What time does your 2yo go to bed?

[BabCNesbitt]

DD is 2 and a bit, and due to our current evening routines, she's not been falling asleep until nine at the earliest most evenings. Usually one of us gives her a bath after dinner (start running bath around 7.45), then she'll have a couple of stories, she'll BF for a few minutes, then if that hasn't put her to sleep, one of us (usually DH) will pat and sing to her. But sometimes this means that DH isn't getting back to the living room until after 10pm!

I've said that we need to be doing everything earlier, so that she can have a bath at 7 and get into bed and (ideally) asleep by 8 at the latest. DH objects to this - he says that (a) she'll be even more work to get to sleep earlier in the evening, and (b) she'll wake up earlier in the morning (she usually awakes between 7 and 7.30am). I think she's getting overtired and that's why it's hard for her to fall asleep, and frankly I'd like to have my DH's company for more than half an hour in the evening!

So what time do your 2-year-olds go to bed? And will getting her to bed earlier make things easier or harder, do you think?

DD is 2.4. We have dinner at around 530-6, then quiet time reading and watching tv 6-630 and brush teeth and run the bath at 630. 10 mins or so in the bath then into pjs and read story in bed. No milk, we stopped that about 18 months as she was outpeeing her nappies and having to go back to bathroom to brush teeth woke her up again (i know that's less of a necessity with bfing) Lights out around 7 and she's normally asleep in 10 mins and sleeps til 7-8am. We don't stay with her while she goes to sleep. I like having time in the evening to myself, I would hate a 9pm bedtime!

My DD is 2. She's in bed by 7 and asleep by 7.30 the latest. She sleeps until 6.30 or 7.

DS is 2.1, he goes to bed 830-9.30 and conks straight out. He can wake anywher between 6.30-8.30.
DH wolrks from home random/all hours, I work afternoons/evenings, so we share getting up early/going back to bed for another kip.

DS would NEVER go to bed at 7.30. I live in Spain and to me that is laughably early!

The dc gave their tea around 5-5.30
Upstairs for bath about 6.30
Stories, milk about 7
Lights out around 7.30

If both of us are in we settle one child each, if not we seted dd first whilst ds (5) plays quietly in his room.

Almost 2. Bed by 1800 and she sleeps till 0700. That's with a two-three hour nap in the afternoon after nursery.

22 months. Tea around 5pm. DH gets home 530-6pm and then sits with DS watching nursery rhymes/books etc. ITNG at 630pm whilst I prepare milk/bath et. Up to bed when Igglepiggle & co go to sleep. Massage/book etc then milk around 7pm. Usually asleep by 730pm. DS wakes early, always has done, so that can be any time around 530-6am. Even when we're in Italy and he goes to sleep at 9, he will still wake up early.

Personally I much prefer DS to be asleep by 730pm. I like my evening with DH, having dinner and being able to watch tv together. Hate it when we're in Italy and family pressure means he goes to bed later. By the time he's asleep my evening has gone.

DS is 2.3.

Asleep between 9.30 and 10pm. Wakes between 7 and 8am (but still doesnt reliably sleep through the night). We're in France and a bedtime before 8.30-9pm is rare here.

Would like him to be asleep earlier but I dont get home from work til 7.30pm and he seems to need at least 1-2 hours with me before I can even attempt to get him to sleep.

All my French friends had toddlers who fell asleep at 10-11pm. Only when they started school (aged 3) did this get earlier.

Trial and error has led us to our current routine - bath, then dinner around 6.30-7pm, then into living room with us for the evening (playing/cuddling/helping us eat our dinner...!) then teeth and pyjamas, bedtime story and sleep

Atm its taking DS a good 20-40mins to fall asleep once in bed which is frustrating. But he's always been a bad sleeper so in a way I've given up and just accept it.

Bath at 6.40. Story at 7. Bed 7.05. Asleep by 7.30. Wakes at 6am but that's fine as that's when we need to get up for work.

DS has just turned 2 and usually goes to bed at 7.00pm and wakes up around 6.30am-7.00am.

DS2 is 2.6. Tea at 5-5.30ish, then milk and chill out on front of cbeebies until 6.15- 30ish, then all upstairs, bath, stories, songs, I leave room at 7-7.15ish and he's usually asleep soon after I've left the room. sleeps until 6-6.30am.

