Toddler Bedtime- WORKING MOMS ONLY

I don't pick my toddler up from DC until 6:30-7:00. By the time we get home, eat dinner, take a bath, and potty its 8:30. We then read, go to bed, but he doesn't fall asleep until after 10. Its rediculous. Its like a circus in his bed. In addition to being way too late to go to sleep, this causes him to not want to get up int he morning....I can't pull him out of bed at 7am because he is SO EXHAUSTED from going to sleep so late. I can't break out of this rut. What do you do to fix this? I can't get home any earlier...so that's not an option. I don't know h ow to get out of this rut.

They give him a 1.5 hour nap at daycare...I've requested that they get rid of this but its state law in NJ.

Toddler Bedtime- WORKING MOMS ONLY

I have no advice, but am in the same situation. I know when I was on maternity leave my son was falling asleep at 8-9pm , and was waking up at 8am refreshed. Now his schedule is so off track.

Toddler Bedtime- WORKING MOMS ONLY

I have the same situation as well but, DS doesn't have issues getting up in the morning. He takes a longer nap at daycare though (2 hrs).

I'm thinking of having them to cut it back to an hour so maybe he'll go to bed closer to 9 so I'll have a few minutes to myself in the evening and be able to get to bed at 10 but, I haven't asked yet.

Re: Toddler Bedtime- WORKING MOMS ONLY

I had a very similar schedule.

I would first ask your daycare if they can feed him dinner. (pack it the night before if you can) and then give him a snack in the car on the way home.

That should cut 30-45 minutes off.

Also, if you are reading multiple books, (which I used to do, and we would spend anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour reading), take away one book a week, so you wean down to only 15 minutes or so of reading time.

That should buy you an extra hour to get him down by 9PM.

Toddler Bedtime- WORKING MOMS ONLY

I don't get home until about 6:15/6:30 but I put DD to bed at 8 anyway. One thing I started doing is prepping dinners on the weekend so they can be easily made on weeknights. It gives me a lot more time with DD since I'm not spending so much time in the kitchen.

I agree with having daycare feed him dinner if that's an option.

Re: Toddler Bedtime- WORKING MOMS ONLY

How old?

Toddler Bedtime- WORKING MOMS ONLY

Seems normal in my house. No one WANTS to get up in the morning. Ironically she's up early on weekends!!!

My kid is a night owl. Trying to make her go to bed any earlier affected her sleep because she was upset and restless. Don't know what age your talking about, but for us around 4 she cut back on that bed time all by herself. She is ready to go to bed around 9-9:15. She still gets an hour nap in the day.

We pick her up around 5:30-6pm. dinner is around 8:30 if Im home, earlier for her. Bath around 9 and bed by 9:30. If she takes an earlier bath it does not affect her bed time.

Re: Toddler Bedtime- WORKING MOMS ONLY

I don't have much advice on how to cut back time, but I'm curious to find the answer too.

My DS will be 2 next month. He's up about 7/7:30 am, 1.5 hour nap around mid-day, asleep at 10 pm.

I kind of like that he's a night owl since I'm back to work and only see him for about 2 hours a night though. But my DH would like him to go to bed at, say, 9 so we could have a few minutes alone.

Re: Toddler Bedtime- WORKING MOMS ONLY

My almost 4 year old still naps - probably for this reason.
Both of my boys have always had a 9/9:30 bedtime.
Sean is not a morning person, it's difficult to get him out of bed - Colin is fine as soon as he opens his eyes.

I have found with Sean (the older one) that as he got older, he needed more of a routine where we'd wind down -
Both of my kids are the type that when they're tired, they'll just pass out so I never needed a set routine - but now w/ Sean during the week it helps to have them eat dinner, immediately take a bath and get into PJs, run around and play - and at 8:30 start to wind it down - 1/2 hour of TV and then at 9:00 into bed to read by 9:30 DH and/or I are out of the room and he's on his own to fall asleep.

Re: Toddler Bedtime- WORKING MOMS ONLY

I could have written your post word for word...

