what's a good bedtime?

Question

I have two girls ... the oldest is 2yrs and the youngest 8months. I've always had their bedtime around 8:30pm - 9pm ish. My husband and I work opposite shifts(him 7am-3pm and me 5pm-2am), I don't want someone else raising my child. (Not that there is anything wrong w/ daycare or babysitters). My sister always goes on and on about how we put the girls to bed too late and she puts her son to bed at 7pm. But my girls sleep till 8am-9am and take an hour or two nap in the afternoon. She's always up with her son anywhere between 3am and 5am in the morning... and says that her child just doesn't like to sleep. But to me seems like she's just putting him to bed too early. So my question is... what time do you think is a good bedtime for a 2-3yr (her son is 3yr)???
I think whatever works for your family .... but I could be wrong...

I don't have problem putting my girls down, I personally don't think there is anything wrong with the time I do. Considering I'm up till about 3am because of work, them sleeping in till8am or 9am works well with me. I'm just saying my sister gives me heck for keeping them up late and wondered if anyone else put their kids around the same time as me. It works for us so I'm going to continue... just curious is all.

Answer 1

Put your children to bed whenever you feel is right. Forget what your sister says; they're your kids. And tell her you'll put your kids to bed at a time that you feel is appropriate. You're the parent of these children, not her. She can put her own kids to bed earlier if she wants to.

Answer 2

My 6.5 year old bedtime it 8pm during the school year and 8:30 during the summer (she still gets up early for day camp). During Christmas break when everyone is not working and she is not in school (or while we're vacationing), we let her slide and go down around 9pm but NLT 9:30.

But, here are some suggested sleep / poll findings:

- Infants (3-11 months): 14-15 hours / 12.7 hours

- Toddlers (12-35 months): 12-14 hours / 11.7 hours

- Preschoolers (3-5 years) and kindergartners (5-6 years): 11-13 hours / 10.4 hours

- School-age (first-fifth grade): 10-11 hours / 9.5 hours


Tips to get kids sleeping:
Three out of four parents would change their kids' sleep habits, if they could, the National Sleep Foundation poll of nearly 1,500 adults found. Some suggestions:

- Make sufficient sleep a family priority. Understand the importance of getting enough sleep and how sleep affects the overall health of parents and children. Determine the sleep needs of all family members and develop a plan to make sure they're met.

- Embrace good sleep habits. Practice regular bedtime routines, create quiet and comfortable bedrooms, and adhere to appropriate bed times. Televisions and computers shouldn't be in kids' bedrooms nor should caffeine be part of their diets.

- Learn to recognize sleep problems. The most common among kids are difficulty falling asleep, nighttime awakenings, snoring, stalling and resisting going to bed, having trouble breathing and loud or heavy breathing while sleeping.

Talk to your child's doctor about sleep problems. Most are easily treated.

Answer 3

You might want to recommend that she put him to bed a half an hour later, and see if he sleeps in an hour later. You don't want to try to push a full hour later right away as he may get cranky, but half hours usually do it. Maybe he is also getting to much sleep in the day, and night time becomes a nap.

My son used to go to bed at 9:00 and get up at 6:00. Nothing I did would change that. He just didn't need very much sleep.

My daughter on the other hand amazes me on how much she can sleep. She will go to bed about 8pm ish and wake up at 9am or 10am if we let her. She got her dad's sleeping genes.

Answer 4

I think you and your husband have a good routine and that the bedtime you picked for YOUR children is fine. I have a 2mon old and a 22mon. old I put the oldest to sleep around 8-8:30 where he gets his bath is read a story and we pray together. The fact that your husband is the one to put the children to bed is great (you think we could get him to talk to my husband). 7pm is to early for a child to be put to bed isn't it still light out in the summer months? Your girls are sleeping the whole night through unlike your sister's son so if anything you should be telling her that she's putting her son to bed to soon.

Answer 5

My son sleeps 10 hrs. So his bedtime is 9:oopm and we are up at 7:00am.

Bedtime depends on how long the child sleeps and when the parent wants to get up in the morning.

Answer 6

There's an old saw "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Your children are getting enough sleep, it doesn't matter whether they go to bed at 7 or at 9. Be thankful they go to sleep easily and that their sleep habits meld with your work hours.

When your children are older they may resist early bedtime in summer just because it stays light for so long. But for many parents it is not a major problem.

If your sister is happy with her children's sleep habits, let her be. Likewise, she shouldn't interere with your practices. She sounds a bit compulsive. Tell her in a nice way that she needs more fiber in her diet.

Answer 7

My guess would be no later tahn 9:30 because your two girls will get enough sleep but maybe they need that extra hour. Just see what happens and if that dosen't work maybe just keep them going to bed around 8:30ish. Btw do they have to get up early for any ocassion? because if not they can always sleep in if they wished.

Answer 8

As long as your kids are getting enough sleep at night I would do what works with your family schedule. If they're happy I would not be so concerned about the time. However, when your kids get closer to school age you might want to move the time earlier so they get enough sleep before school - but you have a while before that.

Answer 9

my beadtime is around 10 but im 13. u should try different times and see which your childeren can handle. If they are laze and dont want to do much than change there time to something else. It realy depends on the childeren and what time they wake up. ask some friends with childeren areound teh same age and hope taht they will ahve good advice for you

Answer 10

my 8 year old goes to bed at 830 the 5 year old at 8 and the 2 1/2 yer old at 800 also