A couple of things
TA’s continue to come in.
Two agencies are expecting LOA’s to come soon.
I’m not so sure about the rumor from this post at this point. Some people from the agency felt the agency was saying “our next LID group is December 22nd, and we expect that the next referrals will be out at the end of January or beginning of February”, and some people felt the agency was saying “we expect our December 22nd families to receive their referrals at the end of January or beginning of February”. I’ve seen a direct quote, and I can see that it would be easy to take it both ways. What was actually stated seems to be the former, but it does seem that what was meant was the latter. Kind of. I only gave it an R2, so nothing really changes, but I wanted to point out the discrepancy.
As for something to talk about today, let’s talk about bed times. One of GlitterGirl’s extracurricular activities has had a schedule change, and now we get home 45 minutes past her bed time one night a week. Last night was the first night of the new schedule, and I got home to discover that RK had not put TwinkleToes to bed yet, either. I believe he now understands that next week he needs to get TwinkleToes into bed at her normal time. I did my best to not be subtle, because RK doesn’t really do subtle all that well. We’ll see.
But, the point is that I’ve known that GlitterGirl’s bedtime is a good hour earlier than most of her classmates. More than that for some of them. But I also know that she needs that much sleep. Without it, there are meltdowns. Full Drama Meltdowns.
So, if some of you can share what age your child is and what their bedtime is, and for the older ones how their bedtimes have changed throughout the years, I think that would be a nice conversation to have.
January 23rd, 2008 at 10:20 am
Bed: 6.30, sleeps 7.00-7.30 pm Wake: 6.00 am = 10.5-11.5 hours. Almost always sleeps 12 if allowed, I’m positive 11 is the least my child needs. 4 yo.
January 23rd, 2008 at 10:24 am
Both my girls started with 7pm bedtimes at adoption (at 8 and 10 months). Now at age 5 and 3, we usually put them to bed around 8ish. Sometimes it’s 7:30, sometimes 8:30, sometimes if we’re running around on the weekends it can end up being even later (9 or 9:30) but that is rare. Usually we let them play together quietly in their rooms for a bit, and they are both very good about winding up in their own beds and going to sleep after about 20 min. of play. 5 yo naps about 1-2 hours in the afternoon, 3 yo naps once in a blue moon. :)
January 23rd, 2008 at 10:31 am
Our 4.5 y.o. starts getting ready for bed around 7:30, and has her teeth brushed, 2 books read to her, and in her “pj’s” (actually just underpants, and I have to work hard to keep her in those) by 8. Some nights she is asleep by 8:15, other nights, as late as 9:30. As long as she is playing in her bed quietly, I don’t push her too hard. She is usually up by 6:30, and is supposed to nap 1.5-2 hours at preschool. I can always tell when she doesn’t - we have those major melt-downs too. On weekends, she usually has 3 hour naps. Mommy does, too, and will miss those when she outgrows them. Good luck, RQ!
January 23rd, 2008 at 10:34 am
My son (age 7) goes to bed about 9:00 and gets up for school about 6:45. School starts at 7:45 and if he doesn’t get at least 9 1/2 - 10 hours of sleep doing homework is absolutely awful!
He has sports a few nights a week and even though he gets showered when we get home he is too worked up to go to bed.
Needless to say, we have our homework meltdowns a few times a week.
January 23rd, 2008 at 10:36 am
Our daughter is 18 months old.
Last night was pretty typical for us. Bedtime routine started around 6:30 (bath, bottle, brush teeth, storytime, bed). She was in her crib at 7 and was asleep by about 7:15. We had to wake her up at about 7:30 this morning. She typically naps for about an hour at daycare and closer to 2 on the weekends when she is home. This routine has held pretty steady for the last 4 to 5 months.
She will typically wake up on her own after 11.5 to 12.5 hours. She can get by on 11 hours it seems as well.
For us it is really the time that we need her up and the amount of sleep she needs (12 hours) that governs the bedtime. When we went to the west coast at christmas (3 hour time change) she was able to adjust her routine and was on her normal timing within 2 days. Took a bit longer to reverse things when we came back..about 5 days.
January 23rd, 2008 at 10:39 am
I have a few questions for anyone to answer.
We sent in our LOI on 01/03/08. How long does it usually take for a LOA? Also sent in another letter for our I797 to be approved for this special needs child, so I am wandering how long does it usually take for the USCIS to get back with an approval for special needs. We are already approved for a regular referral just not a special needs child. Also we got a letter stating that we must come in next week to be refingerprinted. Our second fingerprints were take in June 2007, and are suppose to be good for a year. I called USCIS but all they could tell me today was that we must comply. Has anyone else had to get refingerprinted in less then a year?
Thanks for your answers.
January 23rd, 2008 at 10:40 am
My 4yo princess goes to bed at 8:00pm and I know some nights she plays quietly in her bed (with all her babies and blankets surrounding her - interesting) for up to 1/2 hour. She also takes a nap for 1 1/2-2 hours a day. My 7yo son is in bed at 8:30pm and my 12yo daughter is in bed at 9:00pm. The princess wakes up around 6:30am and the other two around 7:00am.
I, too, find that not getting enough rest is a trigger for a meltdown. Too much sugar is another one.
