Bedtime

When my twins were 3, they had just dropped their afternoon nap, and as a result were going to bed quite early. They were usually asleep by 7, and would sleep until between 6 and 7 the next morning. DS3, on the other hand, stays up really late - though he just turned 3 a couple of weeks ago. I know it's because he wants to play with his brothers, who are now 6. They are supposed to go to bed at 8, but are usually awake reading or playing quietly in their room until close to 9. DS3 has been staying up that late too, and I feel like he needs more sleep. He usually does sleep a little longer - maybe until 7:30 - but this morning he was up and ready to go at 6:30, which meant he only got about 9 hours sleep or so. He does nap during the day once in a while, but he stays up late even on the days he doesn't nap.

How much do your 3 year olds sleep? Do you find that the sleep patterns of your younger children are completely different from your first born?

My youngest will be 3 in a couple of months and he takes a 2 hr nap and then goes to bed at 8:30/9. He gets up by 6/6:30 every day. My oldest WAS such a good sleeper! He will be 5 soon and he goes to bed the same time as DS2, but does not nap. He used to sleep until 7:30/8 every day, but now him and DS2 share a room so they are up EARLY!

My nearly 2 year old gets up anywhere between 5:30-6:30 most days...he takes a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon and goes to bed by 8:30 usually. He will just not sleep any later and it kills me every morning. DD3 goes to be around 8pm and is up around 7 most days.

I really try to get the little ones to bed by 8-8:30 so I have some sort of an evening to myself. I'm pretty strict about that.

My 3 1/2 year old had a period that he couldn´t make it through the day without a nap, and would wake up at 5.30-6-6.30 in the morning. Now he doesn´t nap anymore and sleeps from 7.30-8 until 7-7.30 in the morning. The same for my 6 year old.
They don´t share a room now. I´m a bit worried about when the baby will move out of our room, the two eldest will share a room or have adiacents rooms, I´m sure things will get worse then.

My 1st and 2nd went to bed at 7:30 for the longest time, until about a year ago (they were 5 and 7 then). They started staying up until about 8- 8:30 last summer, and we were never able to get them back from that. Now that it is summer again, they stay up until 9 most nights. The 2 year old wants to stay up with them, and since she naps, she usually won't go to bed any earlier than 9 anyway. I am thinking of taking her nap away--we are trying today to see how she does. They all sleep until about 7:30 in the morning. Some times later, if they are super tired. I do think they need more sleep, but I am not sure how to make it happen.

Hobber - it sounds like you're in the same exact situation as me. The messed up schedule is fine now that it's summer and we have nowhere we have to be in the morning (except for the fact I don't get enough evening me time), but I'm dreading trying to get them back into an earlier sleep schedule when school starts again in September.

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Originally Posted by Mochagirl

Hobber - it sounds like you're in the same exact situation as me. The messed up schedule is fine now that it's summer and we have nowhere we have to be in the morning (except for the fact I don't get enough evening me time), but I'm dreading trying to get them back into an earlier sleep schedule when school starts again in September.

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Yeah, I am worried about school starting too. I plan to start making bedtime 10-15 minutes earlier each night for a week. I hope it works. I just feel bad making them go to bed early when it stays light so late! Also, the evenings are so nice when it cools off, and they want to ride bikes, etc. So we let them stay up.