (not to mention consistent) for him to be in bed at similar times.
Issues moms have when creating a 2 year old routine
Let’s dive into some common issues moms have when they’re trying to either create or keep a routine for their 2-year-old.
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Toddlers can resist transitions like it’s their job
Transitions can be enough to make any mom go cross-eyed. Sometimes little ones don’t want to stop doing something. Other times they don’t want to start doing something.
Keeping a consistent routine will help, for one, because nothing will come as a surprise. Surprises are what often cause transition struggles.
- Give “warnings” about changes.
- Order your day well so you don’t stop something fun to do something not fun.
- Intervene early. Don’t keep repeating yourself a million times to a 2 year old, simply pick them up and bring them where you want them to go.
Don’t wait until too late to start motivating your little one or it can cause stress.
Emotions are a H U G E part of a young child’s life. These “I Am Feeling” cards will reduce tantrums, meltdowns, and help your little one learn emotional awareness.
Learn MoreWhat do I do with my 2-year-old all day?
Toddlers can have limited attention spans, for sure. Luckily, if you focus on creating environments conducive to safe play then you won’t have to do too much to entertain them.
If you want to start some more structured activities, go small. 5 minutes at a time, then maybe 10. Expectations (yours) play a part here and make a difference in whether it’ll be fun or not.
- Do easy activities. My friend from Hands On As We Grow focuses on activities you can do with basic household things, no massive craft drawer needed.
- Start small with low expectations.
- Buy open ended imagination inspiring toys and allow your child plenty of time to play.
- Don’t start the habit of constant entertainment. It’s addicting and not nearly as satisfying to kids as good ole fashioned play.
Nap transitions… 2 year olds daily routines can shift with the months
Some children will nap until 4+ years old happily. Others will have dropped their daily nap by the age of 3. Your 2 year old’s daily routine will depend on this nap.
- If a nap has been dropped, an earlier bedtime is in order (7pm latest, in my professional sleep certified opinion, even 6:30pm wouldn’t go amiss!).
- Continue to offer afternoon rest time regardless of whether they sleep or not.
- Don’t let your 2-year-old sleep later than 4 hours before you want them to go to bed. So, for example, if bedtime is 7pm, wake your toddler up by 3pm or so at the latest. Otherwise, it’ll interfere with bedtime. If you let them nap later, move bedtime back slightly.
Get my cheat sheets and find your family’s groove. Chore, independent play, meal, nap, bedtime, and MORE routine ideas!
The Key to a Good 2-Year-Old Routine
This may be so simple it goes without saying… but the key to a good routine is keeping the routine.
It can be hard to remember what all you want to do with an energetic two-year-old running around, but once you get the hang of it, routine will be second nature.
Here are some ways you can learn to keep your routine without the hassle.
Hang a routine reminder up.
If need help remembering the routine and want to teach your budding toddler to follow the routine at the same time (so you don’t have to nag) I recommend using our routine cards (shown below) or something similar you can whip up at home.
You hang them up in the appropriate room (bedroom for morning routine, bathroom for bath routine, kitchen fridge for mealtime routine, etc.) and then use them to help your child learn independence.
Want your kids to learn to independently follow their routines? These visual routine cards do the trick.
Learn MoreSet alarms around the house or on your phone.
While you don’t need to live and die by the clock, setting your phone, watch, or a timer will help you keep aware of routine transitions.
We can often get so wrapped up in what we’re doing we forget and we’re an hour or two past nap time and now they’re having trouble going down.Â
I set alarms on my phone that show on my watch and this works for us.
Practice.
As with anything, if you want something to work then work it. Keep pushing what you’ve decided to do.
If it doesn’t work then change it up a bit and keep going. Move forward.
I assure you 100% that a routine will work if you keep at it.
Get my cheat sheets and find your family’s groove. Chore, independent play, meal, nap, bedtime, and MORE routine ideas!
I’ve repeatedly tried, but my almost 3 year old hasn’t napped since he was was two and a half. He’s very headstrong and I’ve tried all the calming tricks to get him to sleep. Doesn’t work. His little brother naps 2.5 hrs every day like in your routine. It’s the reason why I struggle most days as from 7am until 7.30pm he’s full on and not in nursery yet. Sigh…I miss nap time.
