Toddlers bedtime

[Orissiah]

What time do you put your toddlers to bed at night?

Mine has always had a 7pm bedtime and tended to sleep through to 6.30am (which is fine for us as we get up at that time for work) but over the last couple of months she is waking around 5.30/6am.

She has a blackout blind and there are no unusual sounds outside so I am wondering if I should try a 7.30am bedtime.

She's 22 months.

[Orissiah]

I meant a 7.30pm bedtime not 7.30am!!

[suiledonne]

Hi orrisiah, I have an almost 4 year old and a 17 month old.

Up to a few weeks ago they were both asleep by 7pm every night.

Since the weather improved it has been harder to settle the younger one in the evenings so I have moved to 7.30 bedtime and it is working fine.

They are awake most mornings by 7am.

I'd say give it a go and see. 30 minutes isn't a huge difference but it might buy you some time in the morning.

[BornToFolk]

In theory, 7pm but usually ends up being about 7.15. DS is 2.6

Over winter, this worked fine and he was sleeping till about 6.30am or even 7am (works for us too as that's when we get up for work).

However, with the mornings getting lighter, he's been waking at about 6am, sometimes earlier. He's fine when he wakes up, sings away to himself until we get him up at 6.30 but he's had days where he's seemed really tired and grumpy and whingey. So this week we put him down a bit earlier - not a lot but just made sure that he was in bed, with lights off, for 7pm. Yesterday he woke up at 6am, today it was 6.30am! And his mood is much better.

How is your DD? Does she seem overtired, or do you think she's getting enough sleep? If she seems tired, you might have to try an earlier bedtime...and put up with the early starts! DS was like this all last summer, then slept later during the winter...

[cheesypopfan]

DD goes to bed between half six and seven, as did her two older siblings. Most of the time she wakes up at 6:30ish but a few weeks ago she had a week or so of waking at five. I also remember the others doing this from time to time. Putting any of them to bed made no difference to what time they woke, so i just accepted it as part of their randomness!! DD is back to waking up between 6:30-7 am again.

[Orissiah]

She's not tired at all when she wakes early so it made me thing a later bedtime may be in order.

On the other hand I know sleep with babies and toddlers is all about phases so this may simply be a phase and I should simply keep to routine and 7pm bedtime and not sweat about it too much.

Any other comments?

Does sleep tend to get less random as children get older? My mum said I used to have several phases of early waking until I started school at 4 years old and then I started sleeping in longer and more reliably...

Any other experiences?

[lowrib]

8.30 he goes for his bath - usually in bed for 9.

He gets up about 8.

[thumbwitch]

same as lowrib. DS is nearly 2.5. Works for us. If I try (and I have) to get him in bed before 8:30 he invariably wakes up about half an hour later and then is impossible to get back to sleep because the tiredness "edge" has gone.

[Shodan]

Ds2 is 2.6 and goes to bed anytime between 7 and 8, depending on whether he has had a nap in the daytime and what time DH comes home from work. I usually have ds tea'd and bathed then DH spends some time with him before putting him to bed.

Ds still has a long nap after lunch, but if he doesn't then it's a 7 pm bedtime.

He wakes anytime between half six and sevenish, but is quite happy in his cot reading books (well not reading, per se- you know what I mean! ) until I wake up around half seven.

Both my boys have always needed lots of sleep though.

[grapesandmoregrapes]

i have 2 DD's< 2 and 5 months and they both go to bed at 6.30pm and get up between 6.30 and 7am. bear in mind that ubtil children are about 5 they need at least a 12 hour stretch of sleep in order to grow and develop properly. you could try leaving herin her bed aslong as possible to see if she will go back to sleep. DD1 sometimes used to wake up at about 5.30 - 6.00 but if i left her (sometimes crying) for about 10 mins she usually went back to sleep for another hour or so.

[BirdyBedtime]

Might be a silly question but is she still sleeping during the day? - if so then you might want to cut back on this rather than changing bedtimes. FWIW my DD was going to bed at 7.30pm at that age and sleeping for 12 hours, sometimes more, but she had virtually cut out her daytime nap by this stage.

[mummysgoingmad]

bath by 8.30 in bed for 9 usually. Dont know if this is too late for a 17month old? please advise!

[KAEKAE]

My son is 2.7 and he goes down at aroung 7-7.30 but with the lighter evenings he doesn't seem to settle some nights until gone 8pm! He wakes at around 7-.730am during the week and weekends he'll wake anytime between 8am -9am. He never wants to have a nap during the day unless we're in the car and he'll drop off.

[TrinityIsAPenguin]

my three 10, 5 and 3 go to bed at 7 to 7.30 pm

they wake up at 7am