Deviating from a fairly strict bedtime routine??

[Ohnonotuagain]

My 11 month old has a tried and tested bedtime routine which means he is in bed by 6 and just rolls over and goes to sleep. He has dinner, a bottle, bath, story time and then bed. I feel his relatively strict routine plays a large part in his sleep being very good.....

.....However......

I'm curious to hear from parents who have similar set bedtime routines how it works if for some reason you want to or need to keep your child awake longer resulting in the routine being messed up? For example, if in the summer we decide to have dinner out in our local pub's garden with baby in push chair this will obviously push his bed time much later and potentially mean we may have to skip the set routine.

(Can you tell that this nice weather has gone to my head?! ).

How does it work for you if you want to deviate?

I found that I my lo got older the more he was able to handle changes to his bedtime routine. I think at 11 months though, he still didn't handle being 'stretched' very well and would get grumpy and tired. He was definitely more resilient to change once he was around 18 months. If your lo naps routinely - I'd recommend a tweak to the naps to try and counter a slightly later night. That would sometimes work for my lo when they were very little.

I'm just ever so slightly amazed jealous that you have your 11 month old in bed and going to sleep by themselves at 6.. Do they sleep through all night?
Also have an 11 month old and although bed time is generally around the same time every night he is fed to sleep and still wakes several times a night.. Last night he went down at 730 woke at 1 fed until 140 then slept until about 545 when he fed and then wanted to be up for the day but that was an incredibly good night for him. In saying that if we are out he will happily fall asleep in his pram and as he is usually awake every few hours he copes fine with just being out down in his cot later (as I said though he doesn't also through the night anyway)

Dd was very much like yours and I patted myself on the back for it once da1 came along I realised a lot of it was down to personality rather than routine and that after three dc I’ve realised they are all so very different.
Dd like I said was like yours, she was down at half 6 and slept well generally all night although occasionally up for a drink but straight back down again. She would have happily stayed awake later if our for dinner and was smiley and chirpy company and been back in routine the next night. Ds1 was a totally different child he had a switch in him that turned him off at 7pm on the dot but if I took him out he’d be grumpy and a royal pain in the bum for about an hour before if he wasn’t at home.
Ds2 has never ever been an early bedder even at nearly 9 his preferred method would always be a later bedtime, a long lie and an afternoon nap and no amount of begging, pleading or sleep training has changed that.

Your dd may quite happily stay up a little later and I don’t think it does any harm to be flexible. I’d probably put her in jammies or something comfortable to go out in case she falls asleep while you are out though so you can pop her in bed.

Aria2015 He does get grumpy towards the end of the day when I'm cooking his dinner which is why I'm not sure it'll really work to try to stretch it much longer. He currently only has one nap a day, in the morning, but it's a good length of time. Even that being delayed can make him grumpy though so I don't think i have that much leeway with that right now. I think you're probably right in that as he gets older he will cope with adjustments better.

@Smurf123 - Yes, he sleeps till around 6.30am in the morning so I am VERY lucky. Sometimes I will hear him stirring on the monitor but he just 're shifts his position and then settles back to sleep again. He used to be a terrible sleeper and wake every one to two hours through the night but at about 9 months we stuck with this sleep routine and did gentle controlled crying (he actually barely cried) and he's been an amazing sleeper ever since. This is why I put it down to the repetitive routine he has, its like he knows what's going to happen, and how its bedtime, and he knows that when he wakes up I will be there. He's much much more settled and happier since I stopped feeding him to sleep and through the night.

I think because I appreciate I'm very lucky with his sleep in scared to rock the boat even though as the summer comes it would be nice to be able to be out with my DH enjoying the evening sunshine.

Might be too late now but it's helpful if you've got your child into the habit of sleeping happily in their buggy. Large comfortable buggy, large sunshade canopy and soft blanket.

We would let them sleep in the buggy if we were out - reclined of course. Makes holidays easier, and were fortunate to travel a fair amount - they literally slept through an earthquake in it (ok only a 5.2)

My DS had a very strict routine but was fine on the odd occasion we deviated it for a late night, with one terrible exception when he woke much earlier than usual, we were staying with friends and he woke at 5am, being very loud, woke everyone up & just wouldn’t go back to sleep, my friends were so kind, the DH went off for a run at about 5.30 saying ‘it’s great to be able to get out early & exercise’ . Fortunately we are still great friends & laugh about it now, 18 years later.

If I deviate it all goes to shit, (and they never, ever just roll over and go to sleep like the op) so I don't. Instead I take the flack from my husband who says my lack of flexibility ruins his family's relationship with our children and generally stops all fun. But he's not the one trying to put over tired children to bed and still have the energy to earn a living once they are asleep.

He does sleep ok in his buggy so I could try getting him basically ready for bed but then putting him in the buggy instead, he won't be able to roll onto his front and sleep like he does in a cot but he may be chilled out enough to either sleep or after being pushed 5 mins down the road sleep.

I suppose I wont know until I try it, I just hope hell doesn't break loose but if we do try it with our local pub (which has a beautiful garden unlike mine which is tiny and in shade after 3pm all read round!) then we are only 5 mins walk away to go home if need be. Won't be till the summer anyway but this nice weather has got me thinking and gives me time to poss make small adjustments.