Suz, will he do independent play in his crib during that time? I’m sure you have, but have you tried moving naptime up by an hour or two?
How do you keep on schedule and make the food/clean up the kitchen? This is my time suck. I also have a 4 month old. That makes things tough.
We are doing quiet/nap time, but my 2.5 yr old isn’t napping since we converted her crib to a toddler bed. She is fully potty trained, though. Any tips to get them to nap? She plays in her room and does pretty good, but she needs more sleep.
HI Stephanie, yes that can be tough when they get in the big bed and get distracted! I would say keep doing what you’re doing with the naps. You can perhaps move it up a bit earlier to try and catch a sleepy window. You can lead a horse to water, though, so as long as you make sleeping conditions there (dark room, white noise, etc.) then that’s about all you can do. And as for the food and clean up, it gets done in the cracks. Or we have chore time as part of the day. HOnestly, it’s SO HARD to fit it all in!~
Hello, this is pretty much the same routine for my 2 years old son except that we don’t have a garden so we aim at going out twice every day – to the park , playground , meeting other mums with young children etc.
One thing – how do your children manage to go to bed at 7pm every day after sleeping until 4 pm since 1pm ( for 3 hours)?
If my son sleeps til 4pm then he won’t go to bed earlier than 9pm.
His nap is between 12-3pm and he still can’t sleep at 7pm.
Mag, I think it must just be habit. Sometimes they’ll sit in bed and sing or talk or whatever but we just let them. If we move bedtime back they clearly get fussy. We aim for between 7 to 7:30 usually and we don’t worry about whether they “feel” tired or not :)
This was the thing that struck me too! My two-year old appears to need a full six hours of awake time after her nap before she will fall asleep. She likes to nap from one until three pm, but then doesn’t fall asleep until 9pm. I am bowled over by how much sleep your kids get. Thanks for sharing your schedule.
I’m working on implementing this routine. I am a very haphazard person, so following a routine for more than a few weeks at a time is a struggle. The girls do better with it, so I will do nothing less for them. One question: I’d love to ship them outside every day, but where I live we’re getting to a point that I can’t send the big one (2.5) out alone, and the little one gets extremely chapped even with cold weather gear and vaseline if we’re out for more than a few minutes. Suggestions?
Karen, I’d help with that but I’m in Florida so it’s fairly hot all year. We do struggle when it’s super cold because it’s a hassle to get dressed but the only advice I can offer is the old saying “it’s not too cold, you’re not dressed warm enough. ” Ha!
Half of the Day is free play? That’s the opposite of a routine
Unless part of your routine is free play :)
thank u so much for sharing this routije i usually struggle with my baby acting up after her nap during the day.she usually cries and gets clingy and i end avoiding naps during the day..will definatly try this out
Your routine is identical to ours! I have a 3 year old and a 2 year old and a 5 month old. I recently gave my 2.5 year old a big boy bed and he has been awesome about staying in it for naps and bedtime except early morning. He has always been an early riser and I have never gotten him before 7 since he was a year old. If he wakes up at 5:30 I just let him talk. I don’t even poke my head in unless something is clearly wrong. Nothing has changed! After all that training and being as consistent as it gets he still wakes. Only problem is now he can get out of bed at 5:30 and open doors. We gave him my daughters ok to wake clock and he doesn’t seem to get it or he’s just disobeying I haven’t figured that out yet. How do you suggest solving this problem?
Tina, I’m not suggesting *you* do this, but let me tell you what I did. I put a door in front of my son’s door! He would come out and be quiet so I wouldn’t hear him. We have a busy road, a pool, and a pond so…. IT IS SERIOUS if my child is wandering unsupervised. You can get child locks to make sure he just can’t get out. Again, you may not need this, but I did.
This is such a great idea! I have a 2 year old, and was afraid it may be too late to start a routine for him, as he doesn’t really have one now. I have never gone by a routine myself so it has always been a struggle to go by one with my little one. I just really hope it’s not too late.