I pick up DS (3.5) from daycare and we are home by 6. Dinner at 6:30 and then after dinner I let him watch TV for a little while when I clean up. We are upstairs for bath / bed between 730-8. Then the procrastinating begins. I try to read a story and I let him watch a few videos on YouTube (Sesame etc). By the time he is IN BED it is 8:30 and by the time I am downstairs sitting down on the couch it's after 9. Then in the morning I have to drag him out of bed around 7:15. And he still naps at daycare too (we are in NJ I didn't realize it was the law). The director told me they either have to nap or have "quiet time". The teacher told me he naps every day and is one of the last ones to wake up.

And now I have twin boys on the way so bedtime is about to get even more interesting....

Re: Toddler Bedtime- WORKING MOMS ONLY

Re: Toddler Bedtime- WORKING MOMS ONLY

I pick my DS up at 7 every night and he eats dinner at 6 at the sitters.
So i get an hour with him to play/bath etc and then he's down at 8:00
he sleeps until about 7ish every morning and naps for approx 1.5 - 2 hours every day.

Maybe as other suggested, see if your daycare can give him dinner earlier, and cut out a few books (maybe you make up for it on the weekend). We usually read DS a book while he's having his milk before bedtime.
I NEED that time in the evening after he goes to bed to prep/eat dinner and relax for the evening! As much as i want to see him, its important that he goes down at 8 as well

Re: Toddler Bedtime- WORKING MOMS ONLY

Wake him up 30 minutes earlier for a few days, put him to sleep 30 minutes earlier. Then continue after keeping the schedule for a few days.

I think a kid can only sleep so much, if you want him to go down earlier, he will wake earlier. My niece and nephew slept from 7 to 5am. Mine sleep 9 to 7am.

I get home late and want them awake as long as possible with me... So I like a 9 pm bedtime.

Re: Toddler Bedtime- WORKING MOMS ONLY

So bed time is 8:30 but he doesn't fall asleep until 10?

My daughters bed time is 8:30 and they also have to get up at 6:45 or 7:00. She also had difficulty falling asleep. I ended up turning out the lights, except for a nightlight, putting on a light fan for white noise and closed my eyes and laid down next to her. If she asks me questions I kind of pretend Im falling asleep LOL. I found if I kept answering she kept asking. Whenever I pretend Im asleep falls asleep much faster. When shes asleep I crawl out. She used to just walk into her bedroom and lay on her bed and would fall asleep by herself, but not anymore. Good luck.

Re: Toddler Bedtime- WORKING MOMS ONLY

I agree with the previous posters. Dinners are made during the weekend so they are warmed up or ready to thrown in the oven the minute the kids walk into the house.

I have a 2 yr old and a 5 yr old. DH usually gets home at 7 three nights a week and has class until 10 the other two nights. Here is our routine when we get home at 6pm.

Kids walk in the house, take off shoes and head straight for the bathroom. PJs are kept ready in the morning.
Showers are done and they eat dinner by 6:45 at the latest. They don't get tv unless dinner is finished. The get maybe 45 minutes of tv. They brush teeth together and we read stories together. We pick put their clothes for the next day before going to bed. They both go to bed listening to music. DD needs pure darkness to sleep. When we tried a nightlight, she would not fall asleep. Both kids are in bed b 8/8:15. Sometimes my 5yo stays up another 15 minutes so we can practice reading or writing.

I then clean out their lunch bags, prep their lunches, do laundry after they go to sleep. I know it pretty regimental but they know the routine and follow it.

Re: Toddler Bedtime- WORKING MOMS ONLY

Re: Toddler Bedtime- WORKING MOMS ONLY

DS is 4, but has been going to sleep late for years. I could probably count on my hand the number of times he has ever slept for 12 hours. He seems to be totally fine with 9 maybe 10 hours of sleep at night. For a while he was going to bed between 8:30 and 9, but now it's closer to 9:30 or 10. He still naps, but even on days he doesn't nap, he goes to bed late. I don't have any issue with getting him up though. He usually wakes up by himself between 6:30 and 7/7:30.