Two questions about toddlers and late nights - help!

[spicemonster]

Aaargh! My DS (2.4) goes to bed 7-7.30. Because of lots of driving today and not getting home till 7, he (despite not having had any more sleep than usual napping time) has been a nightmare this evening and only just gone to sleep at 10.40. So: first question - is there any possibility at all, however slight, that he might sleep on in the morning? Or is he going to wake up at his usual time and be a grumpy whingy thing all day long? Please give me some hope, even a glimmer.

Second question - if you go out in the day somewhere which is a fairly long drive away (we were in the car over 3 hours although he was only asleep for just under 2 of them), when is a good time to start driving back? This was going for lunch so we could hardly leave at 2pm (given the hideous traffic on the way there we didn't arrive until 1.30pm). Am I better off putting off going home until bedtime and doing a bit of the bedtime milk and stuff before I leave and transferring him from car to bed in one vaguely seamless motion?

Help!

[littone]

My DS has just turned 2. He has had a couple of late nights due in the last couple of months - seems to through his routine out completely and he wakes up earlier than normal in the morning (sorry!)

In response to your second question, if it is a fairly long drive back, I would prefer to stay until bedtime - otherwise he falls asleep in the car late in the day, won't go to sleep at bedtime..AND gets up early the next day. Works far better to go bedtime stuff before we go home and just transfer to bed once back.

[EldonAve]

that you still get daytime naps

yes he might well sleep in a bit in the morning

I try to drive when they won't want a meal or when I think the traffic will be bad
Otherwise I think it makes little difference

If you leave near bedtime you can stick them in the car in pjs which can make the transfer a little easier

Not sure any of this helps!

[spicemonster]

It does help EldonAve - if I can avoid going through this again I would be thrilled! Sorry you don't still get naps - he will keep on going if he doesn't have one until about 3 but then just falls asleep randomly wherever he happens to be.

I feel such an idiot for leaving when we did but everyone else was going and he's always been okay in the past but of course he was younger then and wasn't getting out of bed demanding Maisy videos at 9.30pm!

littone - is your DS really grumpy the next day if he misses out on sleep the night before?

I guess it's 50/50 on whether he'll sleep on so I think bed is in order.

[Horton]

DD sometimes wakes earlier than usual if she's been up late but often wakes much later. She's 2.9. The bright spot if she does wake early is that she usually has a long long nap the next day so I can retire to bed, too.

[Kazzi79]

Sounds to me as though he's had such a fantastic time that he's got over excited and over tired and will probably have a lie in tomorrow morning to get the amount of sleep he needs (although sadly I cant guarantee this as my ten yr old has got up at 6am almost every single day since he was about 2 regardless of the time he went to bed)

And I agree with the poster who said wait until bedtime before driving back, its much easier for them to fall asleep then transfer them into bed straight from the car.

Enjoy your sleep lol