May 21, 2009

Time to go to bed

What time do you go to bed? Your kids? You know they say bedtimes are important. We have bedtimes in our house and we adjust them accordingly by age and need for sleep - however sometimes they fail us miserably.

Case 1:

Hailey -

3 years old -

Bedtime 7pm

Natural Wake Time - 6am

Hours slept per night: 9-10 (on a good night)



Case 2:

Lauren -

8 Years old -

Bedtime - 8:30

Natural wake time - 6:30 weekdays, 7:30 weekends

Hours slept per night: 10 -11



We have attemped many scenerios to increase the sleep hours to the recommended number in case #1. Though we fail, because she wakes up a lot in the night and if she sleeps even 5 minutes in the car during the day she won't fall asleep till well after 8pm. Desperately hoping her tonsils are part of this problem and a natural change will occur after her surgery!

Case #2 was ticking and rolling along just fine about about 10 days ago when she became difficult to wake on school days and no longer represented a natural wake time during the week.

Our solution? Case #2 will get a new bedtime, a bit earlier - moving to 8:00 for the rest of the school year to ensure she gets the sleep she needs and the we get the peace we need! Lauren is NOT happy about this change of events - but I am not going to spend the next 10 years dragging her butt out of bed everyday!


So - what are your bedtimes? Are they working for you?

14 comments:

Unknown said...

When my kids were younger we had strict bedtimes 8:30 but now that they are teenager they have to be in the bed by ten.

SouthernDogwoods said...

Our girls go to bed at 7pm - there have been only a few times when they went to bed later. They wake anywhere from 5:30-6:30. They rarely take naps anymore though! And I miss the naps!

Krape Family said...

We have a winter bedtime around 7pm and and summer bedtime around 8pm for both boys. They usually wake around 7am. But Maddox is like Hailey in that if he sleeps even for just five minutes, he is up until 11.

The Fritz Facts said...

Boo goes to bed by 8:15 during the week, and 9 on weekend or non school days. She is up at 6:30 for school.

Hunter goes to bed at 8:30 during the week, and 9 on non-school days. He would sleep until noon no matter when we have him go to bed, so he is a bad example. lol

Unknown said...

8:30 was the standard bedtime for all the kids grade 4 and below. This year Nick is 11 and in grade 5 and we've been sending him to bed @ 8:45, and he can watch TV(don't yell at me) til 9:15, he sets his timer. He does not fall asleep quickly,never has. He is up at 6:30 for school. My girls are in HS and we like them to have lights out by 10:30, but with sports and activities sometimes home work goes until 11pm, not often later.
We are very lax in the summer.

Nikki said...

Jeesh! I wish our kids would even THINK about bed at 7pm! Many nights we have baseball and don't get home until almost 7. I TRY to get them all in bed by 8:30 - but it's usually after 9pm by the time they stop talking to each other and actually close their eyes. I tried to put Jake (2) up to bed at 8 last night before the other two and he SCREAMED "mommy peas mommy peas" (please) until I finally went and got him. And once again they were up til 9. OH and they all get up at SIXish. super!

Anonymous said...

We put Sammy down around 7 and he gets up around 6:30.. but we let him hang out in his crib until 7 ;-). I am thinking summer it will be a little later like 7:30 in hope he will sleep in some.. one can dream right?

jen@odbt said...

My almost 4 year old goes up to bed by 7:30; my 6 and 8 year old are upstairs by 8pm, usually lights out by 8:45. Now that it's lighter out and they're playing outside more that delays bedtime by about 15 minutes. So far this is working since the younger ones tend to wake up on their own between 6-6:30, my oldest needs to be woken up by 7 and on weekends, he could sleep until 9 if we let him!

Bonnie said...

The boys were going to bed at 9:00 but with summer approaching they are just too wound up and waking up at 6:30. They don't have to be at school until 9:10 so it was a long morning. The last few nights we let them stay up until 9:30.

Cheryl Lage said...

Our two are seven and we always shoot for 8pm down...occasionally it's as late as 8:20, but we're really honed in on that time---unless it's a special occasion.
They will occasionally talk, but they're in bed, lights out.

Darren is typically a waker at 7 straight up, but he'll come and climb in with us for at least a half hour. Lately, we've had to wake Sarah at 8:15. As husband says, "She's already sleeping like a surly teen." (as did I....uh oh!)

We ALL work best with a minimum of 10 hours, ideally 12.

What we grown-ups get is typically 6-7. :(

Pam said...

Our routine is very like Anita's. Katie is in HS and she is usually in bed by 11:00pm. Madeleine is 14and she goes to bed between 10 and 10:30. It is true what you hear about teens internal clocks. They are not tired until very late and they have a hard time getting up in the morning. On weekends it's not unusual for them to sleep until 11:00 am. So, don't be surprised if you end up having to drag your girls out of bed when they are teens - no matter what you do! :(

Allison said...

Both kids go to bed at 8 pm. Max wakes around 6:30 and Cate has been known to sleep until 9am (but I have to wake her for Max's school drop off). She also still takes a nap for about 2 hours during the day. Max no longer takes a nap. My kids have always been pretty good sleepers and bedtimes have never been complicated (knock, knock on wood)!

Courtney said...

LL goes to bed at 8PM and bright eyed and bushy tailed at 6AM!!!

Paige said...

Our girls (age 7 and 9) go to bed between 8:15 and 9. Well they are in bed by then. The youngest falls asleep almost immediately but the oldest has a hard time getting to sleep and can be up for hours before dosing off. The youngest awakes by 6:30, the oldest usually needs to be awakened around 7.