January 23rd, 2008 at 10:41 am
Our two year old goes to bed around 9/10 pm. She will sleep until 8am and takes a two hour nap. My husband works late most nights so dinner is often after 6/7pm. I just signed her up for preschool (starts September) so I imagine this schedule will change. Basically she needs 10 hours of sleep at night and at least one during the day. She is the kind of child who will sleep late if she is up late. New Years Eve we were at at party and we were all happy and having fun so she went to bed at about 11:30pm. I would not keep her up or active if she were not happy. So her bedtime is more fluid right now.
My friends son is 6 and in school and bedtime is 7pm sharp every night, but he will be up at 5am no matter what time he goes to bed and always has been that way, even in infancy.
I think whatever works for your family and child, I just don’t like to see kids having a tough day due to lack of sleep on a regular basis, that is so unecessary and unhealthy for a lifetime habit.
January 23rd, 2008 at 10:41 am
Not sure my input is relevant, since my son is only 16 mos., but he’s had a regular bedtime for close to a year now, and he goes to bed so easily that I hope he also does so when he’s older. We put him to bed at 7:30ish. Seems early, but we need our time, so I’m a bit relieved to see older children mentioned above who are also in bed by 8.
January 23rd, 2008 at 10:42 am
My girls are 8 yrs. and 31/2 yrs. At 7:00 they brush teeth and potty. Then we do story time so they will wind down. Lights out at 7:30. Our 8 yr.old falls asleep instantly! The 3 yr. old takes usually about 30 min. to fall asleep. She naps each day but no longer than an hour and a half. They get up at 7am each morning, or a little earlier.
January 23rd, 2008 at 10:45 am
My 7 year old also goes to bed at 9:00 p.m. (asleep around 9:15ish) and is up between 6:30-7:00 a.m.
When he first started school at 3, his bedtime was 8:15, 4-5 years of age 8:30-8:45, 6-7 years old 8:45-9:00.
As far as RK not following the schedule, my husband does the same thing. My DH claims, that our DS just wanted to see me before he went to sleep. I really think he just doesn’t want to deal with getting DS to sleep. My husband always seem to get away with things by trying to come off as the “good guy”.
Good luck in your kingdom RQ!
January 23rd, 2008 at 10:46 am
My five year old goes to bed at about 8-8:30 pm and my 12 month old about 8 pm. However, bed-time preparation starts at around 7-7:30. Both of my younger children rise with me at 5:45 (basically everyone jumps out of bed and we get ready for the day). My youngest does not like to nap at all…maybe 30 minutes twice a day if that, but my five year old will take a nap for 30-40 minutes later in the afternoon or on the way home in the car.
My 14 year old starts bed-time preparation at 8-8:30 so as not to disturb her younger siblings, but I know does not sleep until 10:00-10:30 pm on school nights (she reads a book or does homework in her room) and on weekends probably goes to sleep later. She rises slightly later that my two younger children.
However, we still keep the same bed-time rituals on the weekend at the same time: bath, pjyamas, story time, etc. and thats mostly due to the fact that my five year old just does not sleep in at all…LOL..I get up at 5:30-6 am most Sat and Sun as well….now ask me what time my 14 year old gets up on the weekends…she sleeps through everything these days…….
January 23rd, 2008 at 10:47 am
We have had something similar happen with our son’s schedule this year. He is a bit older at 9, so it isn’t as much of an issue as it would be with a younger child. Yet, we still think it is important for him to get a good night’s rest (according to our son, we are in the minority on this practice). When he was younger, 5 & 6 - it was 7:15 with 15 minutes of reading or talking, at 7 & 8 - 7:30 with 15 minutes of reading/talking the goal to have him asleep by 8:00. At 9:00 we still shoot for 8:30 with 15 minutes of shared reading but no later than 9:00 on weekdays. We tend to relax a bit on the weekends but we have found that if we completely blow the schedule off, it isn’t pretty. Sunday we return to a the weekly schedule. He usually sleeps until 6:45 during the week.
DS tells us that kids in his class stay up until 10:30-11:00 on school nights. I can’t imagine how they function the next day.
January 23rd, 2008 at 10:49 am
My five year old starts the routine at 6:30. She gets in her jammies, and we play a game and read stories. She in bed lights out by 7:15. She wakes up at 6.
On Friday and Saturday nights she usually stays up until about 7:30ish.
January 23rd, 2008 at 10:53 am
Funny you should ask! This morning we were up at 4:00 am! And she’s almost 6 years old! I’ve decided that she’s part warewolf as every time we have a full moon she can’t sleep :)
She just doesn’t need a lot of sleep. On a really busy, active day, she can fall asleep by 8:30-9:00. Any earlier than that and she’s awake by 4:00 am. If we’re on vacation, she’ll stay up with the grownups (as late as midnight!) and be bright eyed and bushy tailed the next day. I don’t think she’s ever had a tired-induced meltdown. The bright side…she loves to sleep in on the weekends!! As late as 9:30 sometimes. Mommy loves that!!
January 23rd, 2008 at 11:12 am
Dear RQ,
Our daughter is just over 17 months. We have been home from China for a month and have been pleased with her sleeping at night. She is not a great napper in the afternoon only napping for at most 45 mins to an hour. At night, we put her down at 8:00 and she sleeps over 12 hours without a problem. She is extremely active and moves constantly throughout and then at 8 the battery runs down and off to sleep she goes.
January 23rd, 2008 at 11:12 am
Our daughter will be 3 in March. She absolutely will not go to sleep before 9pm. She gets up at 6 or 6:30am. Sometimes she takes a nap, sometimes she doesn’t. She will at least take a rest in the afternoon, but does not always fall asleep. Even if she does, however, its never longer than a 90 minute snooze.
