to put my 18 month old to bed at 7pm?

[SomewhereOverTheRainybow]

I don’t think I’m BU, but friends and in laws all seem to think I’m putting my 18 month old to bed way too early The constant little comments are just getting irritating now.

Is this too early for an 18 month old or just about right?

Earlier than 6pm?! What time is dinner

My 6month old has his bath and bottle and sleeping for around 7.30. He gets crabbit if it’s any later!

Early bedtimes are a very British thing, certainly not all babies and young children go to bed so early.

Just do what means both you and your baby get the most sleep.

I would never put mine down that early as I don’t want them waking up early in the morning, maybe you like it. Do what suits your household not outsiders.

What time does your dc wake up in the morning? If it's a reasonably civilised time, then they aren't going to bed too early.

6.30 bottle and usually sleeping for 7/7.15 for 18m DD.

We need our evening, especially with no additional childcare and both full time WFH!

My 7 and 4 year old go to bed at 7-7.30 each night.
My older Dd gets to read till 8pm they younger has light out by 7.30.

No way is that too early if it suits your child.

My 5 year old goes to bed at 6 and sleeps 6.30-7! She needs it!

My 3 year old goes to bed at 7pm and my 15month old goes to bed at 6pm. What time are they saying your dc should go down? Ignore them if it works for you it works.

@Crabbypaddy

Earlier than 6pm?! What time is dinner

My 6month old has his bath and bottle and sleeping for around 7.30. He gets crabbit if it’s any later!

About 4.30/5.00pm which I realise is odd on here . On days where we had been really busy or when she'd been at nursery for a full day she would starting falling asleep around 5.30pm.

If your 18 month old will go down at 7pm, and isn't waking up punitively early, then just thank your lucky stars!

Is it possible that family/friends are jealous? God knows I would have been. It's only fairly recently we've got anything approaching a decent night's sleep with my DD and if I put her down at 7 on a regular basis, she'd be up at 11pm and full of beans, demanding food and refusing to be put back to bed.

My 4 all went to bed at 6-6.30pm for years. It’s what worked for us! I was exhausted by then! If your DC goes to sleep happily when put to bed at that time then why on earth are they suggesting that you change it?! Your DC’s body clock is obviously suited to that bedtime and he/she needs the sleep!

I'm really interested in this thread because my daughter is 18 months old and I am forever being told by many friends and relatives that she goes to bed really early.

She's usually in bed for 6.30/7. She's normally up at about 6 but sometimes it's 5 and sometimes it's 7. Wake up time doesn't seem to be effected by bedtime - she's just more tired and cranky if she's kept up later and the evenings become unbearable.

I'm not particularly strict about bedtime. If we're doing something special and it takes us past bedtime that's fine with me, but we don't often get very far because DD becomes so tired that she starts throwing tantrums or just gets upset and isn't having a good time anymore. She just always naturally seems to get tired at around 6.30 so we start putting her to bed.

I start "bedtime" for my 19 month old and two 4 year olds at 6pm. By the time everyone has their pjs on, clean teeth and moved enough teddies off their beds so they can actually fit in alongside them, they all are in bed around 6.30.

Do what's best for them and you.. I need my evenings especially at the moment.

@Mercedes519

Yep 7pm. We had bath, milk and then In The Night Garden which finishes at 6.50pm.

The real question here is why you are listening to anyone else apart from what YOU want to do. And why the fuck do they care what time you put YOUR child to bed?

Thankyou for the reply. Honestly it’s not that I care to the extent where I will change his routine, 7pm is absolutely fine by me and won’t be changing anytime soon. However hearing the comments so frequently had me second guessing myself for a moment so wanted to gather other parents opinions.

Thanks everyone, just as I thought

@RubyFakeLips

Early bedtimes are a very British thing, certainly not all babies and young children go to bed so early.

Just do what means both you and your baby get the most sleep.

I would never put mine down that early as I don’t want them waking up early in the morning, maybe you like it. Do what suits your household not outsiders.

I was going to mention this too. British bed times are seen as really early for kids compared to other countries and cultures. I personally don’t understand it when I read on here that people are ticked off their kids get up way too early in the morning. The simple answer would be to simply put them to sleep later.

@PeggyHill

I'm really interested in this thread because my daughter is 18 months old and I am forever being told by many friends and relatives that she goes to bed really early.

She's usually in bed for 6.30/7. She's normally up at about 6 but sometimes it's 5 and sometimes it's 7. Wake up time doesn't seem to be effected by bedtime - she's just more tired and cranky if she's kept up later and the evenings become unbearable.

I'm not particularly strict about bedtime. If we're doing something special and it takes us past bedtime that's fine with me, but we don't often get very far because DD becomes so tired that she starts throwing tantrums or just gets upset and isn't having a good time anymore. She just always naturally seems to get tired at around 6.30 so we start putting her to bed.

if those wake up times work for you then there’s nothing wrong with it as a previous poster said, I think it only becomes a problem when they are awake extremely early.

It's quite early unless you don't mind getting up early. We would only just be finishing dinner at 7pm. My kids never got up until about 7.30am so I made sure they were settled in bed by 8pm

Doesn't work for mine. I kept her up until 9.30pm last night in the hope if a lie in but she still prised my eyes open early this morning and told me to wake up

That was in response to keeping them up late so they don't wake early

@AnneLovesGilbert

What time does he wake up and are you happy with his schedule? You know him better than they do, stick with whatever works for you guys

Usually up at around 7.30am on average which works for me.

Sounds perfect then

Keeping kids up late doesnt always wake later. We tried a month on putting ds1 to bed later but he still was up 5am every morning and was absolutely crabbid during the day and struggling to stay awake. It was a miserable bloody month and then decided stuff it and let dc do his thing

I agree. Some DCs will sleep later in the morning if put to bed later, but many won’t and are just grumpy and overtired all day!

That sounds perfectly normal to me, DS1 used to be in bed at 7pm up until approx the age of 9 or 10
He seriously was such a grumpy sod if he stayed up any later, he just couldn't handle it.
He was an early riser though.
Now he's in his teens and goes about 2am and gets up around or after lunchtime if left lol
Enjoy your peaceful evenings whilst you can!