Never too late, and you don’t have to do a strict routine at all.
My daughter is currently 20months. We have no routine but I would really like to start. Staying at home with her with no routine has become very draining.
Nap time and bedtime has been a disaster since she was an infant. To this day she still screams and cries as if she is completely terrified of her crib.
I’ve tried rocking her to sleep at night as well as leaving her to self soothe. Neither seem to work. And she always wakes up in the middle of the night.
All of this has led to her sleeping with me.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Sabrina, have you taken my free routine series offered at the bottom of this page?
Ahh..order..i have been trying to get a routine going..thank you for sharing this!
What do I do with my 2 year old who thinks she doesn’t need a nap?
Put her down for one anyway then hope for the best :)
How is free play and independent play different. I understand the playing without siblings but if they do t have any? Or the sibling is too young. Are both types of play not the same so? Just a very long time?
Where do you fit in trips to the store? I have been doing a routine for my 2 year old for only a few months since the newborn arrived. Prior to this we traveled a lot which meant more inconsistencies. Would also love to hear how you plan vacations.. do you still try to maintain some routine?
Do you have any schedule suggestions for 3 children all in different stages? I have a 4 year old in full-day kindergarten, a 2 year old, and a 3 month old. The new baby came a couple months after kindergarten started for my oldest, and we have since struggled to adapt to a routine that accommodates all 3 children. The only thing that is time consistent each day, is for my oldest – wake at 7:40am. Gets dressed,
Eats breakfast, brushes teeth, and we are out waiting for the bus at 8:35. School is finished at 3:20, and he is home shortly after that depending on if I walk to grab him, or my husband picks him up on his way home from work. We aim to have dinner between 5-530. Then is bath time, followed by a snack. Then into the bedroom (my older two boys share a room) where we read two quick stories. My 2 year old is now in a toddler bed, and needs to be sat with until he falls asleep. Then I usually go and get the baby ready for bed. But because I don’t have anything roughly in place for her during the day, she isn’t napping at consistent times so sometimes she will be napping while we eat dinner at 5, and then it’s difficult to put her to bed at bed time.
Seems like 1 to 4 is A LOT for nap time , isn’t it ?
I find grr my 2 years old will sleep for 2 hours max maybe 2.5
Another question, if a 2 years old napped for 2 hours, how long after waking up do you think he should be In bed again for his night sleep?
Rachel, depends on the baby. some of mine are super sleepy and some aren’t! If they go down at 1 and sleep until 3:30 I would usually have had them in bed by 7 o r 8 at the latest!
Hard for me to believe that you can make a two year old finish their meal in just 30 mins. Adults take more time than that. If this is true…. Please share how you do it. Seems like distant dream to me.
Honestly, it’s probably because I’m a fast eater. I eat too fast, really, and I think they’ve just seen that. I’m not sure. I do not rush or shoo them to eat fast, they just sit down and eat like starved children. HA
Hi Rachel,
Through my own fault, my 2 year d is now obsessed with watching Peppa Pig. She would watch Peppa Pig all day if I let her. When I say no or turn it off, a major tantrum erupts. Apart from simply not turning on the tv, any suggestions to stop the addiction?
Thank you,
Rebecca
Hey Rebecca, check out @jerricasannes on the topic of screen time. We were in the same boat. But it’s all changed now and she’s a different child. Sleeps better too :)
Hi Rachel,
Do you give your 2 year old a snack/milk before bed time? My 2 year old wouldn’t be able to eat dinner at 5pm and then wait until 7:30am to eat again.
Thank you
Flo
This routine is nearly identical to what our day looks like with 2 yr old twins. I love it! You describe the what’s and why’s beautifully. Thank you.
I’m excited to share your site with my sister-in-law who just brought her newborn home.
when do you go to the store or run errands? leaving the house (especially with all the kids!) always takes SO much time and is my least favorite task of the week. i’ve learned to online clothes shop and then return the things that don’t work, but some things like shoe shopping doesn’t work very well like that. And we all have to go to the grocery store, right?