January 23rd, 2008 at 11:13 am
Our 6 year old starts the routine at 7:30pm with pajamas, brushing teeth, potty followed by allowance for the day followed by storytime. Dad reads several stories and then mom. She usually is not asleep until 9 pm! She usually wakes between 7 am and 8 am.
No naps.
Drew LID 4-06-06
January 23rd, 2008 at 11:16 am
My six year old AND my 18 month old begin the bedtime ritual between 6:50/7pm. They are usually in bed by 7/7:15. The baby falls asleep (after her bottle) as soon as I tuck her in. I then go into my big girls’ room and we read and talk for another 15-20 minutes. The rule is that she needs to turn her lamp off when her clock says 8:00. I wake them both at 6:30am to get ready for kindergarten/infant classroom.
January 23rd, 2008 at 11:19 am
This subject is a great one. I have a 9-y-o and a 5-y-o, both boys. They share a room. Great until bedtime. The younger needs to go to bed by 8 p.m.; the older goes to bed by 9 p.m. and this works for him. Both up at 6:45 for school. We leave at 8:15. Neither will jump up and eat so this gives us time to be awhile before breakfast, which is their best meal. But back to bedtime, we have found that the older does his homework at 8:00. This way the younger gets told, “Your brother is doing his homework.” I’ll admit bedtime is not always easy here. Me or DH usually lays down with 5yo until he falls asleep–usually about 10 minutes or less b/c kindergarten wears him out! Routine is key for us I think. My DH and I joke that “bedtime” takes two hours from start to finish. Will be fun to add a toddler to the mix! :)))
January 23rd, 2008 at 11:24 am
Our dd is almost 7. We hit the bath by 7:15, reading a story in bed by 8:00 and lights out by 8:30. She ususally is pretty quick to fall asleep - usually by 9:00.
I wake her at 7:15 for school at 8:30, if she’s not already up. We let her stay up later on weekends, but go back to routine on Sunday night. Sometimes she plays so hard on the weekends she takes long naps (especially in the car).
A NOTE: Some kids work out their issues in their sleep, some through their bowels, some both (you can disagree with me on this, but I live it). When we first got back from China I tried setting a time for naps and bed that my dd was not going to be a part of - she wasn’t going to do thing the way I had planned or imagined - period!
The only way she would fall asleep - for years - was on top of me - when she was good and ready. And it took years to transisition her to a crib/bed of her own in her own room. She still wants to know why Mommy and Daddy get to sleep together and she has to sleep alone.
I’ll leave how she worked her issues out through her bowels for another time….ugh!
Weedji
January 23rd, 2008 at 11:31 am
My 6 year old son goes to bed at 7:30. He reads in his room for a bit and then falls asleep. He always wakes up around 6:30. On thursday nights he has soccer until 8:00 and he doesn’t go to bed until 8:30. He is always in a bad mood on Fridays!
My 18 month dd goes to bed at 6:00 and wakes up at 6:00am. She takes a nap at 11:00 for 1-2 hours.
Weekends are the same as weekdays in our house.
January 23rd, 2008 at 11:45 am
Both my girls (9 & 6) are night owls. On school nights they are in bed by 9pm the latest. We ususally start the bath, teeth brushing, etc. between 7:30-8pm. I wake the 9yr old up at 6:45am, get her started on breakfast then wake up the 6 yr old. Both move as slow as Moses.
Our older DD is in some after school activities and on those evenings it does squeeze into homework time. Since we just brought our youngest home this summer we felt it’s too soon for her to start activities (except for Sat am swimming class!).
On weekends we do tent to stay up later - my girls love to watch movies on the big tv!
I think I’m the one that needs to be in bed by 9pm more than them!
January 23rd, 2008 at 11:50 am
Our 6 year old goes to bed at 7:00 pm as of two months ago. Her bed time used to be 7:30 with 1/2 hour for reading, brushing teeth, ect. She was an absolute bear in the morning, crying, screaming, kicking, yelling. One day, I had just had it as had daddy (who thought he was the only one subjected to this, as if she was Snow White each morning with me) Anyway, the decision was made, and we told her why her bedtime was being moved. We go up to bed at 7:00, which is hard because sometimes we don’t get home until 6:00- 6:30 which means a quick dinner for her and no play time but I am a mean mommy who sticks to the bedtime. She brushes teeth, potty’s, and dependent on time, gets 1-2 stories. Lights out by 7:30 and 9 of 10 times, she is asleep by 8:00! As I look back, I think she was overtired by 8:00 and therefore had a lot more trouble falling asleep and then waking up. She has been much more pleasant in the mornings, not always great, but at least I don’t have black and blue arms anymore. Good Luck,
JEBMBC
2-6-06 LID for #2 will it ever be our turn??
January 23rd, 2008 at 11:54 am
We put our 4,5 year daughter in bed around 7.30. She sleeps very qiuckly. She is awake around 6.30-7.00. In the weekend she goes to bed a little later, exept on sunday, because on monday, she has to go to school again.
My DD needs her sleep very much. On wednesday, I put her to bed for a nap after she had her luch. She sleeps for 1,5 hour. In the afternoon, she has her balletlesson. If she does not sleep, she is having a meltdown.
