We have a little bit of "problem". It's not really a problem, but a curious situation.
We put Finnegan to bed each night at 8pm. This means that at 8pm, he has jammies on and makes his way upstairs for teethbrushing, and hops into bed. He lays in his crib, I turn the music and night light on, while he lays with his Moosie and his Paci. I leave the room, closse the door and retreat to adult time.
8pm has always been his bedtime... even when he was a baby. But we're noticing that he is staying up later and later. Sometimes, its only an hour, awake, enteretaining himself in his crib. But last night it was 2 hours. Granted, yesterday, he got a later nap, but not much later than he's used too. (about 1.5 hours later - because we all got up late in the morning). Anywho --
Here's the questions we're toying with:
- Should we push his bedtime back until 8:30 (he is 18 months old)??
- If we push his bedtime back - even if he doesn't go to sleep any later than he already is - will he (in theory) wake up later in the morning??
5 comments:
After six children, no - putting them to bed later or earlier, doesn't change their wakeup time. My children get up at the same time every morning (including Saturdays) no matter what time they went to bed. But, then again, every child is different. If he isn't crying, and he is just playing in his crib, why make a change? Don't fix what isn't broken. Just my thoughts.
With my boy a later bedtime has never led to a later wake up time, unfortunately. I know Matthew has always taken a little while to go to sleep and he seems to enjoy some time to himself before sleeping. But if you are worried Finn is taking too long I would be more inclined to have an earlier nap before changing to a later bedtime. I'm no expert though!
Wakeup time may in fact get EARLIER if he starts going to bed later...at least we have found that when James stays up late on occasion. If nothing else, he just wakes up at the same time, which we just love on Saturday mornings.
You may want to just make his nap a bit earlier in the day, if that works into your schedule. If he isn't feeling upset about being in bed and just laying there, I wouldn't mess with it (although I do see your point about 2 hours seeming excessive). It may also be that it is staying light out later at night. Neither of my boys enjoy getting into bed while it is still light out. Thank goodness daylight savings started even earlier this year...NOT.
I was going to comment, but it would seem that everyone else has already given their opinions - exactly what I would have said too. All I'll say is, good luck. I suppose if he's still sleeping through the night, let it go. :) Hope all is well with your pregnancy!!
Melissa
Agreed, both my kids get up with the sun no matter what time we put them to bed. It's always 7am!
My suggestion is to give an eariler nap and keep the bedtime at 8pm. We always put Brie to bed at 8pm, somedays she lays in bed reading stories for an hour, some days she goes right to sleep, but the routine helps keep my strongwilled/napless child in check. Good Luck--BTW are you going to put him in a big boy bed before the baby?
Post a Comment