4 year old preschooler. What time does your goes to Bed?

[TerrifiedMothertobe]

Almost 3 years in we are still battling with early rising. He still needs a nap otherwise can't cope. Curious to know what time yours go to bed and wake!

[LifeIsChaos]

Mines just turned 4. Bed at 6.30/6.45 and I wake him at 7.45 for nursery, he hasn't had a day time nap since he turned 3.

[ceeveebee]

My twins are just 4, they are in bed by 730 but sometimes don't go to sleep for another hour! I have to wake them at 7am for nursery on weekdays; at weekends they sleep till around 8am

[ceeveebee]

Oh no naps here either but maybe some quiet time on the sofa after lunch at weekends (not nursery but they have quiet sessions during the afternoon there too)

[PennyHasNoSurname]

Bedtime is 6.30, has a story in bed then lights out. She wakes around 6.30/7am, we have to leave for the CM at 7.30am. No naps, and hasnt had one since about 2 1/2. We specifically chose the afternoon sessions at Nursery so that she couldnt then go back to naps when she started there.

[Snossidge]

I have a 5, 3 and 1yo - all go to bed between 7-7.30pm and get up between 6.30-7am.

[GreenSand]

4 yr old reception child here.
School starts at 7.30. We're up at 5.45. He's begging to go to bed about 6pm. No nap for a couple of years.

[nilbyname]

6.30-7pm the up at 7.15-30. Very occasionally later. No naps unless at the weekend and very tired!

[PennyHasNoSurname]

OP what time does he go to hed and what time does he wake?

Could you try cutting the nap, bringing bedtime forward in the interim until he gets used to it? Usually an earlier bedtime still results in the same wake time

[TerrifiedMothertobe]

He goes to bed at 7 asleep around 745. Very heavy sleeper for first 10 hours... He wakes between 5 and 630. We have the odd freak day of 7. He doesn't nap every day as at preschool. But he struggles to cope and the days after preschool he gets up earlier; showing over tiredness.

I was planning on putting him to bed later and slowly dropping the nap (only 1 hour).

At my wits end! His brother is 2 and sleeps from 730/8 until 730/8... Always has.

[PennyHasNoSurname]

Honestly try an earlier bedtime. A later bedtime will more than likely still result in the same awake time and thus less sleep. On the days when he has no nap try and get him into bed by 6.30.

Could you try a Gro Clock?

[fishybits]

Almost 4

Down for 6.30pm and up at 7am.

She will still cat nap in the car at every opportunity and snooze on a Friday or Saturday afternoon for an hour, she takes herself off for that.

[SallyStarbuck]

Almost 4.

Bed at about 7.30, sometimes straight asleep but always asleep by 8. No nap during the day except for very, very rarely where she kips in the car or falls asleep for 10 mins in front of the telly, in which case we let her read in bed alone for a bit but still try and keep roughly the same bedtime.

Mornings she wakes anywhere between 6.45 and 7.30.

I second the Gro-clock suggestion. It might take a week or two for him to get it but it is a lifesaver. DD's clock is set for 7.30. She knows she can't leave the room before then, but as long as there is only 1 star left on the countdown (anything more than 1 star is clearly the middle of the night ) then she can get up and read or play in her room. She has a light, a drink and a potty so she is comfortable. It works 95% of the time.

Oh, and instead of naps we now have "quiet time" in her room where she plays by herself for half an hour or so, as it's generally a calmer time and I get at least 30 mins of calm

[TerrifiedMothertobe]

Thanks guys. We aren't letting him nap today and then bed at 630....

We don't use a grow lock, but a proper clock. He knows he isn't allowed out of his room until 7. Which 60% of the time he sticks too. However he is flipping noisey... Reading or singing, playing with teddies....

Let's see a week with no nap and early bed...!

[MrsT2016]

My 3 year old goes to bed at 7:30 and is awake around 7:15.
He is asleep within 5 minutes of the light going out.
No naps through the day.

[OhPuddleducks]

Around 7:30 to bed, earlier if she's sleepy, and up between 7 and 7:30. She hasn't napped since she was two and a half.

But some kids just need more sleep and some less. We've done all the same things with DS that we did with DD and he's a completely different kettle of fish. He just needs less sleep than she does.

[OhPuddleducks]

Ps we stopped dad napping at 2.6 because bedtime had become a disaster and it sorted it for us!

[OhPuddleducks]

*DD not dad. Obviously he's allowed to set his own sleep times!!

[TerrifiedMothertobe]

He made it until bedtime. 7 not 630 because of his little brother, he will be shattered tomorrow but let's see how he goes with no naps over the next few weeks. Early bed for me!

[TerrifiedMothertobe]

He woke at 3am (almost in heard of) and then went back to sleep until 6. No nap today and early to bed tonight..... Ho hum.

[TerrifiedMothertobe]

Just a wee.

I agree. But he does need his sleep. That's what annoys me. He would easily sleep 3 hours in the day pass out at 7 but then up at 4/5 am. His body clock is broken!

You poor thing. Hope baby 2 is a sleeper!

[TerrifiedMothertobe]

We have frid later bedtime but to no avail. He just seems hard wired. We had a major meltdown today after preschool day 5 of no nap and he's a mess. I know we need to soldier through and see if he reboots himself in a. Week or so. But it's so heart braking to see hi. So so tired.

[lenibose]

We dropped our nap a lot earlier- at 2.5. When we did, we did 4 days of no nap and 3 naps a week to start with (on my CM's suggestion), so it was Wednesday/Friday/Saturday for naps and later bedtimes. Then 2 weeks in we phased out one of the naps. We then stayed on 2 naps a week for a few months, and finally dropped them completely just before he turned 3.

Mine turns 4 in a month and is in preschool 3 hours a day. He is in bed by 6:20-6:30 and asleep almost immediately. Wakes up between 7-7:30.

The one thing I noticed in what you said was that it was taking him 45 mins to fall asleep. That suggests that he's overtired anyway. So maybe no nap and an early bedtime might help. That way he might get the 12 hours even if he's up early?

Also, what happens when he wakes? I have this vague recollection of watching a program that suggested that children do wake up early quite naturally, but if they are encouraged to stay in bed then many fall back asleep. I had to co-sleep with DS for a week recently (long story involving a house move) and I noticed that at 5/5:30 without fail he is in very light sleep. And because I was there in the bed, he was finding it hard to fall back asleep that week and was chronically over tired in the day. I suspect he does 'wake up' around that time, and then falls asleep 20 mins or so later and then sleeps through till 7:30. As soon as I went back to my own bed, he was back to not properly waking up at 5:30.

[Believeitornot]

My oldest was still napping at 4. He's an early riser and that's that. (He's now 6 and I can probably count on one hand when he's woken at 7am).
My youngest is 4 and doesn't nap but has to be asleep by 6.30/7 and sleeps through til 7ish unless woken up by her brother.
We have had some success with turning down the heating at night and lifting them for a wee at about 10pm. This makes my oldest one sleep longer in the morning.