my next question

when you take the babies out (bbq's, gatherings, weddings...) do you make sure you are home to put them to bed in time? i always tell dh that we have to be home to get them ready for bed, and he - and others - say, "oh they'll be ok" or "one time up later won't hurt anything." i still, however, stick to the schedule, and refuse to break even for one day.

 

Every now and then we will stay past a bedtime. It usually does not effect them. I figure they need to get use to the unexpected.

 

I break the schedule occasionally just so they learn to be a little more flexible. That way I can know that they will be okay to do it every now and then. Not very often though. We have a lifestyle that makes it hard to be in bed on time every night, like when Char has 4H.

 

A few times, maybe once a month, I'll let them stay up past their bedtime but not by too much. Like normally I give them dinner at 5, bath by 530-545 bed by 630-7 but I might do dinner at 6, bath 630 and bed 730. I try not to do too much later, maybe 8 the latest for bed.
I get paranoid because I dont like dealing with cranky babies.

 

I usually try to be home for bedtime, give or take a half hour or so. It does make socializing kind of difficult, since they go to bed at 7pm. We have tried to keep them up later, but they usually get pretty fussy and aren't any fun anymore.....

Depending on how long we plan on staying and how well we know the hosts, I may actually out them to bed at thier house. We just went to a BBQ at DH's college friend's place. Some of his old friends were in from out of town, and we really wanted to hang out. We brought both pack-n-plays and set them up in a bedroom and put the kids to bed at 7pm there. Then we were able to hang out till 11:30 or so, and then we put them in the carseats, broke down the p-n-p's, and left. They went right to sleep in thier cribs when we got home. It worked out pretty well.

 

i'm super serious about bedtime too, and def. dont like cranky babies!! BUT on the other hand I want the girls to beable to sleep in other places & get used to other environments so those times when we are out they dont throw a huge fit (cause then its just not fun for anyone....)
I am already paranoid about the 4th of july & staying the night at SIL house w/ the girls. Loud fireworks, not being at home, little nephews running around....UGH. Gives me anxiety even thinking about it....

 

Last summer when the girls were small they were much more intolerant of changes in their schedule. They'd get overstimulated easier and it was much more difficult for them to stay up late. This year they are much more flexible because they are older.

I guess my point is you know your kids best and if they can handle it and if it will make your life (evening?) harder to stay out late.

 

We are out with them during the day and their nap schedule definitely gets put to the wayside. We always have them to bed on time. It's like 7pm is the bed time and that's when mine need to go down, KWIM? We really don't have any flexibiliy there. It would be nice if we did. I say, if you can stretch them every now and again, go for it!

 

My boys don't usually allow me to let them stay up late. They whine & cry & throw a fit until they're laid down . I have brought PNPs & put them to sleep at others' houses, which they usually do fine with...but I hate the disruption they get from the PNP to the carseat to the crib, so we don't do it that often.

I'm also getting paranoid about 4th of July weekend, too, because we're going to our family's cottage. Noisy, lots of people, no AC, etc. We do have a hotel room, but I know their schedule is going to get a bit botched...although not by much because I'm pretty anal about it.

 

At that age we were quite precise because it seemed if one evening was off then the rest of the week was as well. I just figured there would be plenty of time to stay out late with them when they were older. Now we are still a bit limited because of Molly but we can stay out a few hours past everyones bedtime and not pay in crankiness.

 

Mine are hard to deal with if we are out after bed time. Like last night. We stayed out till 830 and both babies were very cranky.

 

We usually make sure that we are home close to there bedtime. Ours go to bed late compared to some their bedtime is at 8Pm. Depending on where we are they will go to sleep there then we transfer them to car seats and cribs when we get home.