January 23rd, 2008 at 11:55 am
My 5.5 year old goes to sleep at 7:30pm and wakes at 6:30am for school. She takes naps on weekends that are 1.5-2 hours long. My 2 year old goes to sleep at 7:30pm and wakes up at 6-6:30am. She takes 1.5-2 hour naps at daycare every day and takes 2hr - 3hr naps on weekends. If my oldest stays up late on Friday nights she will sleep in the next morning. Fridays are the only night she is allowed to stay up late (until 9pm).
Before kindergarten my daughter went to bed around 8-8:30pm but she needs more sleep now that she gets no rest time in school.
January 23rd, 2008 at 12:10 pm
My son is four, and he starts his bedtime routine at 7:30 and is generally asleep before 8:30. He gets up around 7:00 each morning. This hasn’t changed much over the past year or two, except that he began giving up his afternoon nap shortly after he turned two. He rarely takes one now. So he’s getting an hour or two less sleep a day than he got at two, but has the same bedtime schedule.
January 23rd, 2008 at 12:12 pm
My children are 6 and 8 years old and both go to bed at 8:30 p.m. Since each of them has a different bus schedule, the 6 year old wakes at 7:00 a.m., 8 year old wakes at 7:00, but will often read in bed until 7:45 a.m.
January 23rd, 2008 at 12:12 pm
My 4 year old daughter is adjusting to school and meltdowns do come know because of tireness. She wakes up between 6:30 and 7:00. During the week that’s great, during weekends not.
When we are at home she nappes in the afternoon. For about one hour. This came again when starting school when she became four, before in kindergarten she did mostly not nap during the day.
We start bedtime at 7:30 PM and depending on how tired she is she falls asleep easely but sometimes it takes an hour in which she quitely stays in bed, sometimes she calls us for some water or a little talk. But when she is really tired we just say earlier: it’s bedtime and start bedtime routine. Can be as early as 18:45, just after dinner in fact.
So most days 11 hours at night and 1 hour during the day.
January 23rd, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Im only early 20’s now, so my bedtimes are still pretty relevant. When I was 5/6 I was in bed by 8, except on Fridays, when I was at my Nanna’s house, and it was more like 10 and got up at 9. When I was 7/8, it was after 9, because Nanna came for tea every day, and I watched a TV program with her, then went to bed. After that, it depended on what we wanted to watch as a family, so it could be near 11, if a film we all wanted to watch was on. But I remember being very surprised that at a friend’s 9th birthday, one of her presents was being allowed to stay up till 9. We got up at 7.30 every schoolday. Ive never really been one for needing lots of sleep, though.
January 23rd, 2008 at 12:42 pm
My 3 1/2 year old and my 5 year old go to bed at the same time. We get ready for bedtime around 7 -7:15 and after getting ready and having read a story, I usually look at them to determine if they can read a book quietly in their own beds. They stay in their beds the whole time then and fall asleep after reading their book. If it’s after 8, no book but time for sleep. If not waken up, they sleep till 7-7:30, but usually I have to wake them at 6:45 to be ready and out of the door by 7:30.
January 23rd, 2008 at 12:44 pm
I adopted my daughter at 2 yrs 9 months; at the time she went to bed at 7 and was up at 6-6:30, she never napped. Now, 2 years later she still goes to bed at 7 and is up at 6-6:30. She needs the sleep, we all pay if she doesn’t get it. She sleeps a lot more than my bio daughter who always needed 2 hours less than all the books said she should be getting.
January 23rd, 2008 at 1:05 pm
My 13 yo goes to bed at 9pm weeknights, 10 on w/e. 10 and 8yo go to bed at 8 weeknights and an hour later on w/e. They all get up at 6:45. I think they sleep in until about 8 or 9 on weekends, with the oldest getting up earliest. He reacts best to a lack of sleep. The other 2 just can’t concentrate on homework if they get less. The youngest frequently has a hard time getting out of bed, so she gets put to bed ealier occasionally. I know my kids go to bed early. I watch for signs of tiredness and they go earlier if they are just not able to keep up. If they had trouble falling asleep, then I would let them stay up later.
January 23rd, 2008 at 1:10 pm
My dd is 5 ½ and she goes to bed at 7:30 pm Sunday - Thursday (she’s in kindergarten).
Ray.
January 23rd, 2008 at 1:12 pm
My 15 year old daughter turns her light out 10ish with encouragement week days and is up until 11 and later at weekends!! She used to wake up at 5.15am every day until she went to school and gradually made it to 7 when she was 8 ish!! I gradually got later and now she will sleep in until 12 midday if we let her!!!
January 23rd, 2008 at 1:19 pm
My 2 y.o. goes to bed each night at 8 and is up each morning by 7. (Sometimes she gifts us by sleeping until 7:30 on the weekends!) We start the routine about 7:30, she’s in bed with lights out at 8. Often she’ll sing to herself or “read” a book (in the dark, no less), but puts herself to sleep. Like me, she needs sleep, but like her dad she likes to get up earlier, so I think her bedtime will stay at 8 for quite awhile.
BTW, probably only 2 times each week do we have to open her door to wake her up, and even then she’s only half asleep. Usually she’s up on her own, so I figure that she needs about 11 hours each night.
Now if I could only get that much!
