When is the bedtime too late for children 1-3 years-old?

I often do sleep consults for families in and outside the practice. A common problem is that when the child goes from two naps to one nap, they develop a sleep debt because the bedtime, which might have been a little to late with two naps is now way too late for a single nap. Sometimes the child is falling asleep around 8PM and getting up in the morning around 7-7:30AM. So the duration of night sleep is ample but the parent(s) complain of new bedtime battles, long latency to sleep at night, night awakenings, deterioration of naps, or some combination of these problems. Usually, the child is beginning to show signs of sleep deprivation around 6PM and sometimes these signs are masked by the hypnotic effect of screen time or parents coming home from work. I often suggest a temporary super early bedtime to repay the accumulated sleep debt and then a shift to a range of betimes based on how the child looks between 4-5 PM (e.g. 5:30-6:30PM). I explain to families that there will be some trial and error to find their child's best range of betimes because of the individual variability between children and the within child variability of naps. Another variable is the wake-up time. When the wake-up time is later, around or after 7:00AM, do you think it is fine for the child to go to bed laer?

What do you suggest is the optimal bedtime range for well-rested children in this age-range who are taking a single nap?

Marc

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