I would like to know this answer as well!
I have a 21 month old! We do not have a routine! She normally takes a nap around 3 or 4 o’clock! She normally doesn’t go to bed at night till 9 or 9:30pm! How do I get her to stay asleep at night!
So when do you do laundry and stufff? When do you have a break for yourself?
After they’re in bed or whenever I get a free moment. I don’t schedule in household tasks because I’m not quite that structured in the hour to hour!
i live with my daughter, her husband and my 20 month old grandson. have watched him since he was born. (in full basement) she brings child to me at 6am (she has to be at work by 7am)he is wide awake and i am just waking up. suggestions for schedule???i keep him till 4pm, when dad comes home. Long day – need ideas. also i am 68yrs old.
Isn’t a bedtime of 7:15pm to close to their nap time waking of 4? My 23 mo old needs at least 5hrs in between naps& bedtime to fall asleep & be tired…. she naps from 1-3 but won’t go to bed till 8:30/9 which is toooooo late for me!!! How can I get her to bed sooner!?
Thanks!
7pm bedtime?!? Lol what the?! Our 2 year old goes to bed EARLY at 10-1030pm. Guess every family is different but her 11pm-Midnight bedtime works like a charm everynight! It is 430pm now and she just went down for her afternoon nap. Do what is best for YOUR family and YOUR child not just what everyone else does. Just saying.
So your younger kids are getting 15 hours of sleep in a 24 hour period? I wish my 2.5 year old son would come even remotely close to this. He sleeps 9:30 or 10 pm to 5:00 am, wakes to nurse then maybe back to sleep until 6:45 am. He naps usually from 1 to 3 pm, though lately he has moved back to 3 – 5 pm nap time. He has never been a good sleeper so even this is better than before. Help, I am so tired.
My daughter is 20 months old. She used to go down to nap really well, straight after lunch, and sleep for 2 hours. Well, the last couple of weeks she has not. I’ve continued to put her in her cot after lunch, but she doesn’t sleep, and doesn’t act like she’s tired either?! I know she should be napping, but she just won’t. Sometimes she’ll be in there for an hour and I’ll give in. I don’t know what to do? Do I lea e it till later? When she’s in her cot she often just talks and shouts. Eventually she’ll start crying… although it’s not a proper cry. I need a solution because I need these naptimes!!!!
Thanks,
Esme
Hey, I Have a two year old and one on the way, we’ve had to do a lot of moving in a short period of time but now we’re stationed. Because of this we’ve never really gotten into a routine, or we’ve had really hollow walls and complaints of our baby crying in the night so we did a lot of comforting and feeding when really we shouldn’t of had to just to try and keep her from crying. Well it’s bitten us all on the bum and our daughter wakes throughout the night quite a lot not always for milk so we go to her but doesn’t always help I’ve tried to follow her routine and we seem to get someone for a week or so of good nights and mornings and then out of no where we start from square one. Just in desperate need of help and she’s very stronger willed bless her haha.
Sounds like you really know your own child, knowing the times that would work for him!
Wow, this seems like an amazing Mom life to have. Wake times at 7:30am, 3 hour naps and they would sleep till five if you let them? I have to wrestle my 2-year old to take a 1.5 hour nap. On an extremely lucky day, she will sleep two hours. That is like a fluke day. Many days she wakes up 45 minutes into her nap crying, and she may or may not go back down.
She wakes up every morning between 4:30 and 5:30am. Nothing I have done changes this. By 7:30 I have been up for 2.5 hours!! Hah!
I live in an apartment so there is no backyard that I can just let her out to go play.
That’s why I think everyone’s experience of motherhood is so vastly different….everyone has varying levels of resources to work with…
OMG same. My 22 mo will not sleep in her cot during the day so I usually time a drive home with her 11am nap and hope for the best. 1.5 hours has become the typical time now, but it could be 40 minutes or an hour. Lately she has been having night terrors so has been in our bed and she sleeps better but would be awake by 6- 630am.
UGH!