January 23rd, 2008 at 1:43 pm
DD#1 is almost 12, goes to bed at 7:30 and reads til about 8:30 (or at times 10:00 if I don’t make sure she goes to bed!) DD#2 is almost 6 and goes to bed by 7:30 and is asleep by 8:00. DD#3 is a totally different story! She is 3 months shy of 3 years old. If she takes no nap, we start the bedtime process at 7:45 and she goes to sleep by 9:30! If she has a nap (oh my goodness!), even for 1/2 hour at daycare, we start bedtime at the same time, but it may be 11:00 before her eyes are shut. We can’t put her in her crib awake, or she cries and climbs out. We’ve tried her in the bottom bunk, but then it is P-A-R-T-Y time! We’ve tried letting her play until she is tired, but she never gets tired and it takes the 1-3 hours after that to get her to sleep. We (I should say I!) try rocking her to sleep- no go there either. We try laying her in our bed with me then putting her in her crib, and generally it is then just play time. And of course, we’ve tried laying on the floor with her- which is our present course of action, and at times that works, but still takes close to 2 hours. She cries, kicks, may pinch (we stop that pretty quickly), pulls hair (only a couple of times) etc etc. Poor thing just is scared to pieces to go to sleep. Yes- we’ve tried music, total darkness, lights on, everything. We’re still looking for that magic wand. It’s been just about 5 months. She’s too smart for a routine too. After two days of any routine, she knows what is coming up, and starts acting out. For the whole rest of the day (other than nighttime) she is PERFECT! If anyone finds my magic wand, please PM me and I’ll send you our address! :)
January 23rd, 2008 at 1:44 pm
My 1 1/2 y/o goes to bed at 7:30 and sleeps until 7:00. She also takes an hour nap each afternoon.
My 12 y/o has had different bedtimes throughout the years. Until she was around 8 y/o, she had an 8:00 bedtime. The next year, she went to bed around 8:30 and when she was in fifth grade, she went to bed around 9:00. Now that she is in middle school, she has no set bedtime. Usually she goes to bed on her own around 9:00, but occasionally will stay up with my DH and I until 10:00 watching tv. At 12 y/o she is mature enough to know when she is tired and needs the sleep.
January 23rd, 2008 at 1:46 pm
I’m so jealous of all your long nights of sleep! We put both our kids to bed (5 yo and 3 yo) at 8:00pm. Sometimes they get to bed closer to 8:15 pm. They wake up any time between 5:30am and 6:15 am. They nap for anywhere from 45 min. to 1 1/2 hours after lunch each day (I sure will miss that when our 5 yo starts kindergarten in the fall!).
We try to start bath time at 7:00pm, followed by books, fish oil, teeth brushing, and good night kisses. Our 3 year old is the one from China, and she was a bear to sleep train, but now she puts herself to bed and sleeps through the night.
January 23rd, 2008 at 2:06 pm
First of all, wondering if this is normal… or the new norm since the CCAA likely isn’t seeing too many new dossiers:
Our DTC: 1/11/08
Our LID: 1/15/08 (yes, just 4 DAYS later!)
Now about bedtimes… both of our boys have always been good night time sleepers. They both go to bed by 8pm and wake betw. 7-8am. The 3 year old doesn’t nap any more and the 1.5 year old naps in the afternoon for 1-2 hours (around 2-3:30pm).
January 23rd, 2008 at 2:25 pm
My 7yo & 4yo start the bedtime routine at 7:30. They are tucked in by 7:50 & most nights get 10 minutes to read quietly in bed. My oldest falls asleep right away while it take the 4yo about 30 minutes to fall asleep. My 7yo is up by 7am for school. On days when we aren’t in charge of drop off, my 4yo will sleep until 7:30 or 8. He will also take a 2 hour nap 3-4X a week. The boys have always shared a room & they’ve always had the same bedtime. Neither of the boys like to go to bed without the other so I’m hoping my oldest won’t rebel about having the same bedtime anytime soon. The baby, at 13 months, is practically begging for bed by 6:45pm & then is up by 7:30 at the latest. She takes one 2hr nap on a good day.
January 23rd, 2008 at 2:33 pm
Our 5 yo daugther goes to bed 7:00 pm and we wake her up at 6:45 am.In the weekends she goes to bed 8:00/8:30 and then she wakes up at 8:00/ 8:15.She is a good sleeper,she always was from the time we meet her at 14 months.Kindergarten starts here(holland)at 4 year old!!
January 23rd, 2008 at 2:47 pm
dd1 between age 1 and age 2 slept 12 hours at night, sometimes waking up in the middle of the night to sing for half an hour in bed. (it was very sweet to listen to). Napped for 20-30 minutes once a day.
dd1 is now 6 3/4 and prepares for bed at 6:45 ish depending on if she is showering or bathing that night (she has excema and in the winter water is brutal!!). Pj’s, teeth, stories and snuggles…bed at 8:15 to 8:30. Usually asleep in 15 minutes.
dd2 is 19 months and is in the bath at 6:30. PJ’s, milk, teeth, songs, stories and snuggles and is in bed with lights out by 7:30. Asleep in 5 or 10 minutes.
dd1 and dd2 wake up when I get up at 7:30. 11 hours for dd1 and 12 hours for dd2. dd2 has a two hour nap from 1 to 3 every day.
Same sleep schedule for both 7 days a week. Critical for no meltdowns :)
Snick, who also needs a ton of sleep!
January 23rd, 2008 at 2:48 pm
2.5 yr old - Put in bed awake at 8pm. Usually asleep by 8:15pm. Wakes up at 7:15am. 1.5 hour nap every afternoon.
