Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Holidays

Use our Travel forum for recommendations on everything from day trips to the best family-friendly holiday destinations.

Flip

Original poster

Do you keep kids up late on holiday?

17 replies

Christmas78 · 09/10/2012 15:11

Title is it really! DC is a grumpy toddler so thought of depriving him of any sleep is a bit daunting but I know some people break the routine on holiday and I can see the potential benefits! What do you do? And does it work?

OP posts:

JeanBodel · 09/10/2012 15:30

I have never kept them up at night on purpose.

Sometimes they keep themselves up, for example when we go camping and they spend hours rolling around in their bedroom when in theory they should be fast asleep.

Or when we go self-catering, if it's been a long drive they arrive refreshed after a 3 hour sleep and bounce out of the car ready to party, regardless of the fact it's now 10pm.

It doesn't work for mine. They get horribly overtired and we usually end up driving them about the countryside for hours the next day so they can have a mid-afternoon nap.

noramum · 09/10/2012 16:16

We are more relaxed but hardly delay it by more than 1 hour.

DD is an early riser regardless how late the evening was. So I don't make myself any favour in allowing her to stay up late. She is just grumpy, won't nap or even entertain a rest and would crash in tears at 4pm latest.

We normally do self-catering but if we go out in the evening we have her showered and cleaned so it is just toilet and teeth brushing and bed.

SooticaTheWitchesCat · 12/10/2012 22:19

My girls have always stayed up late, not really late but 10 or 11. When they were younger they would sleep in the day, now they just tend to wake later.

The way I see it is it is my holiday too and I don't want to be going back at 7 or 8 every night. It has always worked out find for us and as we always have an apartment or villa we can have a couple of nights in where they can sleep early.

theoriginalandbestrookie · 12/10/2012 22:21

DS can cope more with late nights as he gets older, now he is 6 he will stay up to 10 most evenings.
When he was younger I found it worked ok if we alternated late nights, or if we took the buggy he would just crash in it ( not that we were mega late anyway)

HipHopOpotomus · 12/10/2012 22:25

Yes to the extent that they can cope with it. My 4yo is great at coping with late nights if we are out and about (mild Terminator gene there). And the toddler will sleep in bed, buggy or car seat when she is ready/in need. We all enjoy Having a different/ more erratic routine on holiday. And we slip right back into the routine when we need to.

ChippyMinton · 12/10/2012 22:25

If its Europe, I've successfully kept them on UK time. They will stay up later and sleep in later, without really noticing.

It's hard if other children are still up and about, and if it's still light outside.

HipHopOpotomus · 12/10/2012 22:26

But I don't keep them up late for the sake of it. I like my evenings to myself or with DP.

Inneedofbrandy · 12/10/2012 22:31

Yes because we're out eating and drinking late. the kids are running around with whatever friends they've made. When they were toddlers I would make them lie down on the bench seats they have in pubs and they would drop off.

I am very strict on routine usually, since they were 6wk to starting school they had a 6pm bedtime. Holidays are different and they catch up on sleep by sleeping later and sleeps in the car going places.

Hulababy · 12/10/2012 22:32

We have never really had a big routine thing, even when DD was tiny. On holidays she went to bed as and when fitted it with whatever we were doing. At 2y when we went to Florida and di the parks we were oftwn out late and DD just fell asleep when she was tired, but rarely early and normally late on. Same as most holidays. She's 10y now and it is the same for weekends and holidays.

helebear · 12/10/2012 22:45

Just got back from hol with 18 month old. I was all up for letting her stay up a bit later & going for early-ish dinners & letting her sleep in buggy or getting her home by 8ish. But in reality she was so tired after a day of exciting new things that she was really ready for her dinner, bath & bed at the normal time. So we ended up having nice lunches out all together & putting her to bed at 7ish & stocking up on wine & nice cheese etc to nibble in the evening.

TodaysAGoodDay · 12/10/2012 22:46

I always keep DS up an hour or so later in the holidays, and on Fri and Sat nights. It just means he sleeps through till around 8.30 rather than 7.30, it could almost count as a lie-in
My friend tried this with her DS, he still got up at 6! Some it works for, others it doesn't, I hope yours works.

sunnyday123 · 13/10/2012 14:10

We always go to hotels with loads of entertainment and that normally only starts about 8:30pm and lasts a couple of hours. Usually my dds stay up til around 11pm (theyre 5&7). When they were younger id put them to bed for an hour around 5pm (given most hotels only serve tea after 7 anyway). That way they'd last longer at night.

I feel sorry for the kids who hav to go to bed early as they miss out on all the fun that many hotels lay on specifically for them.

SecretSquirrels · 14/10/2012 11:34

I never did when they were very little, we would eat early or get takeaways and put the children to bed.
I confess I am very judgy about people with babies and toddlers out in bars late at night. I have seen toddlers sobbing with tiredness while parents drink /watch adult entertainment.
Aged five plus they can cope with the odd lateish night but I'd draw the line at about 9pm.

My problem now is that my teenagers can stay up later than me .

D0oinMeCleanin · 14/10/2012 11:41

Yes. Mine have always coped very well with it. Dd2 does not sleep in any time zone. Ever.

Last holiday she was still on dance floor boogie-ing away when the rest of us were ready for bed. Dd1 will just sit quietly somewhere when she gets tired. Neither of them have ever cried or become upset from tiredness. Dd2 in particular was devastated when we went to Los Christianos and everywhere family friendly closed at midnight, she is used to Turkey where she can party into the wee hours of the morning, she'll still be up, at our bedside chirping "Mammy, the sun is awake, it's time to go 'wimmin' now' at daft o clock in the morning.

lljkk · 14/10/2012 11:43

More like they keep me up, sigh.

ScorpionQueen · 14/10/2012 12:02

When DD was a toddler I encouraged a siesta and took a pushchair out so we could stay out. Then we would read and drink wine on the balcony.

beanandspud · 22/10/2012 21:55

Secretsquirrel I was the same and very judgy about grumpy and overtired babies and toddlers out in restaurants late at night. We always used to stay in a villa so that DS went to bed at his usual time and we got a bit of time to ourselves.

This year was the first time that he stayed up late (he's 4) but he still slept 12 hours most nights so 9pm to 9am. If he had been waking early we would have gone back to early bedtimes as he's no fun when he's tired.

Flip