bedtime...

Okay so this maybe a dumb question since I am a mother of two and should sorta know what I'm doing by now. About 9 months ago my oldest decided that she didn't want naps any more and it seemed to me that she usually did fine without them. On the occasion that I feel like she needs a nap I'll let her sleep for about an hour, but then she has a hard time falling asleep at night.

My questions to any other mom's of 3 year olds...
Does your child take a nap, if so what time?
What time does your child go to bed at night?

Thanks

My now 4 yo stopped taking naps before she was three.

This was made up for with a 7:30pm (sometimes 7pm) bedtime. She was always awake by 7 am and usually by 6:00 or 6:30.

Tim naps @ ps but hasn't for me since 3. We bumped his bedtime up to 7:30 but now its 8:15ish w/ the scooltime nap. pardon typeos. twnursing

[Rapunzel]

Sophia stopped napping a few months ago (before she turned 3). She generally gets to sleep about 10pm and gets up around 8am (and, remember no naps - with a nap she's wired until midnight ). That doesn't seem like a lot of sleep for a three-year-old but my kids have never seemed to need much sleep. My oldest (8 years old) seems to think that seven hours of sleep is enough for him! He once explained to me that his mind didn't "let" him sleep for very long and he hasn't suffered any negative side-affects from his seeming little amount of sleep over the years.

Sooooo, I DO consider my three-year-old's sleep schedule somewhat "abnormal" - at least compared to the sleeping patterns of her friends of the same age....

Sorry I can't be more helpful!

Jennifer

[mommax3]

Christine,

If the schedule your child is keeping is working for you, go with it. My boys all stopped napping before age three. Currently, my youngest (3.5) goes to bed between 7:30 and 8:00 and gets up between 6:30 and 7:00. Before I had kids in school, we all stayed up later, in part so the kids had a chance to see their Dad if he was coming home that night. Once my oldest started school, it was a whole new ballgame, because we had to be out the door around 7:40 every morning. So my only real advice is to enjoy the preschool days!

DH and I have found that no matter how late our kids stay up, they still get up before 7:00, so we tend to put them to bed early to make sure they get the sleep they need. My six year old (will be seven at the end of May) goes to bed at the same time as my youngest, but has to get up at 6:45 to shower, and my oldest stays up until 8:30 or 9:00, sometimes later......it takes him a LONG time to wind down. He gets up at 6:30.

Sally

[Phoebe]

My 3.5 year old decided to stop napping shortly after turning 3yo. I tried rest time in her room for an hour, but that didn't work well. I truly need a break in the afternoon so I kept the rest time, but allow her to watch a movie in my bedroom. Goes against my better judgement to let that happen, but I am a better parent if I get a mental break. It is a win-win situation.

She is normally asleep by 8:30 and awakens normally about 7:45am.

jennifer

[SueC]

My 3.5 year old does not take naps, though I could probably get her to if I wanted her to. She does nap at Parent's Day Out 2 days a week. She gets up between 7 and 8 and goes to bed at 8:30. I quit enforcing naps with her because her older sister isn't napping anymore (she's 5) and it's just more convenient for them to both stay up the whole day. Otherwise Syd is raring to go at 8:30 when Maya is ready for bed.

[fluffhead]

My 3 YO still takes a nap, usually, at around 1:30, for about 1.5 hrs. She's gone through periods of seeming to not want it anymore, but at the moment is pretty regular about it.
Her bedtime is around 8:30, and she wakes at about 6:30 or 7.
Our baby, on the other hand, seems to need very little sleep, sadly.

[Phoebe]

Jennifer- With Sophia going to bed so late, do you ever get downtime? Just curious. My neighbor's daughter, who is almost 4 used to go to bed about 9:30pm and it worked for them.

Jennifer

[Rapunzel]

Weeeelllll, Sophia might not sleep until about 10pm, but she gets sent to bed by 9! Madeline and Zoe tend to be passed out cold by 9pm and Alex easily stays up until 11pm (luckily reading very quietly in the dining room or office) - he's often up later than I am! I don't mind the kids being up late as long as they are QUIET! I enforce a "quiet" time in the house after about 8pm-9pm for my sanity's sake.

I usually find my own personal time (ie when the kids are either sleeping or reading quietly) is the morning hours until about 8am. I've started enjoying these peaceful mornings and I *try* to take advantage of them by taking long morning showers, reading, and generally lazing about.

Jennifer