What time is bed time for your toddler

[Orissiah]

Hello,

This is a question just for those of you who always used to put your babies and toddlers to bed at 7pm...

At what age were your LOs when you shifted bedtime to later - eg to 7.30pm?

Did it affect their wake up time too?

My 16 month old LO is shattered by 7pm so that is her bed time and she wakes (when not teething) around 6.30am. This suits us perfectly.

But I would like to think I can put her to bed at 7.30pm at some point in the next year as I only have an hour with her when I come home. I would only put her to bed at 7.30pm if she can last that long so hence my question.

Just curious...

at around 18 months we started to put DS2 to bed at 7:30, so that the time matched his big brother. They now both go upstairs at 7ish, in bed by 7:30 ish, sometimes they stay up late. We're not 'routine' people so they go upstairs whenever we feel that they are tired. It really depends on the child, DS1 dropped his pm nap at nearly 3.5, and DS2 is not sleeping in the afternoons now and he's 2.5.

My 20 month old still goes to bed at 7 because he's tired then. DD was always 7.30 and still is at 5. I think you can just be led by the child really to an extent.

My DS is 2.5 goes to bed at 8pm, is up at 7ish and has a two hour nap in the day. This works really well for us, however, if the nap goes wrong he goes to bed earlier.

when toddlers all mine were in bed between 7.30 and 8 o'clock (I allowed myself a 1/2 leeway) I have got a friend whose Dcs are in bed by 6.30 (toddler + infant school age) and others whose children do not go to bed until their parents do (11 ish)

Now WRT putting your Dc in bed a bit later than you used to so you can enjoy her more is a nice idea. I think she might be a bit grumpy maybe for a few days until she adjusts to a new routine but I do not think it will be bad for her and most importantly she probably will enjoy the extra time with you.

Thanks Gorionine. I need to try it and see I guess. My DH and I have to be up in the morning by 6.30am on a weekday in order to get to work so she has to be up at 6.30am too. If I push her bedtime back to 7.30am but she still has to be up by 6.30am then I am depriving her of sleep. But then I guess I could give her a later bedtime on a Friday and at weekends so if she will then she can sleep a little later....

I am just being selfish because in the week I want to spend just a little more time with her (but I cannot leave work earlier than I am).

I guess I just need to give it time...

my DD used to go to bed at 7, she's now just turned 3, she watches Maggie and the ferocious beast and when that finishes she knows its bed time (about 7.45) , she never sleeps in the day anymore, she stopped that way before she turned 2. She wakes up about 7.
I like having a routine at bedtime,makes things so much easier, well for us anyway.

I see it in a similar light as when you go on holiday, you cannot always stick to a very strict routine. You are talking 1/2 hour difference over the whole day I personaly do not think it is major ,but then I have never tried to maintain a very strict routine, precisly to avoid mega crises when things do not go according to plan. Does she have naps in the day (that could possibly be extended if you see she is really too tired?).

My (uneducated guess is that it will not be traumatic for her.

She naps just 30 mins at the childminders as there is always so much going on there that she never wants to sleep (unlike the other children there who all nap). At home in the weekends she naps 1.5 hours or so!

I am going to take a chill pill and see how it goes :-) I don't need to shift her bedtime yet - but will do so perhaps next year some time. It will be so fun having her up with me an extra bit of time once she is chattering away and we can snuggle on the sofa with a book and CBeebies.

Right now it's home, bath, bottle, book, bed by 7 as she is shattered! She needs her sleep but next year I will try and push her to a little later.

My 15mth old DD goes to bed around 7.30.

Our bedtime routine is alittle flexible deoneding on how tired she is and how many naps she has had that day.

an example-

7pm Tidy up time.- All toys go away in her toy box. She is suprisingly enthusiastic about doing this and says goodnight to her toys.
She runs to the stairs shouting bath!
Then upstairs for bathtime. Bath for approx 15/20mins (again depends how tired she is)
Brush teeth- All 2 of them, bless her!

Then its pj's on, and a bottle of milk with a cuddle.

Not sure what you bedtime routine is but the bath helps make the time abit later. DD loves the bath so shes perfectly happy.

I agree you could try it on the weekends and see how she goes. You may be suprised that she can last that bit longer- especially if she playing with you. I understand about you wanting to see her more in the evenings. Im a SAHM but DH notices the time difference if hes had to stay late that night.

DS1 who is 2.1 is ready to go upstairs for bed at 6pm (he sits on the bottom stair waiting for us), has a bath and story and light is out by 6.45pm. He is a total creature of habit which has its good and bad points. that is him asleep until 6.30am

DS2 who is 14months is also in the same routine.

if anything, DS1 has brought his own bedtime forward by about 15-20mins since he was about 18months old cos he was so tired he wanted him bath and story.

My 2.5 year old used to just stay up and go t bed when I did around 11pm. She'd then sleep in til' 10am.

Now she's at nursery we get up at 8am, so she falls asleep every night around 8-9pm and still wakes up refreshed between 8-9am.

My 4 month old has slept through the night from 9pm to 9am LITERALLY every night since birth, perhaps waking up once in the night for a feed (breastfed).
Before you think, "Urban Myth!" or "Lucky Cow!", my 2.5 year old took 9 MONTHS to sleep thruogh the night and prior to that woke regularly on the dot every two hours! so I consider this baby's sleep habits my reward!

I suppose parents set children's bedtimes to fit in with their requirements (ie one or both partners have to get up early for work) or they want 'me time' from 7pm onwards. My own idea was that for 4 years I'm sacrificing my life completely over to my children's demands and needs, everything's been baby-led ; sleep, feeding, weaning.
They're so far well-adjusted, alert, bright, happy and healthy, so I see no reason to disprove one theory of parenting over another. I have 'milkmonster' babies, they're all mine, not Gina Ford's or anyone elses!

my toddler went to bed at 7pm-7:30pm till he was 2 (slept till 6:30am) now he is nearly 3 he goes to bed at 8:30 and sleeps till 7:30am

My toddler goes to bed at just before 7 and is asleep by 7.30 ish, wakes at 7 ish and has a 2-3 hr nap in the day - which at 28 ish weeks pregnant is most welcomed by me !