8 yr old - In bed by 8:45pm. Asleep 1 minute later. Awaken at 6:30am to get to school. No naps since kindergarten.
10 yr old - In bed by 8:45pm. Asleep within an hour. Wakes up at 6:00am naturally. Only needs 8 hours of sleep (just like his dad) No naps since kindergarten.
January 23rd, 2008 at 2:57 pm
For our kids, we try to get them upstairs by 7/7:30 so that they are in bed about 1/2 hour later. When they fall asleep is definitely in relation to naps. The girls will be 3 + 5 next month. The 3 year old is hit or miss with the nap - when she does it is 90 mins to 2 hours. So if she sleeps til 4, she isn’t ready to sleep at night until 8:30. The 5 year old usually doesn’t take naps….she can be asleep 5 mins after we get her in bed! But if she happens to take a nap, she might be wide awake until 9 or 9:30 (and we may wait to get her upstairs til 8 if that’s the case).
January 23rd, 2008 at 3:23 pm
My 23 month old (home one month) is usually in bed and asleep by 7:30. My 3.5 year old is a HORRIBLE sleeper (as in I still have to lay with her for her to sleep) and she is usually asleep by 9 p.m., sometimes 8:30. They both get up about 6:30 a.m.
Our routine of bath, brush teeth, read story, etc. starts at about 6:30 p.m.
January 23rd, 2008 at 3:30 pm
DS is 7. He’s always been a child who goes to bed between 8:30 and 9. He’s a bit of a late kid. He would sleep until 8 if let him, but he has to get up for school.
If I start the routine at 8, then he’s usually settled and falling asleep by 9pm. That’s a good night. Sometimes it doesn’t work out and we pay a price.
Good luck RQ!
January 23rd, 2008 at 3:35 pm
My going on 6 yr old Kindergardener is usually asleep between 8:30 and 9:00 and wakes up at 7:30 (although she’ll occasionally wake up earlier on her own). We’re lucky in that school doesn’t start until 8:40 and it’s very close to where we live.
January 23rd, 2008 at 3:43 pm
Our princess is almost two. She is in bed at 830-9 and up about the same. She takes a two hour nap in the late afternoon.
great thread!
January 23rd, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Our three year old, sensory seeker has nights where I put her in bed at 8 and is still jumping around at 1130….uggggg….and that is after no nap either. She jumps in her bed, does summersaults and bangs on the wall with her feet. Some nights are better than others but it usually takes our little peanut a looong time to fall asleep. Her new sensory rich activites have helped though. We start getting ready for bed at 7 with lotion, jammies, teeth, lots of books, and then a long cuddle and baby massage time. Our cuddle time involves lots of talk about the day, making up stories, singing relaxing songs, finding each others nose, ears and my daughter pretending to eat them:) It is a long bedtime process but well worth it. Some nights after all this she seems so relaxed and then pops up and starts jumping as soon as I leave the room. Ugggggggggg. Self regulation is an issue…….
January 23rd, 2008 at 3:57 pm
We just got home from China a month ago and our daughter is almost 10 months old. She goes to bed around 8:30 and she sleeps until 8-8:30 the next morning. Sometimes I even need to wake her up. She is a GREAT sleeper!! She takes two naps a day (usually about an hour to an hour and a half each time).
January 23rd, 2008 at 4:14 pm
My 6 yr old ds goes to bed between 8:30-9:00 because of his extracurricular activities. He is the kind of kid who does well doing more things and he loves his sports. I usually have to wake him up in the morning so he can catch the bus for a.m. kindergarten. Now, it were my dh putting him to bed, it would be much later. My dh comes home late and wants to spend time with him. If I am not watching the time, they would be up playing wii, webkinz or board games together. Fortunately, he is still an napper…he is still there (2hrs and counting) :)
January 23rd, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Our 10.5 year old son goes to bed 9pm and wakes at 6:45am to get ready for school.
Our 2 year old daughter is just getting on a schedule. Long first year. After we put her in the “big girl bed”(toddler bed) in December, things have been great for schedule. Before schedule she would get up 7:30-8am and napped late morning to early afternoon (no more than 2 hours) and went to bed anywhere from 10pm-11:30 pm and waking up at 3 am crying and hollaring for Mama. I was exhausted.
I am no happy to say that we are definitely on a great schedule! She LOVES her toddler bed!
awake at 7 am
Nap 12-2pm
bedtime–9pm Boy I didn’t know how tired I really was until I started getting some sleep.
January 23rd, 2008 at 4:30 pm
Our daughter is 5.5 years old.
We start the bedtime routine at about 7.30pm and she is usually settled by 8.15pm. Most nights she goes straight to sleep. However recently there are usually about one or two nights a week when she doesn’t go to sleep but makes every excuse under the sun to come downstairs, when she is sent back up to her bedroom she then writes us little love notes which she leaves on the stairs.
She generally wakes up aobut the same time as us i.e. 7.30 a.m.ish, unless she has had a late or disturbed night.
She used to have a two hour nap every p.m. but grew out of this round about 2.5 years old.
She generally seems to need about 11 hours sleep at night, it used to be 12 until fairly recently.
She has never woken up much before 7.30 - 8 a.m. and I’m really hoping our next will be the same!
It will be a real shock to the system if we get a 5.30/6am riser, she will have to learn very quickly not to disturb Mummy and Daddy at that unearthly time of day!!