How do you deal with a 2 year old who always goes down for a nap from 1:30-4pm… whose older sibbling is started kindergarten this fall and who has to be at school by 7:40am and isnt dismissed until 2:10pm? We dont even get out bed until 7:15am! I am going to end up homeschooling because the kindergarten hours seem like a pain to deal with!
My almost two year screams when out in the crib and never tires herself out. She will scream for an hour plus until I eventually give up because I don’t feel good about how many hours my 4yo has been downstairs alone. Checking on her doesn’t help. Leaving her alone doesn’t help. Books in crib don’t help. She usually is up 6am-7pm and only goes to bed then after fighting the crib and eventually being rocked to sleep by my husband and I after the screaming makes us feel nauseous. I was very confident about sleep training my older daughter as early as 6 months (it was honestly easier to let her cry it out bc I had postpartum depression and also my mother was big on sleep training). But this second time around I have read so much about the negative effects of sleep training. Please help.
It seems strange that this schedule has the kids waking up only 3.5 hours before they need to go back to bed? I would think that they would not have enough sleep debt built up and would cause alot of bedtime battles because they simply aren’t tired enough. I find keeping the nap right in the middle of the day allows for them to get tired enough for bedtime. I have a 23 month old who naps and a 4 year old who naps twice a week now or only does quiet time eg:
Wake 7:30am
Breakfast 8
Playtime 8:30
Snack 9:30
Supervised outdoor play 9:45
Lunch 12
Nap/quiet time 12:30
Wake 2 pm
Snack 2:30
Supervised outdoor play or indoor games 2:45
Dinner 5:00
Quiet playtime books, games 5:30
Quiet time(lights dimmed, no screens) 6:00
Bedtime routine, brush teeth, pj’s, stories, cuddles, songs (No nightly bath as they get too worked up) 7:00
Asleep or in crib/bed 7:30
This has worked for us
What do you recommend to do when my 3 year old wakes up (around 6:30-6:45 am) and runs into my room. Walking him back to the room doesn’t work, he is up for the day. At this point he goes potty and wants to play in my room. How do I keep him in his room for a bit longer and not waking me?
it just sounds so perfect that is hard to believe, your 4-5 year old play by themselves in their room from like 1-4 pm is my understanding, wow! and then if your child is napping for 3 hours ( the 2 year old ) is ready for bedtime just right after 7pm? just perfect!!! so from 7 pm to 7 am is like what 12 hours and then plus 3 more is 15 hours in 24h period for a 2 year old ? I would love to have that time of routine, but i’m sorry never ever heard from anyone about such a perfectly strategic day, good luck to anyone who will follow!!!
I am at a loss. Your schedule is EXACTLY what we used to do until we had baby number two (now 4 months old) Now sleep is a huge struggle. We are forced to put them down in separate rooms and then move my two year old into her bed once she is asleep at night. Sounds easy enough, but two year old will do anything to make as much noise as she can before bed so we have to monitor her until she falls asleep as not to wake baby and actually get to sleep. How do you manage this schedule with two in the same room??
I was searching around to see what was typical for a 2 year old to nap. We have twins, and have strictly kept them on a schedule, and was actually relieved to see that we have almost the same exact schedule! Except that we usually shift bath to around 6:30/7, and are in bed by 8! Awesome article, thanks for sharing Mama!
Thank you for sharing your schedule and tips! It’s very helpful to look at others’ schedules that work for ideas. You mentioned that the nappers will nap until 5 if you let them. Do you usually let them nap that long or do you wake them up at 4 unless the nap ends up being later?
Most 2 year olds need 12-13 hours of sleep in a 24 hour period. Thus, This schedule would not work for most 2 year olds. My son has been on a strict schedule since 6 weeks old and has slowly shaved off his awake hours. We follow the baby sleep FAQs on baby center and it has always been spot on. My LO hasn’t needed 15+ hours of sleep since 18 months old when he went through a transition. This schedule only gives 3 hours of wake time before bed when it is recommended for a 2 year old to have 5-6 hour awake times.
