To let my almost 3yo sleep 10pm - 8am?

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Does anyone else have these sleeping hours for their small children?

Probably not on MN!

He has a 30 minute nap at nursery, and doesn't seem tired, but I do have to wake him up in the mornings...

What I wonder though is, what do working parents do with such early bedtimes? I have negotiated to have a shorter lunch break and leave work earlier but even then I'm at home at 5.30pm at the very earliest. Dinner between 6-7pm, then some downtime, then baths etc etc. What do you do if you work 9-5?

My DD (soon to be 3 also) has roughly the same sleeping pattern, with an occasional nap in the daytime some days.

If we're lucky she may go up at 9pm.

If it's working for you and her, don't worry about it.

worral - yes exactly on the Dad front. When we just had DS1 and he used to have a long afternoon nap, we would all have dinner together at 7pm and then he would go to sleep at 8.30-9pm.

Yes, Marianne, I know they do. So 10 was the bit that was considered unusual, rather than 8.

Sorry, my brain is slow at this time of the day!

6pm is not even evening for me! Mine used to sleep 8-8 when they were younger (and lived in the UK)

Marianne a friend of mine has the nursery give her DDs their tea, and then she just whisks them home and straight into bed so they are asleep by 6.30pm.

Then she moans when they are awake at 5.30am...

My 18mo sleeps 9-8.
I spent over a year trying to force her into a 7pm bedtime as I thought that was what I should do. Finally I went with what seemed to suit her and she magically slept through the night.

I didn't mean to have a dig at you Franca - I'm in genuine astonishment how people find it practical to put the kids to bed at 7pm! That's often our dinnertime!

2yo with 8/8.30 till 6.30/7.30 here with 1 to 2 hr nap in the day.

She stays up till 9 if we're doing something exciting - party, dinner out, etc. Get odd looks from people in UK. Is considered madness by some. I have friends who nearly kill themselves with rushing about to get Ds in bed by 6pm!

Yanbu - do what suits you. But wouldn't you rather have more child-free hours?

My 3 yr old goes to sleep somewhere between 9 - 10 pm. She wakes between 7.30 - 8.30am. Suits me wonderfully.

Nothing wrong with it if it suits you and he's getting enough sleep. I suppose the only potential problem is that 8am will be too late for when he goes to school so you might want to shift it at some point nearer the time in anticipation of that.

My 10 year old sleeps those hours roughly. At 3 though he would have fallen asleep on the sofa by 7.30pm if he hadn't already been put to bed. DS1 however, who is now 14, would probably have still been awake at 10pm at 3. He has been a dreadful sleeper since birth .

Alibaba - my sister used to do exactly that too, well still does to some extent.

YANBU: it clearly works for you and your family. DS also sleep 9.30-7.15 and it works for us. Never understood those who put their children to bed at 7pm which to me, as for Franca, is not even evening. Plus, children who go to bed that early must eat even earlier, presumably on their own: how sad. We really enjoy dinner with DS, could not imagine excluding him from family meals...

We generally do 8pm-7am. Although it was, ahem, 8:45 tonight.

I can see how, once getting up time is fixed for school and there is no option of an afternoon nap, an earlier bedtime is sometimes needed, but we prefer a bit of family time in the evening.

I couldn't handle 10pm though. I have a friend whose toddler does this and then they end up in bed really late to have some 'couple' time. Ok if you can all lie in, less so if you have a fixed morning time.

Bed for 7.15pm, story, lights out by 7.30pm (Bedtime can be later in the summer months of course). DCs out like little lights themselves in minutes! They are fairly early risers, always have been no matter what time they go to bed...they could go to bed at 11pm (after family event for example) and still be up @7am. Youngest DC always says 'Ahhh, MY bed' if we have been away from home for a few days

I work P/T and 9-5 but not far from home, back by 5.30pm

Like AbbyAbsinthe I too need 'adult time' in the evening (to do the packed lunches, school uniform etc!)

I like having my evenings too, DS is 3 and we aim for 7:30pm bedtime, sometimes we hear him singing to himself til gone 9pm though. He generally sleeps til 6:30-7:30am, going to bed later tends to make him wake up earlier and he still naps for 2 hours in the day

Marianne I have wondered that too, just HOW do people get tea, bath, stories and actually see their dc all done by 7 when most people don't get home from work till 6 ish.
I am ashamed that my dc don't go to bed at 7, however they get 10-12 hours a night (plus the youngest has a 2 hour nap) so perhaps I should just stop stressing and accept that is their natural sleep pattern.
Would be nice to give up the constant battles trying to get them to bed earlier!

DS is 8 and is in bed for 7.30 and lights out at 8. He sleeps through until between 6 and 6.30 but needs to get up then anyway for school. He would die of exhaustion if he had to stay up until 10 pm every night!

Good luck with shifting that routine when your child starts school!

Aren't children of that age supposed to have around 12 hours sleep per night !

Mine at that age were in bed by 6.30-7 and none of them ever woke up before 7am...now they are 9,12 and 14 none of them wake up before 8.30 at weekends!

Some don't see DC - that is my friends way - pick DS up from nursery at 5pm and rush about to get him in bed for 6pm. I just don't get it.

If he goes to bed at 2200 and wakes naturally at 0800 I'd say no problem. Whatever works for your household.

But if he doesn't go to bed until 2200 and then you're having to wake him at 0800 to get ready to go to nursery/work etc then he may not be having enough sleep.

Yay! I don't feel so alone!

I can have him asleep by 9pm if DH is not home, but it seems being with Daddy is too darned exciting .

We do both work full time, so 10-8 usually suits us pretty well, but sometimes I think wistfully of those with 7-7 routines.