Does she still have a daytime nap? She might be ready to drop it if she's up till nine. My 2.7 yr old goes up at seven, and when hasn't had any daytime sleep, is asleep by half past. If he has slept, then is up till 8.30-9.

DS is 3 now but our routine has always been dinner at 5-5.30pm, bath between 6-6.30pm, in bed for 7-7.30pm, sleeping by 8pm at latest & he sleeps till 7.30am.

Your wee one sounds overtired. A 9pm bedtime sounds very late IMO, when she starts going to nursery she'll be knackered the next day if she's not going to bed till 9pm. I cherish my evenings with the TV & a glass of wine too much to let mine stay up any later!

My DS is on almost the exact timings you want to move to! Roughly speaking we do dinner at 6-6.30 book/TV time 6.30-7.00 bath at 7 (every other day) bed at 7.30 on a bath day and about 7.15 on a non bath one. DS is generally asleep by 8 at the latest and wakes at about 7 most days

Wow that's really late for a 2yr. However I do know plenty of people in exactly the same position as you.

Supper: 5:30 - 6:00pm
Play / TV till bath 6:30/ 45 give or take
7 / 7:15 PJ's, teeth and story.
Then we leave DD to play / read in her bed. Generally asleep by 7:30 however sometimes it's 8pm!

Recently quite a bit of 'Mummy, I have purple frogs on my ceiling'
'I need more milk' 'I need a pooooo' etc but nothing major, just messing about.

During the week, 1 story only at the weekend 2. However DH is utterly rubbish at sticking to this as DD has him wrapped round her finger

We have a nightlight with turns from pink to green at 7am, DD only gets up after it's turned green. Took 3 days to get her used to it. Best £30 I've spent in ages

Forgot to add, DD is 2yrs, 10months.

ds is 2.9 years and has been going to bed by 7pm since 5 months and sleeps through til about 6:30/7. He has always self settled though so once hes in bed thats im off (or was until he went into a big bed and potty training!). I dont have any advice on how to do any of this (and im sure dc2 is going to punish me) but if ds goes to bed late/tired he is a screaming mess and the whole process takes a lot longer and is very stressful!

Thanks for all your replies - they'll be useful ammunition examples when I try to persuade DH to try the earlier bedtime. Oh, what luxury a 7.30 bedtime would be...

Get your DH to think of it this way...you'll have the evenings together with your DC !

Also you need to give it several days and I'm sure your DC will pick up the new routine. Just don't give up. I kept putting my DD back to bed until 7am, even if it was 6:50am..she soon worked it out.

Good luck!

8.30/9 pm. They have an afternoon nap and sleep until 8/9 am

She has her tea 4/4.30. Play til 6, bath, bowl of porrodge or crumpets, cup.of milk, story in her cot and lights out at seven. Her natural wake time is 8.30am, however on morning she needs to go to the CMs we have to wake her at seven.

She has a lunchtime nap (1.5-2 hrs) every other day.

We eat our dinner after she is in bed.

My DS was always in bed by 7pm from the day we bought him home from hospital until he was about 8 years old . At 2 he would also have an afternoon nap for 2-3 hours. Blissful memories. (Stopped bedtime milk around 1 year old).

Captain have you got a link for your night light?

DD is 27 months. Whether she goes to bed at 9pm or 7:30pm, she still wakes between 7-7:30am so I'd definitely start the bedtime routine sooner.

We found that our routine crept later and later in the summer as it was so nice and we stayed later and later at the local park. However, I missed my evenings and DD is noticeably happier the more sleep she's had so we've made an effort to move things back again.

Dinner is usually 5:30/6pm and then we read stories on the couch and head upstairs around 6:45pm. Quick bath, into pyjamas and then stories until 7:30/7:45pm. My goal is always to be downstairs with her settled for 8pm, meaning DH and I get some time together.

Things that worked for us include a clock that goes green in the morning when it's time to get up and effectively shutting her in her bedroom. She didn't used to be able to open the door but now can and has just gone through a phase of running out of her room (she's in a bed). Now one of us sits outside her door if she's playing this game and after she's opened it once or twice, she gets bored and does go to bed.

"My goal is always to be downstairs with her settled for 8pm, meaning DH and I get some time together."

That sounds blissful. We tried getting her into bed with stories for 7.30pm tonight. DH is currently upstairs singing and patting - it's ten to nine here.