How much do your 4 year olds sleep?

Our boys are 4.5 and I notice they don't want to sleep at the same time after our more relaxed Christmas schedule. I thought it was just a getting back to routine thing, but we've had crazy bedtime battles going on for nearly a month now and I am wondering if they just need a later bedtime instead?

We used to have bedtime at 7:30, they were almost always sleeping before 8. They wake up typically between 7:30. Now, we start the process the normal time, and kids are not getting to bed and falling asleep until 9. They seem to be functioning ok during the day. It's that hour prior that is nuts because we're expecting them to go to sleep and they are expecting to do the opposite of that.

I think we should just let them go to bed later rather than the struggle. Kris thinks this s the worst idea in history because he likes his quiet evenings. Not sure those are going to come back until they go to university, dude.,

Anyway, what is your 4 or 5 year old bedtime schedule like? Did you have any noticeable transitions around this age?

 

I'm guessing they aren't napping...

Our crew typically goes to bed anywhere between 8-9:15 pm. Lol. Annabella still naps(she's 4.5). And when she does it's at least 90 minutes if not 2 hours. We've never had bedtime issues really(except when boys were napping at 5.5 and staying up late-so we canned the nap). They go upstairs and go to bed. They may chat etc but it's not disruptive. And half the time of them going to bed late, it's because dh and I are just too tired to go put them to bed lol.

What are they doing from 8-9? Maybe push back your start time to 8pm with goal of them in bed by 8:30?

 

We are both quiet evening type people, too. Dh goes to bed by 9:30, as he gets up before 5 so if we want any alone time together it happens at night.

If they nap, the first kid goes upstairs to get dressed, go potty, brush teeth and stories usually around 8. 2nd kid I repeat the process 10 min after I tuck in the 1st. Sebastian is a champion staller so sometimes it's a 45 minute process to get the above done.

If they don't nap around 7 I start the process with the goal of 1 kid being in bed around 7:40, 2nd kid by 8:15.

They are usually awake around 6:30, 7 if they go to bed late.

 

Our twins are 4.5 too and our schedule looks like this:
 
6.15 am:  latest wake-up time, they often come for morning snuggles at 5.45 am when DH gets up
12.30 pm: quiet time for about an hour, DS often naps during this time at pre-school, DD rarely naps but does rest and listen to stories, music, audiobooks
6.30/6.45 pm: go upstairs and start bedtime routine
7.00/7.15 pm: lights out
7.30 pm: they are asleep
 
So DD typically get 10.5 hours of sleep and DS gets 11.5 hours (he has always needed more sleep).
 
When DH does bedtime on my late office days the whole evening routine often shifts back by as much as an hour, so they fall asleep around 8.30 pm and then the next morning is really difficult. I am stricter with the routine because I do mornings with the kids every day and I see the difference an hour of sleep makes immediately.
 
We protect out quiet evenings because it is the only time we have together alone and we both often bring home work for the evenings too. So I do understand Kris. If you prefer to try and keep your evenings quiet for a little longer, would you be willing to try waking them half an hour earlier? You would probably have to do this for at least a week or two before it has a consistent effect on bedtime.

 

I was just thinking this same exact thing!!!  My boys are almost 5 and they are in bed, asleep between 8 and 8:30 most nights and awake between 6:30 and 7:00... so I would say they average 10.5 hours of sleep.
 
I went through the same battle with my husband about a year ago when we moved their bedtime up from 7:00 to 7:30.  We struggled with yelling and punishments to "encourage" them to stay in bed and go to sleep and it really made our evenings terrible (they were crazy, shouting, jumping, and throwing stuff around at bedtime).  We pushed their bedtime back and spend some time cuddling and settling them in bed instead and it has made a world of difference.  If they are just chatty, not asleep until 9 but behaving, I'd say keep it the way it is.  But if your bedtime is becoming a big struggle (less than quiet!), I'd say push back bedtime 30 minutes.  Good luck

 

I agree strongly with Kris on this one. I can't imagine my life, sanity, or marriage if the kids were up past 8. Plus, I really think 4 year olds still need 11-12 hours of sleep a night. The twins go to bed at 8:00.

