when do your kiddies go to bed??

[delighted.mama]

Just wondring what time you put your babies to sleep?

I find that by the time I get home from work (around 4:30 p.m.) I have barely enough time to maybe go for a walk or do something fun with dd (or run an errand) and then it is time for dinner, bath time and bed (around 7:30). I don't believe in letting her nap at night because it disturbs her overall sleep pattern. So, I am left with very little time to spend with her in the evenings. I try to stretch out the mornings as much as I can. If I keep dd up for longer than 7:30 or 8 p.m., I find that she is totally cranky and irritable and I don't feel that it is fair to her. She usually wakes up a lot more during the night too when she is overtired.

Now that she is so active (15 1/2 months old), her day is full of running around and lots of activities. She actually gets tired even earlier sometimes, like 6:30 p.m. OUr ped told us that we should try to get her to bed at the earlier time because she is so active. This advice seems to be consistent with all of the other sleep books I have read too.
After closely monitoring her, I have to admit he is right. She is usually rubbing her eyes and getting that "glazed and dazed" look around 6 or 6:30 (depending on her last nap). Sometimes I just want to pretend that she's not REALLY tired, so I can spend more time with her.
I guess I feel kind of jipped because I get home and then it's essentially time for her to go to bed. I love our bed time ritual, I just wish we had more time together. Anyway, what time do your babies go to bed?

Libby

[HollyBearsMom]

My son is 20 months. That combined with the time change finally has him up till 8- 8:30pm. Before that it was 7-7:30 pm. I don't get home from work till 5:30 so I too was feeling like I was really missing out. This is so much better!

[Ocean]

My dd is 16 months old, and we have always tried to put her to bed at 9:00. On rare occasions, she will fall asleep on her own as early as 8:00. Often she is not ready for bed at 9:00, so my dh will stay up with her so I can get some sleep. I get home from work at 6:15, so it's not very much time with her. We've started being more strict about the 9:00 bedtime even if she is acting very awake. We haven't noticed any problems keeping her up later, but then again, she's never been a good sleeper or napper since I returned to work.

[gretasmommy]

My DD goes to bed on the earlier side as well. For a long time, she was fast asleep for the night by 5:30 at the latest. Now she is usually in bed by 6 or 6:30 - and sleeps unitl around 6 am. Even with the 5 or 5:30 bedtime she still slept for 12 hours. . . and if we tried to keep her up later (and we did try), not only did she get much crankier but she, too, also woke up much more frequently at night.

I was able to adjust my work schedule to allow me to get home by 4:45 or so, and then I just talk and play with her for a bit and get her ready for bed. She gets dinner before I get home . . it was too late by 5 pm. She was already rubbing her eyes!

It is tough, and I do miss her . . .but this will only be for a short while. And she does wake early, so we try and maximize our morning time together . . . .

Andrea
mommy to Greta 3/14/02

[Marlena]

Dd goes to bed between 9 and 10pm. She naps once during the day between about 1 and 4. (she's 23 months)

[1jooj]

My ds goes to bed when we do (8ish), unless he passes out before. We are early sleepers and risers, and now that I am newly pg, I am tired all the time! We have a family bed, so this is what has evolved for us.

[Foobar]

Goo goes to bed around 8 these days. Sometimes later if we go out for dinner on Tuesdays. She used to sleep through until morning, but lately, she hasn't been :

We pick her up from daycare at 6, so we try to have a nice evening with her.

[Alstrameria]

Dd goes to bed at 8 and gets up around 7. She's 22 months. She was going to bed at 7 and getting up at 6, but we didn't get straightened around after daylight savings. This is better I think, as there will be more time for playing outside after supper in the summer. She also naps later, which I like. I work afternoons and don't see her from when she goes down for a nap until the next am , so if I get more waking time with her, I'll take it!!!

