So DD and DS still take a 2-hour nap in the afternoon, ask to go to sleep at 7:30~8:00pm, fall asleep right away, but each morning DS is waking up earlier and earlier. DH was up with him at 5:45am this morning instead of the old 7:00am. When DS wakes up he sits at the edge of his bed screaming "I'm awake...wake up" because he is still afraid to get out of bed when the room is dark, so he wakes up the entire house. DD is a sleepy head and could stay in bed until 10:00am if we let her and being woke up this way makes her crabby. I keep trying to explain to DH that we need to eliminate the afternoon nap or give them a later bed time, but he "likes" the quiet time and is fighting me on this issue yet gets upset when DS wakes early. I tell him he can't have his cake and eat it too, but he wants it all and that is not going to happen. My mom keeps saying she kept us up until 10:00pm so we would sleep in until 9:00am and my sister says she puts my 5-year old nephew to bed around 8:30pm give or take 15 minutes. So what time do you put your kids to bed at night? I am trying to figure out how to handle this sleep situation in the best way for the kids and us.
Ours go down between 8:30-9pm. We don't have to worry about getting up early. They usually wake around 8am.
For the past two years mine go to bed between 7 & 7:30 (asleep & quiet w/in 15 or 20 minutes) and wake between 6:30 & 7. Those times have been consistent since they were 2.5--- DD1 dropped naps at 3, DD2 still naps occasionally. They do take a rest time from 1:30-2:30 but at 5 , rarely sleep. DD1 needs about 10-11 hrs of sleep and DD2 needs 10.5- 11.5 of sleep.... so it works out well. DH and I LOVE our evenings so we are pretty firm on bedtime, on occasion we have let them stay up later....they get up at the same time!! So that backfires. At times, we get grief for the early bedtime, but it works for us since DH gets home early (5) and we eat at 5:30- plenty of after dinner time to hangout and play.
Mine are in bed by 7:30 and probably fall asleep closer to 8:00-8:30pm. They only get a one hour nap. Maybe you can try cutting down the nap first to one hour?
Since we're not getting up early for daycare right now, ours go to bed about 8 depending on the day, mood, etc. Tonight they were in bed before 8 because they were CRABBY lol. They sleep pretty good too, usually 8 or so. They do not always take naps... Like others have said, I enjoy a couple of hours in the evening to myself
My girls are 2 years old and 2 months and now go into bed between 7:45-8pm, but go to actual sleep at around 8:30- 8:45pm... They wake up anywhere between 6:30 and 7am and I just make it a rule to not get them until 7am. BUT... ugh... this morning one woke up at 4:30 screaming for her lovey, then again at 5:45am....I could not calm her down so I took her downstairs with me to sit in the dark cuddled on the couch while I had coffee and read the paper. I did not let her watch tv, or have milk. I did not turn on lights.... Because I while I did enjoy snuggling with her, I could not let her think that was a normal thing! They still take one nap during the day. I think they take a longer nap with me than with daycare, but I will just let them sleep
My girls go to bed at 8:00pm (usually asleep by 8:30pm) & wake around 7:00am. They still nap 2 - 3 hours every afternoon. Once they shorten or drop their nap though, we'll be moving their bedtime back to 7:00pm. We prefer having more time in the evening.
My kids go to bed at 8:00 during the summer (was more like 7:30 this winter). They wake up around 6:45-7:00 a.m. They take a 1.5-2 hour nap at 1 p.m.
My twins go to bed around 9:30-10 every night, and sleep until 9-10am in the morning. This is how we prefer it and I've done it with all my kiddo's. My hubby works until 7pm, so we eat supper about 7:15 as a family, then it gives us plenty of time for bath's and playing before bedtime. Hubby and i are night owls so we are usually up until midnight, sometimes later, so we get plenty of quiet time after the kids go to bed. During the school year my older kids go to bed at 8-8:30 and the twins go to bed at 9:30. You are right that your hubby can't have his cake and eat it too He's either gonna have to give a bit on the naps, or on bedtime, or continue getting up at the crack of dawn every morning Kids only need so much sleep, and as they get older, they'll need less and less sleep. Our naps are a little funky right now, sometimes they take one, sometimes they don't. But, I'm willing to keep them up later, so they sleep later, and take naps as a "we'll see" thing each day. It works for us
My two are in bed between 8-8:30 and usually up by 8 (unless it's a school day, then they are up by 7:15)...naps are hit or miss around here but they either get nap between 1-4 or quiet time during those hours...just depends on the day and what we have going on.
My boys are 3 1/2 and dropped their naps around the age of 3. They go to bed at 7:00 and wake between 7:30-8:00. ETA:. I had the same problem. If they took a nap, they would be awake until 9:00-9:30. At the time I did not care because they were still in cribs so they would just talk. Now with them being in toddler beds, on the days they can't fall asleep, I can hear them playing and going into each others bed.
When my girls where here, they went down no later then 8. Their first year of preschool, they were in bed by 7:30. My girls have always been up by 7...8 at the latest. We would go through spells of them getting up before 6, but I would tell them it wasn't time to get up and they would either get in bed with me or go back to their own bed. Instead of eliminating the nap altoghether, you could just make it shorter. Instead of 2 hours, just let them sleep 1 or maybe an hour and a half. That may be a good compromise. ETA: For what it's worth, my girls gave up all naps at 11 months.
Thanks for all the advice ladies. I think you all are on the same thought path as I am about reducing or eliminating the nap. When I was working from home I loved nap time because I could get work done during the day instead of into the late hours of the night. However, my boss cut our hours and no more work from home until the fall at least so I find myself doing odd tasks during nap time and then sometimes getting bored while I wait for them to wake up. Now I just have to convince DH . He is a teacher and his summer vacation starts next week, so I think we will make some slow changes then. I don't think he wants to be getting up at 5:30am all summer.
yeah for some reason I still like the kids to nap too... but our bedtime for them seems to be well after 9p. seems like there's always something else fun to do at night... UGH! yet for naps ours seem to take a little while to actually get to sleep, we do see that our dd really needs the naptime, and she will fall asleep sooner, and if we take our ds out of the room for a little while he will eventually get tired too. but then we're at late bedtimes. most of the time ours wake between 6:30a and 7:15a. if it's any earlier I just tell them it's not 7a and they need to go pee and go back to sleep.
Mine still nap from 1-3:30 or 4p and are in bed by 7-7:30 but usually fall asleep closer to 8p. Nap time is a must around here so if they don't "sleep" they are still in their beds playing quietly, I don't see this ending any time soon. Mine get up at 7-7:30am.. Good luck!
wow!! I'm jealous!! the whole part about them sleeping so much... AND especially that they play quietly in bed... wow, so interesting how kids are different. good for you! Mine were great nappers and to bed timely until a few months ago.
Mine haven't been napping for about 2 years. They go to bed at 7.00/7.15 pm and wake between 6.30/7.00 am. That works fine for us since my oldest (and myself) get on the school bus at 7.15 am so we wake up at 6.30 am. This August the twins will start "big school" / Primary Year 1 so they also have to get on the bus and with 5 full dayes and a 40 min bus ride on both ends, starting to read, write and being the youngest in their class, they'll pretty much be exhausted and need to go to bed at 7.00 pm.
