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Preschooler Years
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Z
Zarasmom
Hi ladies, I want to know what time your 3-4 year goes to bed for the night. Zara has always been a good sleeper and easy to put in bed but lately she has turned into a little rascal at bedtime. She still naps but I only let her go one hour. She would totally sleep for two. We start bath at 7:30 then stories and daddy time in bed. Lights out with her nights on. Before we wouldn't see her until morning or a potty break. Now for the last two months or so she is up and out of her room and totally bad until 9:30 or later. Sorry for the long post. So my question to u all - cause getting frustrated with her - should I cut the nap? Should I start bath later? She is home with me all day and has lots of activities aside from play dates and the park. She has gymnastics and dance once weekly respectively. Any thoughts feedback or suggestions are truly appreciated.
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Bree<3
My little girl is in pre-school and they nap. I think it's still necessary for them to avoid melt downs during the day. Bed time at my house is 7:45pm no if ands or buts this allows for any little delays my girls might want to come up with. You could always cut story time the next day if she doesn't get to bed on time the night before. But each family is different hope it works out for you.
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kpethigal
My daughter is in Pre-School and they offer naps, however since she started "big girl school" she refuses to have any type of nap or rest. She is now in bed and sleeping by 8pm (after bath time, which we have to start at like 6:30pm now so she doesn't get too wired). Another huge thing for us now, is that its no longer summer time, so the sun isn't out as late, which now means to my daughter that she needs to go to bed earlier because the sun goes to bed earlier :)
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KristaLeeC
@Zarasmom,
My daughter is 4 and has always been a late sleeper. If i try to put her to bed any earlier than I do it consists on her fooling around and just playing. Then she wakes up before 7am!!
She has had a 9pm bedtime for a while now. I do bath at 8pm and we read for 30 min before bed. And she's out for the night. She does not have naps and has pretty much refused them since age 3.
L
Lizziej84
My daughter is in afternoon preschool (here it's only half a day) and does not nap! If she naps, it takes until 10 to get her to go down for the night. She's never been one for lots of sleeping though, so I believe this varies from child to child. She does go into meltdown around 6:30 with no nap (as she is an early riser), so we do quiet activities to keep activity levels down in the evenings, start bathtime around 6:45-7 and she's usually out between 8 and 8:30 and happy and awake by 7 the next morning. Giving up naps was hard for me, but we've all been happier since we did. When she's home, I still insist on 30 minutes of "quiet time" because her brother is still napping. Usually we read books and play quiet games. When she's in school, she doesn't get that quiet time, but the earlier bedtime has smoothed out that
a
ahill1000
@Zarasmom,
Just my opinion, but it's like the nap. My twin boys turned 3 in July, and stopped napping on their own just after they turned 2.5. Frustrating. But in the end, it turned out better for us, because when they were napping (2.5 hours usually), there were nights they wouldn't fall asleep until 10:30 or later, even though they were in bed by 9. Since dropping their nap, they're usually asleep now anywhere between 8:30/8:45 and sometimes as late as 9. One twin sleeps longer than the other, and one is usually up by 7:30 and the other closer to 8. On rare occasions, they may sleep in until 8:30, but that's rare, like maybe once or twice every two weeks. My guys have never slept more than about 10.5-11hrs a night. With naps, they'd only sleep about 9. The first week or so, they were a little grumpier in the evening and even still, will have a grumpy evening. So I can tell when they're super tired and will try to get them into bed earlier. The absolute earliest they'll fall asleep though, is 8:15. I've tried putting them down earlier at like 7:30, still didn't go to sleep until 8:15.
a
ahill1000
@Zarasmom,
Oh, and they now do one hour of quiet time in separate rooms in beds. I let them watch cartoons. They could fall asleep if they wanted or needed it, or wanted to, but only one guy has fallen asleep twice since February, and the most recent time that he did it, he was sick
s
sosborn1
Cutting nap helps, as a sleepy devil is too tired to conjure...but at this age, she has learned that it's more fun to mess with you until she's exhausted. She's a smarty. Most kids that have issues going to bed are looking for that one-on-one that we are all willing to give to get them to go to bed without crying. Firmly tell her that she must stay in bed and you will no longer come in when she cries. Don't go in when she does that first cry and if she comes out, stand at the hall while you tell her to go back to bed. Don't actually tuck her back in. She needs to learn that she only gets that once. It's so hard, but they are so quick to learn!
Then again....some kids just grow out of nap time, but if it's happening at bed time too, then it's the attention thing. Trust me, both of my kids go down in 5 minutes! Good luck!
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