Christmas Day Nap: Fitting It Around a Late Christmas Lunch

If Christmas lunch is at two and your toddler usually naps around then, move the meal for the child, not the nap. Give them a small, ordinary lunch at their normal time, put them down for their usual nap, and let them join the table for pudding. Their share of the roast becomes Christmas tea. A baby can nap at the same times they would on any other day, wherever you are, in a cot, travel cot or Moses basket. If the nap gets squeezed out anyway, bring bedtime earlier rather than later. The nap is also the one quiet hour you get to cook.

Why two o’clock is the awkward slot

Christmas dinner usually lands later than a normal lunch, right on top of a one-nap toddler’s sleep.

Betteroo’s rundown of how many naps, and how long, at each age says most toddlers drop to one nap at 13 to 18 months, usually lasting 1.5 to 3 hours in the early afternoon. The NHS page on helping your baby to sleep puts most 2-year-olds at “about 12 to 14 hours sleep, including naps in the daytime”. Lose the nap, and that’s a big chunk gone on the most exciting day of the year, often after a 5am stocking.

Lunch at two and a nap at one can’t both happen on time, and it’s easier to move a toddler’s plate than their body clock.

The plan, by age

Babies on two or three naps

Keep their day as close to normal as you can and let Christmas happen around them. Feed them at their usual times, and put them down when they’d normally nap, even if that’s halfway through present opening.

The Betteroo guide says that once most sleep happens at night, a long or very late nap can start “eating into bedtime”, and that capping the last nap or moving it earlier is the usual fix. So if the afternoon nap is running into tea time, wake them gently rather than letting it run.

One-nap toddlers (roughly 1 to 3)

Pick one of these the week before, not on the day:

Plan A: early lunch, usual nap. A small lunch at their normal time, something plain they’ll actually eat. Then the usual nap routine. They wake up to the crackers, sit with you for pudding, and have Christmas dinner as their tea. This is the one I’d choose for a nap that’s never moved without a fight.
Plan B: early nap. Start the nap a little early, before the food arrives. Some toddlers manage it; for others the house is too loud. Have Plan A ready.
Plan C: lunch first, late nap. If they’re sitting at the table at two whatever happens, put them down straight after and wake them in time to protect bedtime. A short late nap does less damage than a long one.

Three to five

The NHS says most children aged 3 to 5 need about 12 hours’ sleep, and “some young children will still need a nap during the day”. If yours has dropped it, a quiet hour after dinner with a blanket and a film is the Christmas version. If they doze off, keep it short so bedtime still works.

The nap is your cooking window

If you’re doing Christmas on your own, the nap is the one hour nobody needs you. Use it for the jobs you can’t do with a toddler on your leg: the hot fat, the oven door, the carving. Parboil the potatoes in the morning, while they’re busy with the stocking. Then the roasties and the gravy go on while they sleep. My roast dinner on a budget works backwards from the time you want to eat, and that plan bends round a 1pm nap just as well as a 1pm lunch.

And decide now what you’ll drop if the nap fails. Nobody remembers the red cabbage.

If lunch is at someone else’s house

At Nan’s or a friend’s, there’s no cot and everyone has an opinion.

The Lullaby Trust’s advice on sleeping away from home says that whether you’re on holiday or “visiting friends and family”, you should follow safer sleep guidelines “for every sleep. Do this day and night – just like you would at home.” For a baby, that means:

Bring a sleep space. A cot, travel cot or Moses basket are “all ideal”. If you don’t own a travel cot, one like the Joie Kubbie Sleep does Christmas at Nan’s and every holiday after it. The Lullaby Trust says a travel cot mattress is fine if it’s firm, flat and in good condition, and to check the maker’s guidance before using a replacement one. Don’t put folded blankets or a quilt underneath to make it “more comfortable”, which it also says not to do.
Not on the sofa or in a bouncer. The same page lists sofas, armchairs, and pods, bouncers or swings among the places to avoid for sleep, “whether that’s a day time nap or night time sleep”.
The car seat is for the car. The Lullaby Trust says it’s OK if your baby falls asleep while you’re driving, “but take them out as soon as you get to your destination” and put them on a firm, flat surface.
A pram carrycot can work if it’s completely flat, with a firm mattress, and the maker says it’s suitable for overnight sleep.
Under six months, keep them with you. The NHS says a baby that age should be in the same room as you for every sleep, “both day and night”, so the cot goes in the corner of the room you’re in, not upstairs.

Toddlers are easier: a quiet bedroom, their own nap blanket and their usual white noise. If yours naps in the buggy anyway, an after-lunch walk round the block gets you both out of the noise.

The bit nobody says out loud: the drink

Christmas is the day for a drink with lunch and a doze on the sofa. The Lullaby Trust is clear on two things. Never fall asleep on a sofa or armchair with your baby. And don’t share a bed with them if you, or anyone in the bed, has drunk alcohol.

When you’re the only grown-up on duty, you can’t hand over and nap, so keep the baby in their own sleep space and stay up.

If they’re at their other parent’s for lunch

Send the nap time with them in a short text: “Naps about 1, for about 2 hours, with the bunny”. Then let it go. If they come back overtired, put them to bed early. The money side of two Christmases is in my Christmas on a budget plan.

The evening, and Boxing Day

No nap at all? Bring bedtime earlier, not later. An overtired toddler fights sleep, and pushing bedtime back to “tire them out” rarely works.
Late nap? Bedtime can slide a little, but keep the usual steps.
Boxing Day: back to their normal wake-up time and normal nap. One odd day is fine; three late nights in a row is where it unravels.

The night before needs its own plan. My Christmas Eve bedtime guide covers the excited bedtime and the 5am wake that make the Christmas Day nap matter so much.

Naps all over the place by New Year? If Christmas has knocked your baby or toddler's naps off course, Betteroo builds a gentle plan for their age that you can run on your own. Take the 2-minute sleep quiz →

FAQ

Should my toddler nap on Christmas Day?

Yes, if they normally nap. Most 2-year-olds need 12 to 14 hours of sleep a day including naps, according to the NHS, and Christmas Day often starts early. Plan the meal around the nap, not the other way round.

What if Christmas dinner is at nap time?

Feed your toddler a small lunch at their usual time, keep their normal nap, and let them join the table for pudding. Their Christmas dinner can be their tea.

Can my baby nap in the car seat at the relatives’ house?

The Lullaby Trust says to take a sleeping baby out of the car seat as soon as you arrive and put them on a firm, flat surface, such as a travel cot. Car seats are for travel.

What if my toddler skips their nap on Christmas Day?

Bring bedtime forward and keep the routine calm and familiar. Go back to the normal wake-up time on Boxing Day.