Calling All Mothers - Question About Bed Time

[gini]

When my nieces were younger and lived in California, I used to have them spend the weekend or just an overnight. I loved to spoil them - so they got to stay up a bit later than normal.

My brother was not amused, because I would turn over two little girls, very cranky and tired the next day. They simply had not had enough sleep.

I changed my ways.

Bedtime, I have read, should be just one more fun thing to do in life.
Maybe you are reading them a favorite book - and if they settled down in bed, you got to tell them the next exciting adventure from the book. It should be a positive experience.

Some kids just hate going to sleep and it makes it difficult for Moms and Dads. But you will have a much more pleasant child on your hands if you keep a regular schedule and they know that you mean business!

[prechrswife]

We start the bedtime routine around 8. Our 2 year old is in bed around 8:30. I will also say that she thrives on routine, so the few times that someone else has been with her to put her to bed (when she stayed with grandparents when her baby sister was born, or when she spent the night with her other grandparents), the 8:30 thing didn't always happen. Her routine was off, and she just had to "run down," so to speak.

[Catty1]

I remember doing some babysitting when I was in my early teens, and I read one good tip about bedtimes.

Let's say there IS a set time for bed, 8:00 pm. The tip I read was to build up to it gradually. At 7:30, just say, "it's 7:30, so bedtime's in half an hour."

Same deal at 15 minutes, and maybe five. Then, "Okay, it's bedtime now."

It worked for me, but I didn't babysit much. Maybe someone here wants to try it and see how it works?

[molucass]

Brynn goes to bed every night around 9 and she gets up between 7:45-8:30 every morning. She has been sleeping through the night since she was 5 months old. When we have a busy day, she might go to bed around 8ish.
I am a night owl & usually can't go to bed until 2-3 am, so if she doesn't act like she is tired, I sometimes let her stay up with me as long as she wants.

Brynn usually doesn't put up any sort of a fuss when it is bed time.. We just tell her gradually that is such and such minutes til time for bed like someone else mentioned, and she has me rock her until that time.