Suitable bedtimes

[Wheresmycaffeinedrip]

Dd1 seems to be having trouble getting to sleep. She is 6.8 and and is forever claiming she's not tired despite looking it. I'm having trouble deciding if there's actually a problem, whether this is just a normal progression of getting that bit older and not needing to go to bed so early or whether she's just being difficult. She's been in bed since quarter past seven and I can still hear her jumping about upstairs. She literally seems unable to sit or stand still for a second at the moment. She cannot just stop.

So guys, what do u thing is a suitable bedtime for a child of her age. Bare in mind though that for school she needs to be up for about half six. And is it normal to be active all the bloody time.

DD nearly 14YO now, so it's a bit tricky to recall what time she went to bed @ 6YO, but I think it was about 6.30, plus reading a book or two. What I wanted to say is that our golden rule (during term time) is that if DD cannot a) get up when needed; b) function properly; and c) be reasonably civil, then we put her bedtime back a bit until we reach the optimum new bedtime. This has worked well for us so far.

She takes after her dad, reasonably civil in the morning is not an option regardless of bedtime :o

We've been out all day she can't possibly still want to play and jump around yet she is

Thank you both for replying. I really don't know whatnot is she thinks she's missing. The reading thing worked for a while only now she says she doesn't want to. I go upstairs to find she's changed clothes or gone and got stuffed toys or god knows what. She's still awake now.

You have my sympathy; I am lucky that my girl has always needed her sleep. She still tends to fall asleep quickly, although does a lot more sneaking around after lights out nowadays!

My DS who was 6 in May is ready for a later bedtime. It can be anywhere from 7 to 8:30pm depending on the days mental and physical activity.

My friends DD is usually put to bed at 8 and often stays awake reading till 9pm, she was 6 in October last year.

DD1 is 6.2, officially her weekday bed time is 7.30 and at weekends it is 8.30. However, this is actually the time she is supposed to go upstairs, so bedtime is really between a quarter and half an hour after or however much she thinks she can string it out for

On a school day she gets up between 7 and 7.30.

Sometimes she argues as she goes up at about the same time as DD2 who is 2.7, but DD2 does have to get up for school and can have a ap.

DS is 8.10 and doesn't need as much sleep (he takes after me) his bedtimes are an hour later than DD1.

My DD is 7.9 and goes to bed at 7.30 in term time (closer to 8 in the holidays). She also needs to be up early - 6.15am in her case, otherwise she missed the school bus.

My DD has never needed much sleep (she stopped napping at 18 months old and used to sleep 8pm til 5am and manage to be sweetness and light all day without any signs of over-tiredness and no daytime nap from age 18 months til age 5 and a half or so) - prior to that she napped in the day but woke a lot at night.

Since she turned 6 she has needed more sleep, not less, weirdly. She doesn't necessarily know it herself though to be honest. She goes to sleep OK though within about 15 mins of being tucked in after shared stories with her brothers though, so we don't have the falling asleep problem I have a 2 year old who takes hours to fall asleep instead

Kids, like adults, can be genetically / naturally either night owls or larks, so it could be that early to bed, early to rise, doesn't suit your DD and she would do better getting the same number of hours of sleep say from 9pm to 8am, but unfortunately it is unlikely there is anything much you can do about that Monday to Friday! :( We are lucky all our kids seem to be larks, and for all getting up at 5am is a royal PITA it is basically better because we have to be up very early on a school day.

Oops, DD2 des NOT have to get up and can nap!

ds is 6 and had just been put to bed at 9pm as that is his bedtime on non-school nights

dd is 9 and her bedtime is 9.30pm on non-school nights

On school nights bedtime is 8pm for ds (6) and 8.30pm for dd (9)

well she is 8 I would put her to bed about 7:30-8pm on school night i dont know though I only have a 2yr old dd and a 4 months dd but I have an 8 yr old sister and thats the time sge goes 2 bed

My 5 yr old ds and 8 yr old dd both need somewhere between 10 and 11 hours per night.

mr tumble I never thought of that. She can be quite excitable and has trouble calming down sometimes. You raise a very good point about 9-8 being a better fit for her. I really think that is true. Dd2 would be asleep and she would be able to get that quiet time. School days are always such a rush maybe that's the trouble and she needs more time to wind down. Although as you pointed out its not exactly going to be possible with school and needing her up so early.

Thank you to all that have replied , it seems that most of your children at similar ages do have slightly more variable or later bed times. I view sleep as very important and was worrying about having her up too late at such a young age. Appears 7 o clock does appear to be on the early side.