To think thst this is too early a bedtime for a 3.7 yo?

[Bbq1]

I know somebody who is putting their 3.7 yr old to bed at 6pm. Child is waking at 5am. I'm not surprised as my own ds went to bed around 6.45 at almost 4. Aibu to think this is a very early bedtime and the likely cause of the early waking?

I don’t see the issue and if it works for them, what’s the problem? Many people would rather get up early than deal with an overtired and cantankerous child in the evening.

One of mine got up at 5 regardless of the time he went to bed until he was about 7 so until that age he went to bed at 6

@Pumperthepumper yep between 5-6pm! He gets grumpy otherwise!

“ 0gfhty

MerryDecembermas
Some parents are lucky to have DC who move their wake up time in line with their bed time. Others of us are unlucky and have DC who wake early no matter what we do. YABU and needlessly judgy.
I hear this quite a lot and I am genuinely curious as to how these children deal with travel to a time difference. Eventually they must just fit in with the sleep changes?”

Went to France for two weeks. My then 15mo went to sleep at the same time U.K. time and woke up at the same time U.K. time - at the time he was waking at 5.30am so it was 6.30am French time. That year the clocks changed in autumn he stayed on the old time until they changed again in spring . But over time he has begun to sleep later naturally and he has developed the understanding re the grolock so it was clearly developmental

Yabu. Some children will wake at dawn no matter what time you put them to bed - DS had a phase like that, it nearly broke us, we tried everything.

He was constantly tired & tantrummy until we had a few weeks where we were regularly putting him down at 6.15. Oddly enough what seemed to fix it, after months of trying, was the giving in and putting him down early. He was so overtired he just needed to catch up. After 3 or 4 weeks of very early bedtimes we found everything just started to creep later in the morning, he then lasted better til bedtime and voila.

[quote fedup51]@Pumperthepumper yep between 5-6pm! He gets grumpy otherwise![/quote]
He sleeps for fourteen hours a day? That’s a lot.

It depends on the individual child. My DD would wake at 6 every day no matter what time she went to bed. My DS on the other hand, who is almost 2, goes to bed at 8 and wakes at 8. Which is absolute bliss.

Mine used to do 6 ish to 6 ish

It meant we had an evening ....they were tired so ..why not !?

My eldest went to bed at 6pm till they were 4 and a half. Any later and he would become over tired and when that happened he would wake more during the night and have a rubbish day the next day because he had had a rubbish sleep.

Also it was true for us that even if he was put to bed later he would still get up at the same time! There was never a lay in till he was a lot older.

Mine woke at 5 am no matter what. We tried 2 weeks of later bedtimes but dodnt make any difference except very grumpy child who kept dozing off at random times during the day.

I hear this quite a lot and I am genuinely curious as to how these children deal with travel to a time difference. Eventually they must just fit in with the sleep changes?”

When you travel to a time difference, everything in the day moves. Children are in time to a whole circadian rhythm including mealtimes.

We went on holiday to Spain with DS and found he did shift to local time after a few days (still waking early local time). However our attempts to just keep him wholly on spanish time when we got back failed, because he was back to preschool with lunch at English time etc.

It's the relative timings of the day, and its very hard to shift children with strong circadian rhythms.

Mine have all been hard wired early risers. I have four DC. Often 5-6am starts in the formative years so no way is 6pm too early a bed time. Quite normal to catch them before they get over tired because if you don't, you pay the price and it takes small DC ages to wind down.

I do lunch 11am and dinner at 4pm for this very reason! I am usually in bed at 7pm myself. Not sleeping but getting some down time. Each day is very manic.

@Silverfly

I agree with you that is early, and likely to be the cause of the early waking. But has this really not occurred to the child's parents??

Unfortunately not in many cases. We have tried putting ours to bed later but the next morning they wake even earlier. I have four DC so have attempted this four times now!😂🤷

And this is your business why?

Do you think this person (if they even mind the 05:00 waking) hasn’t considered trying later bedtime?

For years mine one of mine has woken at 06:00, almost no matter what bedtime. Exceptions for 03:00 sleepover 🙈 but even then, awake by 08:00. There’s adjustment around the clock changes, but soon settles back to 06:00. Just how she is 🤷🏻‍♀️

6pm?! Wow. Didnt realise people did this early as many wouldn't see their dad. (And I had to pick up other child from rainbows etc.)

However I'm a complete believer in doing whatever works though. And if 6 works, 6 it is!

We used to watch the cbeebies say goodnight as a bedtime cue as toddlers!

My sons friend who’s 7 goes to bed a 6pm, it’s ridiculous! She wonders why her daughter is up and down all night!

YABU my child is the same age and goes to bed at around 6/6.30 because no matter how late (we tried 8pm) he goes to bed, he still wakes at 6am. You shouldn't judge other's circumstances when you don't have the full picture.

My two woke at 5am no matter what time we put them to bed. At least when they went at 6pm they had a full nights sleep and weren't horribly grumpy the next day.

Surely you can't really be that confused that different children have different sleep needs? There isn't a set rule within reason (the latter caveat after i realised Exdh was letting dc go to sleep at midnight and I realised I hadn't specified).

My Dc go to their rooms to quietly play or read at 6pm (they are 8 and 5) Ds1 is ASD and needs quiet time away from his beloved but very very loud little brother . Ds2 is NT but struggles to wind down his world takeover plans if he doesn't have a long lead time to sleep. We then do lights off 8pm for Ds2 and 8.30 for Ds1. Depending on the day. First day after school holidays is earlier. Weekends is slightly later. They both wake up between 5 and 6. They always have. Even when Exdh did his insane late night period.

The only difference is the level of insanity you have to cope with in the day.

I mean yo be fair DP wakes at 6 no matter what. He can't help it. Fortunately he bumbles downstairs with the DC so I get some rest.

I however have always struggled to sleep before midnight , no matter what. Children are as different from each other as adults.

As long as the DC is getting enough sleep whats the issue?

It obviously works for them.

It would be far too early for us as we enjoy spending time together on an evening as a family. We also like to go out for tea, have days out etc DS (just turned 3) goes to bed at 7.30-8. He gets up between 7-7.30 usually but sometimes sleeps until 8ish if we have a later night.

If the parents are happy with that, their choice. There's nothing wrong with it.

Sounds horrific to me, I don't want my kid to wake up at 5am!
It also means missing out on most of the afternoons, and on holiday and summer month missing out on the best part of the day.
You can't take your kids out at 5 or even 6am, I wouldn't allow mine in the garden until 10 for the sake of the neighbours. What do you do cooped in the house for hours?

Mine never went to bed before 7:30 at the earliest!

Most people are not even home at 6pm, and it would mean having diner in the middle of the afternoon. Very odd choice, but if they are happy, why not.

There are some benefits for couples if the DC are down at 6pm. I used to love heading to bed for an evening session regularly with DH when the eldest was settled in at night 😉

When Dd was younger she always went bed early as I couldn’t keep her awake - she used to get really tired. She was often up early but as are we too. Dp starts work at 6am -and ’m an early bird so I would happily take the early mornings for the peace in the evening 😂 she’s a little older now and I wish she’d still go sleep as early 😂

Slight derail but @ToffeePennie are your DS's stars a product or a home made set up?