When did seven o clock stop being bedtime?

[asleepat7]

My four year old has not napped in the day for a looooong time. Even long car journeys don’t send him to sleep any more.

But … he doesn’t go to sleep before eight o’clock, often pushing half eight. It feels really late and selfishly doesn’t give me much time to myself!

Is it just us?

@asleepat7 What time does he wake?

Time to introduce "quiet time" audible story and quiet play

I find my kid’s bedtime shifts to a little later when it’s daylight for longer. In the dark winter months it’s back to seven-ish.

Uh no? My 4 year old has been going to bed at 8 (sometimes half 8) for at least a year. I've never had done a 7 o'clock bedtime as we're often still eating then. Up for work/school/nursery before 7. I'm a teacher who sees overtired children and consider myself a fairly uptight parent!

I have no idea, but bedtime was always 7pm for me as a child until I was late primary and I was allowed to stay up til 8. My own children have always gone to bed at 8, I can’t seem to get them down any earlier!

Maybe since 2 working parents became the norm? I’m not sure.

My kids have never gone to bed at 7.

All kids are different i dont see the point in putting him to bed early knowing he wont sleep untill 8 _8.30

I always try to aim for asleep by 7.30 but it does go wrong! Tonight the 3yr old has just gone to sleep :o (because we had a big day outside and he napped at 3-4om! And my 5yr old only went to sleep maybe 30 mins before.

I find when we don't hit the 7.30 mark it's because the usual routine stuff has been delayed for whatever reason.
So I know we have to be upstairs by 6.45 or 7.30 asleep is never Gona happen.

Ds 5.5 has a 7.30 bedtime, it's shifted to 7.30 since about Christmas time from 7am and seems reasonable considering what time he gets up in the morning. If your DS is struggling to get to sleep before 8-8.30 I'd try bringing forward the time he starts the day.

Thanks, interesting reading others experiences.

I put his toddler sister to bed first and she does go to bed 7-730, which is part of the reason his bedtime is later as by the time I’ve got her sorted it pushes his back. He doesn’t seem tired though. He generally wakes at 7 on average I’d say although half an hour either side is normal.

Mine have never slept at 7, 8/8.30 for 3yo, about 930 for 7yo

Same here. I can remember being put to bed early as a small child and lying awake for hours, could hear my parents coming up just after eleven! I did read and fall asleep doing that sometimes but would have preferred being downstairs.

My son used to go to bed when he was tried, there were no rules. We used to be eating dinner around seven anyway.

DD is 4, she’s never gone to bed at the ‘normal’ time, she’s always been a post-8pm bedtime although got better once she dropped naps and started school. She’s towards the lower end of the 10-13 hours sleep needs range so frankly I much prefer 8pm-6:30/7am rather than gaining an extra hour in the evening only to be woken at 5:30am 😴 Her friends range from 6:30pm to 9pm+ so different kids, different needs.

Surely it depends what time you want the child to wake in the morning? . There are plenty of threads where parents complain about their children waking too early. I totally get that children need enough sleep but they also need to spend some time with their parents. With most couples now both working and more children in nursery care, if they went to bed at 7 some children would hardly see their parents during the working week.

My DS was always a 6.30/7pm bedtime when little (not through my choice as meant I hardly saw him after nursery, he just couldn’t stay awake). He’s almost five now and naturally shifted to 7.30/8. I think you’re well within the realms of normal OP although I get your frustration! My youngest sleeps terribly so I like to be asleep by 10 usually but then that means very little time to myself.

Our 1 year old doesn't go to bed until 8.30-9pm. He wouldn't get to see my DH much if he did have an early bedtime. He's always been on the lower end of sleep needs and only has around 11-12 hours a day now.

I don’t feel this is an issue, he sees me plenty. We have two full days a week together and weekends as well. He doesn’t seem tired attend nursery for three days but generally collected between 4-430 so it’s not a very late day.

As for time he wakes in the morning, I don’t know. My DS used to be a ridiculously early riser and it only sorted itself out when he dropped his nap, before that it didn’t matter what time he went to bed, he woke at 5. I’m so glad we don’t have that any more, it was horrible!

I have never managed to get DS to sleep before 8pm. Ever.

Mine were in bed by 7.30, a couple of stories and a cuddle and then lights out by 8. Up in the morning at 7ish

My children never had a 7pm bedtime. That only happened on a few occasions when they were really tired and started falling asleep downstairs, but usually they'd be full of energy at that time still. Youngest I remember would go to bed at 9.15 at preschool age, as that was the time eldest went and it was just easier. I would have struggled with anything too early.

My six and a half year old goes to bed at seven, bedtime routine starts about 6, shower, teeth, PJs, we read to him then he has reading time from 6:45 , lights out at 7 then he has his yoto player on with a story until 7:30 but he's usually asleep by 7:15, gets up between 7 and 7:30am .

Tonight he went to bed at 8 because we were out with family and got home late this afternoon and had to make dinner etc, he was rubbing his eyes by then. he'll either lay in tomorrow or be a bit ratty , he's not good without 11-12 hours. My mum looked after him a couple of Saturdays ago and said he could stay up late and watch BGT with her, it got to 7:45 and he asked to go to bed.

He hasn't always been this way, he didn't sleep through the night until he was three! He's also 100 miles an hour from the minute he wakes up until he starts the bedtime routine, so he's either asleep or bouncing around talking non stop, there's no in-between.

We've just gone with the kids body clock. Mine are 5.5 and 3, they are in bed with stories by 7.15, asleep between 7.30 and 8pm. We've tried pushing bedtime later a few times because waking up at 5.30am is punishing, but their body clocks just seem to like these hours and it never goes well. Even when the clocks changed, we tried keep the old schedule so technically they'd sleep / wake an hour later, but within a week they were asking to go to bed at 7. I'd love a later bedtime.

My children were in bed and asleep by 6.30 pm . They loved their beds .

I never managed a regular 7 pm bedtime for either of mine. They went from napping in the day (and therefore going to bed later) to perhaps a very short time of going to bed early, and then adjusted to it and went back to it being 8 pm!

Is he starting school this September? I found starting school absolutely exhausted my dc...even though they were used to nursery, school is just extremely tiring. I'd imagine then bedtimes might become earlier