would earlier bedtimes help?

I used to be really good about getting the kids to bed by 8:00 every night. Then dh started working later & I let them stay up more so they could spend some time with him. Now it seems like bedtime is around 9:30!

They usually wake up between 6:30-7:00, so I thought they were getting enough sleep. But this week, every morning has been a nightmare! They wake up just in bad moods. This morning was soooo bad I finally just made them a little cozy spot on their little couch with pillows & blankets and let them watch Shrek.

I don't think I could function any earlier, so I'm nervous about moving bedtime back up b/c I'm afraid they'll start getting up at 5am! But they way they act in the morning, I'm starting to wonder if they need more sleep.

wwyd?

 

:hug: It's so hard when you want your kids to be able to see their daddy. But, I do find my kids really show it when I've let them stay up too late as well. One or two nights every-so-often is one thing...but my kids need an early bedtime just to make life doable!

 

Have you looked at Healthy Sleep Habits (Weissbluth) lately? He talks about exactly this situation, and I think he would say that you definitely need an earlier bed time and that they're more likely to sleep a little later in the morning than otherwise. Could you try it for a week and see whether things smooth out?

 

I definitely need to tweak our sleeping habits here also but I am waiting til after Daylight Savings Time. I'm not sure what DST will do to their sleep habits so I'll make my adjustments then.

 

QUOTE(Juj @ Oct 21 2008, 02:05 PM) [snapback]1035533[/snapback]
I definitely need to tweak our sleeping habits here also but I am waiting til after Daylight Savings Time. I'm not sure what DST will do to their sleep habits so I'll make my adjustments then.


I'm in the same boat here too. Mine go to bed at 9pm to spend time with daddy but it's taking them FOREVER to fall asleep. On days they don't nap well they crash at 9. I'm hoping to alter their wake/sleep time with DST so that they're in bed at 8 and up at 7. They wake about 7:30/8:30 right now.

 

They sound overtired to me. I know it's hard getting them to bed early, but I think it really helps.

I went out of town for a weekend a few months ago (my first nights away from the kids ever), and DH let them stay up way too late. It was nice that they did so much fun stuff, but they missed bedtime by 1-2 hours every night. Boy were they cranky when I came home!

ETA (I didn't see how old your kids were when I first posted): I did find that starting around age 2.5, it was harder to get them to bed early. They don't seem as tired in the evening as they used to, so it's tempting to think that they just don't need to go to bed. But, as you said, it's in the morning that we really pay for it when they stay up too late.

 

I'm with the PP on Healthy Sleep Habits--I don't swear that book is for everyone, but I put mine to bed at 6:30, they play for a little while and wake beween 6 and 6:30. They go to bed happy and wake up happy. So, even though we don't get quantity of time with them at night, we good quality/good mood time with them. You might want to just gradually move the bedtime bakc and maybe even feed them dinner at 5 separate from the rest of the family if you need to.