HELP!! My now two year old has got into the habit of having to fall asleep in our bed. If we put her in her own bed she climbs out of her cot and screams until she is sick. She has also got into the habit of when she wakes in the middle of night and realises she is not with us, she screams until we lift her and bring her in. She has always been a great sleeper and always went to bed at sevenish and slept through.
Please help me with this, i’m pregnant and need her back in her own room before baby comes.
Hey Rebecca, this is definitely tough!!! It’s clear that sort of “Tricking” her into moving her into her bed doesn’t work, unfortunately, because she just wakes up and sees you’re not there and hates that. I think the key will be gradually getting her used to going to sleep in her own bed again. You could lie with her in her own bed for a while until she falls asleep then gradually reduce the time you do that. You could sit in a chair by her bed as she falls asleep. You could start a new type of fun bedtime routine in her own room. I think the key will be getting her to sleep in her own room by getting her to buy into it!
Hi there. I need some serious mom advice. I’m writing this at 4am. I’ve been up since 12am EVERY NIGHT with my 2 year old who will NOT sleep anymore. She was perfect as as baby as far as sleeping and now, she only sleeps maybe 2 or 3 hours a night and fights a nap until she’s exhausted and sleeps for an hour. This has been going on for about a month and it’s getting worse. I can’t go to bed because she pounds on her door and screams for hours. I feel like I’ve tried everything, but I have hope that there’s still something out there that will let me feel human and let her sleep. This is the worst.
Alison, is she teething? Have you taken her to the doc to rule out something medical going on? Sounds crazy that she used to sleep but won’t now, makes me think something medical is going on!
My routine used to be identical to yours in terms of nap time and bedtime but my daughter who is now 2 years old has been putting us though it for the past 6 months or more now. She is s great napper and when we finally got her routine down she would sleep 13 hours straight at night. Now though, she has been waking up almost every night between 2am and 4 am for like an hour. She will play in her crib without us having to go in and then fall back to sleep on her own. She does get really loud though so I can’t sleep. I tried to remain consistent for months but when nothing changed, I tried various things. Early bedtime, later bedtime, shorter naps, etc. Each time I made a change to the schedule I would remain consistent for weeks with no change… I’m exhausted. Right now, she naps at 12pm-2pm and bedtime is at 8pm with a wake up time at 7:30am. I even tried putting her to bed at 8:30pm at one point thinking perhaps she just wasn’t sleepy enough. I’ve spent money on sleep experts and sleep websites and I’m just at a loss. I would appreciate any ideas you might have. Thanks in advance!
Sounds like the 2 year old sleep regression, I’ve got a post on that I recommend you read!
Loved the schedule you provided, curious about the daily snacktimes. It might be a cultural difference but European mums usually discourage snacking from a very early age, i’m always silently judged if my toddler is caught snacking, oops (happens only once in a blue moon though).
Yes, some cultures do not snack and they simply eat meals. I think this is GREAT! Some families love snacking and some people eat every 3 hours and so feel snacking for their kids is appropriate too. I’d totally just choose what aligns best with your own ways of doing things so you can maintain it well :)
Hi
I love the idea of your routine. I have tried it with my 2 year old however he keeps waking at 5am or before so by the time it comes to nap time, he’s exhausted and been awake for too long.
It’s dark in his room, he has a good tea and some milk before bed. I have tried going in to him and telling him it’s not wake up time yet. Nothing seems to work.
Please can you help
Thanks
Anna
Hey Anna, this is super common and can persist for quite a while. If you need to, you can reduce his naptime. So instead of 1 to 3 pm you might do 1 to 2:30 pm and see if that helps with a good 7pm latest bedtime. Either way, if you don’t wnat him to continue waking up at that time and making it last for years – heaven help us! – then don’t feed him and keep it quiet in there for him nti he starts sleeping later again. I’d remove distractions in there like toys, ec. too if he’s on a bed.
My biggest stressor is how much playing I should be doing with my toddler.
We have a good schedule, it’s very close to yours and she loves helping with chores – we cook, laundry, put away the clothes, put up groceries etc together.
I think I get in my own head and worry too much.
I try to play play doh or art or we bake something special each day together. Just never sure that I’m doing enough.