Jen

[skibumel]

My ds goes to bed at 10pm. I know this probably seems really late to some but he used to go to bed at 9 and then he would wake up at 1:30 wanting to play like crazy and refusing to go back to sleep and would not take naps. Now that he goes to bed at 10 he sleeps almost til 8 or 9 only waking up once to nurse and he naps at 11am and 4 pm.

[Chelly2003]

I have to get my son up early (6:30am) so his bed time is around 7:30ish, sometimes 8pm.

He still takes a nap at day care for anything up to 2 hours.

(he is 3 1/2 years old)

[teachma]

I go to bed with ds at around 7:45, but our in-bed ritual of books, singing, and conversation takes about an hour. He is asleep before 9, and then I get out of bed to do a few things before I go back to sleep for the night.

[AvalonDaughter]

My DD goes to bed around 9 p.m. when we do. We have had a family bed for the last 2 years (she is 2) and so she likes to go to bed with us. If on the rare occasion we stay up late. She falls asleep with us on the couch. Also, she is a very early riser -- 6 a.m. this morning -- usually 6:30 to 7:00 a.m.
But, she naps everyday and is not good if she does not. About 2-3 hours.

Does your child sleep at daycare? Can you get them to give a nap longer? Maybe that would help?

[hulamama]

We usually start the bedtime ritual @ 7 with a bath and then we nurse to sleep. We are going to try something different than the nurse to sleep this summer---wish us luck! In any event sometimes she is out by 7:45, some times more like 8:30--depending on how wound up she is and how groggy she is by the time we lay down. We have a family bed as well and I switch the lights back on after she is out and grade papers or plan until I get tired. We have early school start times (both dh and I) and so unfortunately, we have to get up at 5:30 and then we get dd out of bed and dressed @ 6:15. We try to prolong that as much as possible--because she can wake up like such a bear if she is roused too early. If we could leave just 30 minutes later, she would wake naturally on her own.

[telekinetic pyro]

We don't have a bedtime ritual of any kind (we are fortunate in that we don't really need one) Ds goes to sleep anytime between 8 and 10 depending on when he starts to act tired. Sometimes, I keep him up a little later than he should because if I don't he is liable to wake up in the middle of the night wanting to play.

[Indigo73]

Gooba goes to bed at 8 and sleeps til 7:30. He is the best alarm clock in the world - his "froggie" starts talking and we know it's time to rise and shine.

He goes down very easy - with little to no ritual - just needs his froggie and blanket.

Froggie is Tad a Leap Frog toy.

[nuggetsmom]

DD goes to bed about 9. Actually it seems late to me but she is not really tired earlier. I start the bedtime ritual when she seems tired but still end up lying in bed with her for a while. Last night she did not want to relax and I got fed up because of course I had a ton of things to get done. I told her lie still and go to sleep. Well, it was 9 so she did. Haha.
On the upside, I get to spend some time with her, she sleeps through the night, and if we go out and take her she is not cranky. She just doesn't seem to need as much sleep and the fact that it doesn't coincide with the sleep books out there used to drive me nuts. But kids are just different. Thing is, I don't get that much time with her either because I have to do all the things I would do while she is sleeping while she is up and she needs to entertain herself because DH is in school at night. Still, she is good at playing by herself as long as she has had a half hour of my undivided attention.
She used to sleep earlier and I felt the same way, but I would still spend extra time with her because she would get up and up a lot at 9 and 11 and once more in the middle of the night. She still does sometimes, but not everynight. We tired earlier bedtime because of the sleep books, and she would get up at 11 and want to play.
So kids are all different and we have to let go of our expectations and go with the flow. Sound simple but it is hard to do.

[kimmysue2]

10pm We get ready for bed at 9pm. He is not a morning person. I get up at 640am and let him sleep until 720am.
Then at work he will nap in the morning for 30 minutes and in the afternoon for 45 minutes. If he misses both naps his starts wearing out around 830pm, other wise he goes until I stop him. He is 14 months and is always on the move.