January 23rd, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Our 3 girls bedtime is 7:30. They are 3, 5, and 7. Our oldest has always need extra sleep so this works well for all of them. The oldest also has Gymnastics 2x a week which gets us home about 7:00 and after dinner, they’re in a little later. The kids end up getting up in the morning between 6:30 and 7:15 each morning, so I know the bedtime is a good time for them.
January 23rd, 2008 at 5:17 pm
Seems to be plenty of 7-7.30pm bed times suggested.
What about in Summer.. we in the Southern hemisphere have to currently work hard at convincy out children it is bed time at 7.30pm when the sun is shining bright and it is HOT!! Winter time is easy in comparison except the colds/flu bouts.
January 23rd, 2008 at 5:33 pm
My 6 1/2 year old goes to bed at 7:30 or so. She will be read to/read herself/play for about a half hour or so. She wakes (well we wake her) at 7:15. She really needs a minimum of 11 hours sleep! She does stay up a bit later friday and sat but again gets up later too.
The nearly 17month old goes down between 7 and 7:30 and is just (hooray!) sleeping through now (after 51/2 months since adoption) to about 6:30-7am.
I am a HUGE fan of maximum sleep for kids. Most of my 61/2 year olds friends go to sleep much much later..and many are very tired at school.
January 23rd, 2008 at 6:21 pm
Mia is 2 1/2 and fights bedtime. It’s usually 10-10:30 before we wear her down. She gets one 2 hour nap. Our daughter (age 9) is worn out by 8:30-9. Church nights are hard for her as it pushes into our routine and it’s usually 9:30-10:00 for her as well. I just wish Mia was not such a sparkle princess at night and such a grump in the a.m.’s but we’ve tried everything. She’s just a night owl.
January 23rd, 2008 at 6:29 pm
My son is 6. Just turned 6, in fact. He is in bed asleep by 8:30 and gets up around 6AM. I would like him to be in bed by 7:30 and can accomplish this a couple of nights per week. But, by the time my husband gets home from work, we have dinner, play a round of Sorry or the two of them wrestle or whatever, it’s time to read books and go to bed. So, he gets around 9.5 hours of sleep 5 or 6 nights and 10.5 one to two nights. I do try to get him in bed around 7:30 at least one night. It is usually the night dh works late and I am doing bed. (DH does bedtime). We homeschool so my guy has rest and down time during the day, so I don’t feel he is sleep deprived. As a general rule, I think a 6 year old needs 10 to 11 hours of sleep per night, especially if they are very active, go to school, etc.
January 23rd, 2008 at 7:30 pm
My daughter is almost 8. For years (since she gave up naps –at 3.5 or so) she’s needed 10 hours of sleep per night. Currently, we start getting ready for bed around 9:00, and she’s asleep by 9:30 - 9:45. She wakes up on her own ten hours later. Seems late, but she doesn’t need to be up any earlier (school starts at 9 and is a five-minute walk). When she was in preschool, at 4, we were on a different schedule, and she would be asleep by 9 and up at 7.
January 23rd, 2008 at 7:42 pm
When my daughter first cut out naps durning the day, I used to put her to bed at 630pm. She needed it!
Now we have a son (6yrs) and daughter is 10yrs. Bedtime is 730pm - they both do their teeth/toilet etc and go to bed. I read son a story, while daughter reads to herself, and she can keep reading til 8-830pm. Son is usually asleep by 8pm.
I do think it depends on the child. Our daughter is an energiser bunny, and can stay up for hours, but son is not. He cannot cope with late nights (and I can’t cope with him, if he has them!!!) A light night is 930pm!
For our family, its important that the kids go to bed at a reasonable hour - otherwise hubs and I don’t get any “Mummy and Daddy” time!
January 23rd, 2008 at 8:14 pm
My son is nearly 5 and my daughter is 6. They both go to
bed at 8.00 pm and usually get up around 7.30 am. They go all day, and need their sleep. We homeschool, so don’t need to worry about homework, but as a family we do quite alot of things in the evening, and with our states
homeschool group. They both have only one extra curriculum activity that they both love.
January 23rd, 2008 at 8:46 pm
I have a kindergartener and a preschooler. Their official bedtime is 8:30, but by the time I’m done singing to them, it’s 9:00 to 9:15. The younger girl also gets naps most days, but not always. I used to have to go to bed MUCH earlier when I was their age and even older, and I hated it. They aren’t too cranky or sleepy during the day, so I guess this is working for now. In fact, when they go to bed a little early for some reason (tired out from some physical exertion), they wake up that much earlier. Oh–and they get up at 7:00.
January 23rd, 2008 at 9:22 pm
My son is now 12 and started Middle School this year. His current bedtime is 9PM sharp. He gets up at 7AM
5th grade 8:30 PM
3rd-4th grade 8PM
Pre K-2nd grade 7:30 PM
Toddler hood 7PM
He has very bad days if I don’t stick to his schedule. Kids need sleep!!!
January 23rd, 2008 at 10:27 pm
My peanut is 2. We usually finish the bath by 6:30, and watch quiet TV and read until 7:30 or 7:45. I pray with her and rock her for 3-5 minutes then put her in bed, and she’s normally out by 8. Most nights she sleeps straight through til 5:30 or 6, and we are out the door by 7. Occasionally on the weekends she’ll sleep til 6:30 or 7. As have many others, I’ve noticed a distinct difference on the days when we’re out too late, or the schedule gets off, so I try to minimize those to the weekend.
