How long does it take your child to settle to sleep?

[LPO]

At night time.

My DS 2.4 used to be a great sleeper but lately is struggling to settle off and wakes a few times a night.

Nowadays it takes on average 1hr to settle him off to sleep.
He sleeps in a proper bed and always has to settle himself on his own, rather than sleeping cuddling us or with us.

How do your children manage at the dreaded bedtime?

1 hour sounds pretty commonl at that age (sorry), though not universal.
I let mine stay up later (within limits) when they start to be so difficult to settle, I honestly think some people have unrealistic expectations of how much their young DC should sleep. They'll say "But he wakes up the same time no matter how late he goes off" but truth is, when I ask, they've only tried later bedtimes over a short spell, like 2 or 3 nights, not weeks or months.

Truth is, most the people I know with "good sleepers" would leave them to cry if they woke up in the night.

How long should 2yo sleep for over 24hours? DS usually does 8pm-6am and then 1.5hrs nap. So 11.5hrs in total.

If it's any consolation dd2 sleeps on average 7-8 hours in a 24 hour period, and hasn't napped in the day (unless we are in the car) since about 10mths. So I am envious of anything over that.

Does DS have blackout blinds? How is your bedtime routine?

My DS almost 2yrs goes to bed about 7:30pm but realistically can be an hour before he's asleep (no crying though just chittering). He wakes any time after 7am usually and has an average of a 2hr nap in the afternoon. I have noticed that when he has not had a nap he has coped recently (like when we are out for the day or have guests) so I'm not sure how long they will last.
He is a good sleeper. And yes, unless a 'pained' or 'panicked' cry, he would be left to self settle if he woke in the night.

Just to clarify that I am not really complaining about how much he sleeps/ length of time for settling off. Just interested to see what other peoples experiences are with little oes of a similar age.

Not blackout blinds, they are lined, but don't totally blakcout. But he sleeps with a nightlight on anyway so he is used to light in the room.
Bedtime routine is very common I think. Bath, dressed, milk, story, little cuddle and then bed. But then all the playing up that follows.

DS took up to 1.5 hours until he dropped his naps last week now he is asleep in 5 mins generally. He is 21 months.

DD did not sleep through or settle well until she was nearly 4. She's 4.4 nearly and she goes to bed, has a chapter or a couple of chapters of her book read to her and then we say goodnight. She falls asleep in minutes. Sometimes seconds it would seem. And she sleeps through 8.30-8.30. It's been a bloody long time coming. From 12 months she didn't nap and was never asleep before 10pm and woke constantly in the night.

I tried a week with no naps and he was hideous and took even longer to settle off as he got over tired. So we are back to having naps again now. But I wake him up so that he doens't nap for too long.

How long does your bedtime routine take? A sleep consultant told me to cut ours down to 30 mins max and it has really helped (apparently a regular routine induces melatonin - the sleep hormone - but the effects of this only last for about 30 mins then you're back to square one or worse).

DS is 22 months and take 10 mins to 45 mins to fall asleep. He can be super wired which takes forever. He'll talk about his day - the simplest things are obviously exciting to him (for example we saw the grass being cut in the park and he kept going on about the "tractor"). His language is really coming on and his mental development is leapin ahead which is definitely making it harder for him to relax. Sometimes if I sit back out of sight he'll settle faster but sometimes he wants the odd cuddle. We don't use a night light and do have blackout blinds.

My DS who is 2.8 takes anywhere from 5minutes to half an hour. He stopped napping about 4 months ago and sleeps 7-30-8am most nights. Some nights he will stall with requests for more cuddles, drinks etc, but generally he goes off. Night wakings are usually due to bad dreams. He does tend to go through phases of early morning wakings and tends to come into our bed.

Does he play happily in his cot before eventually going to sleep, or is he yowling?
If the former, I'd leave him to it. Ds is 2.11 now but for the last 6 months or more has wanted to play with increasing numbers of hard plastic toys for an hour or two before toppling sideways and falling asleep.
He tends to be in bed by 7.45, asleep by 8 or 9, wakes up round 7 to 8 am, then has an hour nap 4 days a week at nursery, or 2-3 hours when at home.

Dn on the other hand is now 3 and conks out instantly (sleeping 7-7) but refuses to nap.

I have started letting him have a book in his bed to read, but then once he is bored he throws it on the floor and starts yelling/getting out of bed. I don't let him have toys in his bed, he would never sleep then!

if he normally naps for 1 1/2 hours during the day then maybe wake him after 45 mins instead? or alternitivly put him to bed 30 mins later? or do more physical things with him during the day so he feels worn out by 8.

at 2.5 my kids slept 7 til 7 with 1.5 hours sleep midday but i don't think this is typical - most of the toddlers i know sleep 8 til 6. mine would normally take between 5 and 20 mins to sleep and the room would be dark with blackout blinds.