To think that 39mins to bedtime is a fast job?

[stealthbanana]

Just had this article from the Indy pop up in my newsfeed.

www.independent.co.uk/life-style/uk-parents-bedtime-nine-days-year-compare-market-a9700981.html?fbclid=IwAR0m8p6jmMBWshyETjtbf-GmY5-92GdIHaUuDMnSU56-byO57c28SbdYMJE

Am genuinely flabbergasted that people can get their kids to bed in

Mine takes forever! 15 min bath each is 30 minutes to start with (DD too old now to bath with younger brother), then 15 minutes of jumping on the bed instead of putting pjs on, repeatedly asking to do teeth, then separate story and song time in each of their rooms - looking at 1 hr 15 minutes

My five month old is bath-milk-bed-sleep in about 30-35 minutes each night. But he’s a bit easier to manoeuvre.

Mine are only a year apart and we did have occasions when it was a bit of a nightmare but I'd say 95-99% of the time they were bathed, milk with a story, teeth brushed and in bed asleep in under 40 minutes, sometimes within half an hour.

5 mins here.Teeth,toilet,kiss cuddle ,light out.

40 mins here, DD 2 is. In the bath at 6:20, daddy lets her have a nice long one because she loves to play so not out until 6:40, 5-10 minutes to get PJs on, nappy, brush teeth etc. and then 10 minutes or so of stories. In the cot, lights off. Could probably do it in 25 at a push if we didn't indulge her love of bathing.

We bathe our kids twice a week, it's take longer those nights.

Normally it takes 30 mins - PJ, snack, story, pee, bed. Ages 3 and 6.

DC (almost 4 & 7) bedtime routine starts at 7:30ish. I leave their bedroom at 8:00. Eldest DC is allowed to read a chapter book in bed for a while after that but he is always asleep by 8:30 and tbh mostly asleep by 8:15.

I never read to my children in bed

Our reading sessions all took place before bedtime.

Quite often we didn't bother with a bath either, especially on the days I took them to the health club to swim.

So once they were finally finished with nursing to sleep (about 30 and 33 months) bedtime routine took about ten minutes. Done entirely without adult input except the kiss from the age of about 6.

My 4 year old would be pretty easy on her own but my 1 year old slows everything right down. Age makes a massive difference.

Oh gosh, hours here too! Solidarity!

@rhowton

I run the bath at 5:30, DH gets the milk. We then Bath them and get them in to bed with stories at 5:55. I always take DD1 and DH takes DD2. We are downstairs by 6am and start dinner.

How old are they? My 4 year old doesn’t get home from preschool till 6!

I'm having a bad night tonight my kids still not asleep 4 hours after bedtime, they had a nap just plonked out at 5 pm. Errrgh, it usually takes under a hour no naps in the day.

StellaGib no i always left their hair to dry naturally, unless we were going somewhere and needed it dry quickly.

We've always been quick at getting them into bed. The only bit of parenting advice my Mum had ever really given me was to not stay with them until they fell asleep at night. Apparently they did with me and I was a nightmare.
I was surprised when I stayed with my Sister and they announced it was time to start bedtime for my niece and nephew at 6:30, all four of them disappeared upstairs and my sister didn't come back down until 8:30, her DP was still up there because DN hadn't nodded off yet.

We’re in about 1h30 for two but we don’t stay until they’re sleep and we use it as 1:1 time with each of then. I could get it quicker if I wanted to but I actually enjoy it most of the time.

6.30 child no.2 bath and in bed by 7

1. Child no.1 in bath. She likes a good 20-25 mins and it’s the time of day she properly talks. Then reading practice, stories and I leave between 7.45 and 8 depending on how long she’s been in the bath and which books.

My 9 year old showers in the morning so her bedtime routine consists of putting her pjs on and doing her teeth followed by me giving her a cuddle and reading her a story. I then leave and she reads her own book until she drops off. It takes me between 15 and 30 minutes of an evening and if I’m really busy or something she can now do her own bedtime without me!

When they were that kind of age it could take me an hour and a half too, more sometimes, but that was mainly because it was entertainment for them that I liked doing. I liked playing with them (or watching them play) in the bath and I liked reading them stories. If bedtime had been 5 minutes then I would have had to find something else to do for the other hour and 25 minutes and I had been doing that all day.

As they got older they were better able to entertain themselves and bedtime got shorter. About the age of 7, when they stopped wanting us to read to them, it took us about 5 minutes to put them to bed. We would say "Okay, bedtime." and they would go to their rooms, put on their pjs, clean their teeth and get into bed with a book. We would pop in about 10 minutes later to make sure everything was okay, and again just before we went to bed to make sure they were asleep.

But then they their dad decided it was a great time to talk with them so the first pop in now takes him up to an hour! It's not really putting them to bed though (just as my marathon bath and story sessions weren't), it's bonding time and they all seem to love it. I still do the 1 minute check in when we go to bed. They aren't always asleep then any more, but they stay quiet and they wake up after us so it's all good.

Mine don't now and never did have a bath every night. A few times a week usually and never at bedtime either.
They never needed "putting to bed" either after they were about 2.5 or 3. They just go. I have never understood the whole drama around it although I do realise most people do put children to bed, mine just don't need it and are happy going to bed each night. They are 12, 11 and 8.

DS had a bath every night as a baby/young child (now he is a teenager as a community service to his class mates he has a shower every morning and another at night) but we were relaxed a bit after bath, so the actual 'bed' bit was a story and a kiss goodnight and bed so that part took about 5 mins or so

so I can't narrow down a time but after bath he was up for a little bit then bed

Mine usually showered in the morning, I think still with me at 3 or 4, then I'd just fix the water for him. Bedtime was just pyjamas, teeth, story at age 3 to 6, reading himself at 7 to 10, then sleep.

Mine are both below the age of that survey at 2 and 6mo. They take about 45 minutes each but for various reasons this happens separately so in terms of my/my husband’s time it is about 1.5hrs. It doesn’t bother me in the least though. They both like a good splash in the bath and want lots of cuddles and need someone with them when they fall asleep and we are happy to provide that. However, if the process involved lots of persuasion and refusals I’m sure I’d feel differently about it - for me it’s a nice fun/snuggly/chatty end to the day

Bed time is luckily relatively easy here.

I shower my son in the morning now, so no bed time bath.

6:45 brush teeth, go to the loo, wash and cream his face, usually in bed by 7:00, I get in with him and we have a cuddle for about ten minutes. I don’t do our story in bed, I do it on the sofa after dinner.

Ah thank you all. I am in awe of those of you with toddlers who are getting them to bed in 15mins.

I think what we are doing “wrong” is letting them play in the bath (and also sometimes they refuse to have a bath together so have to be done sequentially which is a faff); there’s always some messing about (they play hide and seek with each other in their bedrooms, jump on the bed etc); no way would I get away with one story my guys want multiple stories which takes 20-30mins; and then I can put my 1.5yo down but my 3.5yo has to be sat with (he’s pretty quick after story time but it adds 15mins on) - we have tried everything with him to get him to sleep solo and have now accepted he’ll grow out of it eventually .

When mine were all little or took 2hrs to get them all bathed and in bed!

They're older now and on bath night 30mins each is more like it as can leave them alone in the bath to get other child ready etc.

Also in any given survey, remember some parents don't read to their kids.

Almost two year old is about half an hour - bath with story, teeth, pjs, milk and into bed. BUT she’s an only, and she’s always been a rubbish napper so is exhausted by bedtime.

These surveys clearly don’t report on the fact that these kids also probably get up at the butt crack of dawn (looking at you DD!)