January 23rd, 2008 at 10:28 pm
We’ve been home with our now 21 month old since last summer. Her sleeping habits are very odd for such a young one. She goes to bed between 8:30-9:00 but doesn’t actually go to sleep until much later. We’ve tried putting her to bed earlier and she is just too “active”. She sleeps until around 7:30 a.m. She got to where she wouldn’t take her morning nap so we cut it out about a month ago so she only naps in the afternoon and that is only for an hour or a little more. The Dr. says she will get the rest she needs when her body tells her to so we just let her set her schedule based on what she needs. I will also add that she is a very high energy child.
January 23rd, 2008 at 11:34 pm
DD is 22 months and has been home for almost 1 year. Bath time is at 7 pm and bedtime is at 8 pm. She naps about 1 1/2 to 2 hours during the day. I have to make sure she doesn’t nap to long or we are up way too early. I am happy if she sleeps until 6:30 am. This morning it was 5:15 am UGH!!! I am trying to get her to one afternoon nap but sometime she still has a short morning nap.
I am very jealous of those kids that sleep after 7 a.m.!!!!!
January 24th, 2008 at 12:53 am
my 4 year old sleeps 9 or 10 hours at night with a very short nap in the afternoon. if her nap is over an hour she has trouble going to sleep at night.
January 24th, 2008 at 1:32 am
My 3-year-old goes to bed at 8. We had her on a schdedule only a month or so after we got home from China (11 months old), and so far we haven’t had a reason to change it. When we were in choir last fall, we took her with us (there was child care) and she went to bed about 45 minutes to an hour late once a week. It didn’t seem to be too much of a problem; after all, she still naps well in the afternoon. Now I teach in the evenings and I get home after her bedtime two nights a week :( so we dropped choir because I needed more time with her. I think the schedule matters more now since I started working and she is in day care all day rather than preschool only 9 hours a week.
We went ahead an dropped gymnastics for the time being because with my later schedule, she’d need to be in a class that extended past her bedtime, and we decided that she’s had enough change right now. We’ll revisit that later. I hope she’s back in by summertime.
January 24th, 2008 at 1:44 am
Fun topic!
jenele, my 3 year old sounds like yours, except that we have given up on getting him to sleep before 9pm. He usually goes to bed between 9:30 and 10:30, but would stay up until midnight or later if we let him. He wakes up between 8:00 and 8:30 am, and then takes a 1.5 - 2 hour nap during the day.
Our 9 year old is the TOTAL opposite. It’s a rare night when he stays up past 9pm. He wakes on his own between 6:00 and 6:30 am. Sometimes I actually have to try to force him to stay awake later in the evenings because he will get in this cycle of falling asleep around 7:30 and waking up at 5am! Then by late afternoon he has totally run out of steam.
It’s amazing how different kids can be.
smmarks
January 24th, 2008 at 2:56 am
ds 8 years old…bedtime 7:30 (falls asleep usually by 8:00)…wakes up 5:30′ish (regardless when he goes to sleep)…always has…sigh…probably always will
dd 5 years old…bedtime 7:30 (falls asleep by 9:00)…a night owl for sure…wakes up around 7:00, can sleep much later if she has the opportunity
ds 2 years old…bedtime 6:30 (falls asleep quickly)…wakes up around 7:00…has 1 1/2 - 2 hr. nap every day
January 24th, 2008 at 4:45 am
our schedule is as such with my 6 yr old:
6:30 bath
7:00 dinner
8:00 prepare for bed
8:30 asleep
7:00 wake-up time for the next morning - he needs about 11 hours of sleep
for my 12 yr old
9:00 sleep
7:00 wake-up time. He needs about 12 hours of sleep but due to our schedule and his homework, he’ll only get this on the weekends :(
January 24th, 2008 at 6:14 am
I too am very jealous of all those who get lots of sleep. We have an 18 month old who is usually asleep by 7:30 but she gets up every morning at 5:30….. I mean every morning. We have even tried putting her to bed a little later, but she still gets up at 5:30. Kinda strange. So,, we make sure she is in bed at 7:00 or 7:30 as we feel she needs the sleep.
January 24th, 2008 at 9:32 am
My 3 year old goes to bed at 8pm.
My 12 year old goes to bed at 9pm.
My 15 year old goes to bed when we do, around 10:30 or 11pm. He plays hockey and gets home late from practice several nights a week, so he’s up later getting his schoolwork done.
January 24th, 2008 at 10:12 am
5 year old in bed at 8:30
7 year old in bed at 7:30
The 7 year old just clearly needs more sleep. She does NOT function well with less than 11 hours every single night. It’s almost comical.
January 24th, 2008 at 11:40 am
Our daughter has already had several sleep routine changes! When we first got home she took 2 naps a day, got up around 8:00 and went to bed at 8:30pm. Then she cut out the morning nap but still got up and went to sleep about the same time, but her naps were difficult and only about 1.5 hours.
Now, for about the last month or so this is her schedule:
Up: around 5:15 or 5:30am (so NOT our choice!) LOL
Nap: around 12:00pm to around 3 or 3:30pm
Bedtime: 8:30pm
She obviously needs the long nap because she only sleeps about 9 hours at night. We have tried to put her to bed earlier, later etc. and nothing seems to change the 9 hours. Oh well! I do have to say that the long nap is a really nice afternoon break for Mommy! :-)