 

I also cannot imagine my kids going to be past 8.  For my sanity and theirs.  Mine sleep 11-12 hours and they just turned 5.  Lights out at 7 asleep by 7:30 and they wake up between 6:30-7:30 am. 

 

My boys sleep about 10.5-11 hours a night.
 
On weekdays, they are in bed by 8pm and we get up at 6:30am.  I do think it takes them a bit to fall asleep, but not long.  They have a nap time at preschool, and sometimes they do drift off a bit, but that's an hour at most, sometimes not at all according to the teachers.
 
On weekends, they go to bed at 8pm, and they will sleep until around 7:30am, although sometimes they still get up at 6:30 if they aren't tired anymore (we let them play with toys on their room while we catch a bit more sleep). They don't nap on weekends at all.
 
We went through a bad spell of them fighting bedtimes for awhile, and some nights they were still awake at 9:30pm.  It was after they started preschool, which was a big change in routine, and after a few weeks, things settled down and they were back to their regular 8pm bedtime.
 
I have to agree with Kris.  Those couple of hours in the evenings are BIG to my sanity!!!

 

Don't get me wrong, I love my evenings too, but we aren't getting them right now; we are just getting stressful bedtime taking forever. If the trade off is an hour of them doing something quiet, then I will take it. I think we should be getting up earlier, but I also feel like our mornings will get rough again. And no, the boys haven't napped for over 2 years, if the do sleep for some reason bedtime is a nightmare.

Kids! Just when everything is good everything changes! It's good to know how many hours kids are getting and we will adjust our schedule accordingly.

 

Mine were getting about 12 hours of sleep at 4.  They still do with being in kindergarten.  I am a quiet evening type person as well.  The kids are usually in bed by 8:15, my son usually falls asleep pretty quickly where it takes my daughter a little bit longer to fall asleep.  I'd say she is asleep around 8:45-9.  At 6, they probably sleep 10-11 hours.

 

My two-some will be 5 in feb.  Since they started school last fall, bedtime is around 8 (just before if we can, but sometimes it's just after), and they are usually asleep pretty quick.  Up at 6:45 for school.  Rylee tends to fall right to sleep, but she gets up easier in the morning.  Liam takes longer to get to sleep and is slower to wake in the morning.  I have to wake them up.  They are usually up by 7:30 on the weekends, rarely later than that.
 
We can't get bedtime any earlier, David gets home from work at 7, we eat supper as a family, then rush to get the kids ready for bed.  If I could I might try to get them into bed at 7:30 but I really don't think they would go to sleep any earlier.
 
By friday they are both very tired, but not exhausted if that makes sense.  You can just tell they've had a long week at school and are ready to sleep in a bit over the weekend.  That extra 30-45 mins on sat and sun seem to be enough to recharge them for the next week.
 
When bedtime became a battle is usually when we switched things up.  Either removing naps, or setting bedtime a bit later (or morning wake up a bit earlier).

 

What's your bedtime routine now? Instead of changing the timing, maybe change how you are preparing them for bed? What time do you guys all get home from work/school? I know my girls fight bedtime more when we have a busy evening or if I work late. Btw, at 4 mine were sleeping 11-12 hrs a night.

 

My 4 year olds were great stallers at bedtime and it was dragging until after 8pm, then DH heard of this book '10 minutes till bedtime'. He's been doing this for about a week now and they rush through getting ready for bed and lights out. They still come out occasionally after lights out but at least bedtime is a bit easier

 

We typically get home around 6, and eat by 7, jammies and teeth brushed by 7:30, upstairs to bed and stories/talking/tuckins between 7:30-8. Lately they've just been going crazy after lights out getting into everything, going into another room. One night I was watching a tv show and when I came up and noticed the upstairs light was on, they were in the spare bed with a sticker book and stickers EVERYWHERE. It was nearly 10 pm. I am too tired for all of this!

 

The girls are in bed from 7:30-6:30 right now. They often fight sleep the first thirty minutes, so it's really more like 8:00. They do still nap an hour or so a day. On weekends they usually sleep until 8:00. I would say that they get 12-13 hours total per day.