Is your 3 year old still awake at 10pm or later?

[katalex]

Dd (3.8 years) has never had a regular sleeping pattern but it seems to be getting worse. She's often still awake at 10pm, sometimes later. At least once a week she will fall asleep in the car on the way home from mum's around 6pm (I work full time) and stay asleep until 6 or 7am. Other days she'll have a short nap in the car but most of the time she can stay awake from 7am til 10pm. I don't know how she does this.

It's not really a problem at the moment but I'm worried she'll do this when she goes to school next September. I plan to change my hours so I can pick her up from school so she won't get that nap/sleep on the way home. Do you think she'll be so tired after school that I'll be able to put her to bed earlier?

some children need less sleep than others The fact that she often falls asleep in the car suggests, however that she is not getting enough sleep.

What kind of bedtime routing does she have? What is she doing between 8pm and 10pm?

She doesn't have any bed time routine other than a story. I try to get her to bed by 9pm. We generally have dinner around 7pm and it takes her over an hour to actually eat it and that's with me helping her (plus she takes forever to chew each mouthful). I don't limit her time because she doesn't eat much and I like to make sure she has a good dinner.

I think she is going to bed too late at 9pm. My son is the same age and he is in bed and asleep at 7.30pm. Yes he could stay up later, but then he wouldnt be getting enough sleep and would be over tired.

Sounds like she is overtired is she is still up at 10pm.

Can she not have supper at your mums say at 5pm. Then when you get home, give her a bath and a story and pop her into bed at 7pm and then you guys have your supper when she is settled.

IF you start doing this then she will be more rested and stop staying up so late and not fall asleep in the car.

Have you tried giving her a main meal at lunchtime instead. ds is a rubbish eater in the evening, but will eat loads at lunch. that way she can have tea earlier (a sandwich or something light) say around 5pm. she wont be so tired, so wont take so long to eat it. also giving her tea at 5pm is means she can use the energy she gets from that meal until 7pm then put her to bed.
IMO feeding her at 7pm -8pm,she will be awake from the food she has eaten,hence not wanting to sleep until 10pm. iyswim.

ds1 is 4.5 and he goes to bed at 7pm (so does ds2) and they both need that 11 to 12 hr sleep...and we need our evenings!

the few times that he does protest we(dh and i) say we are going to bed and go and lie down for a cuddle...ds1 is asleep within 5mins.

ius your dd physically active enough during the day?, are you having to entertain her in the evenings?

if it was happening in our house i would shitch off all the lights and declare that it was bed time and see what reaction you get.

my children need about an hour to eat so we start at abou5 and then theres a top up of weetabix at about 10 to 7.

second the main meal at lunchtime idea. Good lunch at 12/1ish, snack at 3.30 or 4 and then a very light supper (carrot sticks, bit of cheese, toast etc) at 6.30 is what my ds does during the week.

We do have this problem on and off. Sometimes dd falls asleep if we are coming home in the car after 5 pm and as an experiment I have tried just putting her into bed. But she just gets up, raring to go at 4 am!! So if your dd sleeps though until 6-7 then it sounds like she really does need more sleep. If she has a nap at that time she will be up until 10 so it's soemthing I really try to avoid.

Dd often takes a while to get to sleep. We put her to bed at 8 after dinner at 5.45-6 (or 5.30 at CM) and she usually plays and/or sings (very loudly) for a while. Usually less than 30 mins but more often than I would like it can go to 9 or even 10 or *shudder 11.

So I would recommend as pps, earlier dinner and no napping so late in the car. We find the later in the day the nap, the worse the bedtime. Like you we don't really mind only I worry that dd doesn't get enough sleep.

i will third the main meal at lunchtime thing and light tea instead - my 4yo DT's go to nursery full time, and have their lunch at 11.30 which is their main meal, and then sandwiches at 3.30, we then give them yoghurt + biscuits, or fruit, or toast when we get in from work about half 5.

Up to bed just before 7, asleep at half past. They then wake about half 6/7 the next day....

At weekends, we used to turn this round - sandwiches at lunchtime and main dinner about 5 ish - they always messed about with dinner, and ate very little - so we have followed nurserys routine, but just give it slightly later and they are eating way more now and going to bed like proper little angles! (gloat gloat - don't worry my time will come, DC3 due in 2 months time!)

Sounds very sensible to give her a main meal at lunchtime.

I try to keep her talking all the way home to stop her from falling asleep in the car but sometimes she just flakes out. Hopefully if I can get her to sleep earlier in the evening, she won't be tired enough to sleep in the car.

Congratulations neeerly3! Hope all goes well.

You could look at it another way. If you don't get home from work until after 6pm, then putting your daughter straight to bed at 7pm would mean you never see her during the week.

Can she not have a nap during the day and then stay up a bit later at night, then at least you would be able to spend some time with her in the evenings. Perhaps if she has a bigger, carbohydrate-filled lunch as others have suggested, she would feel a bit sleepy in the afternoons and have a siesta.

Obviously, when she goes to school, that would all have to change but in the meantime I dont see any problem.