What time does your 4/5 year old actually get to sleep?

[Dancergirl]

I mean get to sleep not go to bed. Dd is 5 (today!) and I put her to bed around 7.30/7.45pm. We have a good bedtime routine - bath or wash, toilet, teeth, pjs, stories, lights out. But she often stays awake till much later, sometimes 9pm.

I can hear her playing, talking, getting toys out, dressing dolls/bears etc in bed. But what can I do? I can't insist on no toys in bed or stand there all evening watching over her.

Oh and she's tired in the morning for school too, although she's normally ok once up and dressed/breakfast etc.

My oldest dd also seems to have a naturally late body clock, could it be she is just the same?

I put mine in bed 6.45 ish, we read and lights out is 7pm. I couldn't imagine them being up until 9pm and am actually a bit cats bum mouth about the neighbours kids being up screaming til after I go to bed sometimes! But tbf the neighbours daughter is in the same year at school as dd and manages fine

We do occassionally have very late nights and they tolerate it well, but a run of two later nights in a row leads to them being grumpy, snappy and generally unpleasant.

7.30 - 8.00

mine goes to bed about 7.15, and is usually asleep by 7.30-7.45. she chooses whether to keep her lamp on to read or play with dolls in bed. on the odd occasion that she's still awake at 7.45 one of us goes up and gives her a 5 minute warning for lights out, and she's always asleep by 8pm.

Between 7 and 7.30pm DS1(4.10y) falls asleep. He will play after his bedtime stories from DH and myself (we each read him a story) and then he gets some time to play on his own or do a jigsaw (around 1hr). He'll often ask 'is it my bedtime yet?' and other times he'll just get himself into bed and fall asleep without saying a word!

We start bathtime at 5.30pm and then just have a relaxed time of it with getting PJs on, reading stories and then he gets time to himself before falling asleep. It works well because from 7pm we do usually get peace and quiet!

DS is in bed at 7, and asleep by 7.15. The rule is the light goes out and you are lieing down in bed, mouth shut, eyes shut.

At the moment DS (aged 5, in Yr1) seems particularly knackered so has tended to be asleep by around 7pm, usually latest 7.30. He's been sleeping until 7am.

I tend to start putting him and his 3yr old sister to bed at about 6pm if they're having a bath, bit later if it's just a case of brushing teeth and into pjs before stories.

DD is just turned 4 and is asleep by 6- 6.30pm every night.

It's very slowly getting earlier. We've managed to get from around 12-1am (at about x-mas time) to anywhere between 9:30pm and 11pm. These days on average it's about 10pm when her eyes eventually shut and she gives up.

Bedtime is 8pm.

My DD is 5 next month. Bedtime is 7pm, and like yours she has a bedtime routine ending with stories in bed. Then we get an hour or so of need a poo, need a drink etc etc. The other night she was still awake at 11pm (having been up there since 7pm) and more often than not it is 9pm- 10pm before she finally goes off.

In the morning, if it is a weekend or a non-school day she wakes up at 7ish. On a school day we have to wake her up and drag her out of bed at about 8.20. It is driving me mad.

DS1 turned 4 in October and goes to sleep at 7pm. Straight to sleep.

8pm was always bed time here.
That's the earliest DD1 would go to bed from toddlerdom onwards. Any earlier and she wasn't, bounced up and was generally a pain and ended up getting wound up. Then it was gone 9 before she'd calm down.
Bed at 8 and she'd be a sleep very quickly.

DD2 just does what DD1 does, refuses totally to be 3 years younger.
Pity because I'm sure she would have been a sensible 7-7.30 normal child if she'd been the oldest.

Dd 4.7, if she goes to bed at 7 she will still be awake gone 9pm. If she goes 7.30 we have quick story then asleep within 5 mins. Less sleep she has, earlier she wakes. All very random, but now we 'get' it, tis easier to predict!!

My DS is very nearly 4, i put him to bed at 7:30 and he is normally asleep by about 8:00 Though we make sure he goes to bed at exactly the same time every day and we use an alarm to wake him up at 7:00 every morning, if he lies in on one morning, the next night he can't get to sleep.

Sounds as if your child has a later body clock. Nothing to worry about, maybe you could try putting them to bed later e.g. 8:00/8:30, see if it makes a difference, if it doesn't it may just be it takes a while for them to settle/feel sleepy. You could also try the alarm clock trick making sure they wake up at exactly the same each day even on weekends, to ensure there body clock gets used to the routine you are trying to create. Besides that i can't think of anything else you could do, you are doing all the right stuff, such a bath etc.

Bed at 7.45, bedtime settling, I leave at 7.50, he's asleep within minutes.

I do not ever turn on the light in the bedroom. After settling, I turn on the bathroom light and turn out the one on the landing so that while there is some light, it is quite dim in his room. If I turn on the bedroom light at all, it takes him ages to go to sleep.

Maybe try a reward chart if she stays in bed quietly?

I disagree that you 'can't' say no toys. It's bedtime, not playtime.

ds (4.6) goes to sleep very soon after lights out which is at 7.30 normally - minutes really because I go back in to turn his night light off and he's out by 7.35. After story I turn on his cd player and he listens to stories, he's asked me to stay with him a few times and he rarely survives the first story!

dc5 bed 6.15, story, asleep by 6.45