Bed time for a 4yo

[divadexie]

What time does your 4yo go to bed at?

My son is 4 9will be 5 in june) and I try to have him in bed by 7, as no matter what time I put him to bed or what I do he lies keeping himself awake for up to an hour.
Once or twice a week we will have a bit later night, say if we been a weekly shop or I have needed a wee sleep when OH get home from work.

I don't have any problems with his routine, he is fine to be woken at 8 on a nursery day and sleeps until 9.30 if not woken.

But I was just wondering what everyone elses bed times were? And do you have a particular bed time routine?

We do jammies on after tea and then some quiet time (or a bath he has 3/4 a week) and a story in bed IF he has behaved in the evening.

 

[Elli21]

My little girl is 4 and 5 in june too
She goes to bed at about half 7, but she goes straight to sleep.
Since starting full time school she wants to go to bed by then.
I tuck her in, give her a kiss and leave her alone..
As for routine, half hour before bed time both my children sit and watch something on telly, or i read a book with them, nice chill out time.

 

[Magoo.2006]

My son goes to bed at seven thirty. He plays for a bit too...reads his books. He is sleeping within an hour and he wakes up around six, six thirty. He does have a nap in the afternoon.

For us the routine is supper, bath, a bit of tely a story and bed time. He is then left alone in his room. Again, he plays for awhile but I don't mind.

 

[mommyof3co]

Casen is 4, will turn 5 in March. He goes to bed at 8 after bath, lotion, pjs, brush teeth, story then bed. He sometimes naps from 12-2 or 3

 

[mandy81]

Dylan is 3 will be 4 in march, he goes to be around 8 and goes straight to sleep I tuck him in, give him a kiss, turn the light out and thats him til 7.30 the next morning when wake him for nursery. xxx

Dylan doesn't have any sleep during the day xxx

 

[LucindaE]

Hi Divadexie

I bet you must get a bit tired by the end of the day if you're having another baby.

My girls' an adolescent now (and sleeps a lot!) but as a baby and small child she was very hard to settle. When I took her to a sleep clinic run by the local midwives and followed their routine, she put up quite a fight before she accepted the routine! I am sure stubborness had something to do with it...

In your case it sounds like you are doing all the right things, quiet time, pyjames on, a story etc and it doesn't sound like your too soft with him about settling him - so I can't help wondering if he is just one of those children who take ages to go to sleep?

It can be annoying if the child has to have you sit with him or her,when you are fretting to have some adult time at the end of the day.

The sleep clinic insisted that we had to leave the child to settle by his or herself. We must answer within 3-5 minutes if the child cried, look in and say, 'Go to sleep, it's nighttime' and go out again, so that the child got the idea that a parent became very boring after a certain time of day.

I had a real fight on my hands, but she did improve after I followed those guidelines, though it made me feel callous!

Hope this helps

LucindaE
XXXX

 

[Dinoslass]

When they were around 4 years old my children went at 7.
Bath, pj's, brushing teeth, saying good night to everyone then a story in bed and a song and a kiss and to sleep.

 

[Cariad_bach]

My 4, 6 and 7 year olds all go at 7pm on a school night.
I let the older one stay up a bit at weekends tho ... i dont allow TV ect in their rooms but i dont mind 15 mins quiet chatting to their teddies before they go to sleep

 

[anothersquish]

my five yr old goes to bed at 7pm every night except Friday and Mondays. Mondays he has a dance class that doesnt finnish til 7pm so he goes to bed at 7:45. Fridays are his "late night" and he is allowed to stay up til 8pm unless he wants to go to bed sooner.
He does go to sleep within five minutes and always has done. He gets his jammies on after dinner, brushes his teeth etc then we read his books for school and or a book he chooses from his own collection (never seen a five yr old with so many books!) and then its cuddles and sleep. If hes having a bath we do that before he gets his pyjamas on.

 

[MrsB80]

All mine aged 2,4,5,6 all go to bed at 7.30pm on school nights and 8pm at the weekend.

 

[Freyasmum]

Freya's 4 (5 in October) and her bedtime is 7.30. We both work and there is no way we could get her into bed any earlier - in fact we struggle to make 7.30.
The routine is dinner, followed by a few minutes quiet play if there's time, then teeth, toilet, stories, bed. Occasionally she might choose to watch a little telly instead of play, but we always try to fit in at least one story.
Freya goes to sleep straight away if she's tired, or might quietly play (lying in bed) for a short while first. She often puts on a story CD and falls asleep listening to that.

 

[sarah63]

Jack is 4 (5 in may) he is washed and in bed for 7 and we read him a story and have hugs etc... Since he has started school he like to try and read books on his own so we have started to allow him to have his lamp on untill 7.30 so he can read to himself.. usually we have no problems with him going to bed