to rhink if your baby/ child goes to bed at 6 or 7pm

[firstforthought]

that it seems only natural they wake between 4 and 6 am?
I have read of people being sad or frustrated that baby wakes this early to start the day and i am thinking huh??
i have always put baby to bed when I go then I can expect a few hours broken or not then as the child gets older make bedtime earlier.

DD aged 3 recently dropped her daytime nap but still goes to bed at 7, asleep by 8.30 and has to be woken up each weekday morning and prised out of bed by 7am. At weekends she has often slept until nearly 10am. She needs her sleep obviously.

My niece aged 2 is never asleep before 10pm even though her 4 year old brother is in bed snoring his head off by 8. She still wakes up 6am and hasn't napped since she was a baby.

I see your point OP although my daughter kept waking up at 5am during the summer despite going to sleep most nights at 9. She was very tired though and snoozed the afternoons away alot.

YABU

16:30 until 10am Pink? Jeez! That's not right.

Saying that my 10mo goes to bed at around 17:45 - 18:00 and sleeps through until she has a breastfeed at around 6-7am and then (if we're lucky) goes back to sleep for half an hour or so.

My older two go to bed at 18:00 and 18:30 and sleep through until 7am.

I wouldn't call it a routine as we regularly keep them up later, especially in Summer.

Mine go to bed between 5-630 pm depending how tired they are. Age 4 and 20 months. Oldest has always slept loads. They way at 730am. They are tall though. Ds is off the height chart and dd is close and they grow when they are asleep so I think mine are sleeping lots because of this. I can't keep them awake past this time as they just crash and burn! Then they sleep like logs!!!

very interesting to read that it's normal for kids to go to bed so early - as some other people have mentioned, I'm also from a different culture and average bedtime for small children is not earlier than around 9-10.

franca, do most italian children rest/sleep in the afternoon?

I think you are being unreasonable. Very few things are "only natural" with children.

Actually, my two are unnatural in your book then, as 5 year old goes to bed at 7 - 7.30 and gets up at 8 (that said she doesnt sleep immediately these days, she "reads" for a bit) - shes always done this - since she was a couple of week old.

DS is 1 and sleeps from 7pm and gets up about 7.45am and again has done since he was a few weeks old.

Depends on the child I suppose.

I know what you mean, OP, I often think the same re specific families I know. But it does depend so much on the children.
If I put my LOs to bed at 7pm they'd be up at 5am bouncing on my head for breakfast, and I'm not going there.

Meanwhile I know someone whose 5yo son used to go to bed at 6:30pm and she'd have to wake him at 8am the next day to go to school. How I would love to have children who slept like that!!

We've kept dd up late quite a lot of times. She never sleeps later than (say) 7:30. It's like she's got an internal alarm.

Blackout blinds are a must for the summer months, and they are pretty good at keeping the heat in in winter as well.

After 3.5years of being woken between 4 and 6am by DD who is now 7, I am accepting of the fact that I gave birth to a Lark. As a baby she slept 7 to 7 no problem at all, until at 3.5years the Lark kicked in.

I have tried putting her to bed later the result is her still up between 4 and 6am, but the end of that day is terrible for everyone.
DCs are like adults, some are Larks and some are Owls it is very difficult to change them. All you can do is limit the misery from tired children.
I would say don't count your chickens yet if yours is only a baby.

We have to be up and out of the house at 0750 in the week so my younger girls are up at 0600-0630 and therefore so am I . They are shattered by 1800/1830 so are in bed asleep by 1900/1930.

The downside is that they get up at 0630 at the weekends which is Not Good, as I am so not a morning person.

OP not all childern are the same, most young ones need 12 hours or more a day (therefore will sleep 6 - 6, 7-7 etc) but some don't, and obv it depends on if / how much they sleep during the day.
My DS (2.5) is a lot like his daddy he's happiest and bubbliest in the evening (if he had his 2 hours nap during the day that is) so he goes to bed at 8:30 - 9 after having dinner with us a nice play with DP. He then wakes up very happy at 7-7:30. Sleeps 2 hours after lunch = total 12 hrs sleep a day = all OK!

Going back to your question, I know of toddlers who wake up very early regardless of the time they went to bed... they can't help their little "alarm clocks" :) I guess it's hard on parents and I'm not sure putting them to bed later always helps, it may do more harm as overtired children sleep badly - vicious circle

See - what Lizcat says

mine go to bed at 6:30 but usually play after that, and wake....

well they often wake at 6- 7am but then they play -i don't need to go in apart from to take them for a wee (and DD is getting to learn to take herself).

sometimes i put them to bed earlier if they are really tired.

seems some people have taken the post the wrong way.. I was saying that if a child has been in bed for 10 or 12 hours it would be unreasonable to expect them to stay more than that...

Dd1(3) is 8-8ish which suits us ok. Both dh and I prefer later mornings. Dd2 (5 months) is a different matter, doesn't go down in the evening, though after reading this thread I wonder if I should try putting her down even earlier. Not really practical though as we have tea about 6ish.

Ime, when I put them to bed has no bearing on when they wake up. If they're going through a phase of waking early, (and I mean 5am) nothing can change it. They just come through it eventually. At least we're never late for school/nursery etc!

It depends on the child, normally if I put dd 3.11 to bed at 6.30-7, she would wake ready for the day at 4.30-5, which I dint want so it's a later bedtime for her 8-8.30 so that dh and I do get some together time. H

I have tried putting dd to bed later than her usual 7.30pm in a hope of getting a lie in. Makes abs no difference what so ever.

Having an energetic day with fresh air on the other hand makes all the difference. She will wake at 5-6am if we've spent the day indoors and 7am if we've been to the park or some other outdoor activity. Even if it's only for a couple of hrs.

I can only guess that she has deeper better sleep when she's been out doors, which makes her less likely to wake with the birdies. And boy are they noisy round here.

my 2 boys (6 and 4) go to bed at 6:30 and are asleep by 7 (have story and chat)

they wake at 7am.

DD goes to bed between 5.30pm and 7pm and wakes between 7 and 8.30am every day.

Ds1 used to go to bed at 7ish and wake between 8 and 9am from 6 months ish. We then brought forward his bedtime to 6.30 for a while and he still slept until then. Ds2 now goes at 6.30 and ds1 between 6.45 and 7pm and both get up between 7 and 7.30, they are 5 and 2.8. If they wake earlier they are told it is still night time and to go back to sleep, it is rare that happens though.

7.30 / 8 bedtime and she gets up at 9.30/10, with 2 hours at lunch time. She was a shocking sleeper when she was tiny but amazing now!

My DCs (5 and 3) go to bed at 6.00 and get up between 7 and 7.30