When Should Bedtime Be?

Mine always was in bed by 7:30pm... she was just so tired after a full day at daycare and slept anywhere from 10-12 hours nightly, with a nap midday. They need tons of sleep at this age and sleep begets sleep... when they get too little, it actually leads to less sleep, not more and no one needs an overtired 2 year old!

Hope this helps,
K.

Every child and situation is different. I have a 2 and 4 year old and their bedtime has always been around 7:30-8:00. They usually wake up between 6:00 and 7:00 am, which is fine with me because I, too, am an early riser and my 4 year old goes to VPK, so we have plenty of time to get ready and not be rushed in the morning.

Good luck!

I start bedtime at about 6:45/7PM. By the time we are done with bath, pjs, teeth and hair brushing, and books, both my kids (4 and 2.5) are asleep between 7:30 and 8.

hi J.,
i've found that bedtime really depends on the child. my son goes to sleep at 9, which is on the later side but definitely right for him. i have friends whose two year olds go to sleep at 7, 7:3, 8 or 8:30. for us, we start the bath and bedtime routine at 8 and he is sleeping by 9.

if you are not sure what your daughter's natural bedtime is, just watch her for a couple of nights to see when she starts yawning, rubbing her eyes, slowing down and acting "tired." this is actually the time when she should be in bed almost ready to sleep, it is the window when sleep comes easily and overtiredness does not set in. once you determine this time, just subtract how long your bedtimei routine takes and get things started at that time.

good luck!

When my daughter was 2, she probably went to bed sometime around 8:30. At 3.5 she goes to bed by 9 pm. My daughter has never slept 11-12 hours straight at night in her life. I go by how well rested she is. She needs about 10 hours of sleep to be well rested. She's always been on the low end of sleeping though.

What time would you like her to go to bed so that you have some well deserved down time for yourself, and perhaps some quite time with your spouse if you are married?

My children have always had a bedtime of 8 P.M.

I have always put my children to bed between 8pm - 8:30pm. I have an 8 and a 2 year old. The later you put them to bed the less rest they get. It is soooooo important for children to sleep between 8 - 10 hours a night. They need more sleep than we do. Also, this provides you with some time to do things or sit and watch tv before going to bed.

When my daughter wakes up I leave her in her crib for about 30 - 40 minutes. I have noticed that when I got her out right when she wakes up she was not a pleassant child. Hope this helps.

I put my girls down at 8pm

My 2 year old goes to bed at 8:30, usually wakes at 7-8 & naps for 2-3 hours (1:30/2:30-4/5ish) But he has a really active schedule w/ playdates

Wow. I guess my 3 yr old girl gets to stay up late! LOL! She goes to bed at 9 pm. She takes a nap at around 1-2 that lasts about 2 hrs. She wakes up at about 8-9am, sometimes earlier. Works for us. If she goes to bed any earlier than she is up really early.

I think 8PMish is a good time to start the bedtime wind down (like bath time or whatever), then in bed by 8:30. Every child is different and every family is different. I have to wake my toddler at 7AM to take my daughter to school on time, so he goes down 8:30ish most week nights... but I let him stay up later on weekends (praying he'll sleep in a bit in the morning--haha!)

When my older kids were toddlers, we often had no where to rush to the next day, and my husband was working late hours so I'd let them stay up to spend some time with him, so they had later bedtimes and tended to sleep in a bit (until around 8AM)

It seem like 8 pm is a common time. My almost 2 yr old is like a clock, when it gets close to 7:30 or 8 he says "night, night" and he goes to his bed. Unfortunately, he's up at 5:30am :(

Hi J., I refer to "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Weissbluth for all sleep issues. He recommends 6:30 to 8 pm. It depends on your child, how well he sleeps and what kind of day he's had.

What time is not necessarily important. A two year old needs 11-12 hours of sleep a day (including the nap). I usually have my daughter (16 mths) in bed between 7-8 and my son (almost 4) between 7:30 and 8:30 and they both take about 1-2 hours in the afternoon.

We put our son down around 830pm. I've seen them go down anywhere from 7-730ish-like 10 or so. Whatever works for you, but they need like 11-12hr sleep generally. My son goes down around 830 & gets up usually between 7-730am.

i think that it really depends on your schedule. i have my children (5 & 3) go to bed @ 7:30p, even on the weekends. however, my sister put my neice down closer to 10p or so bc she stayed at home and there was no school and she preferred to sleep later in the morning and staying up late. my SIL puts her kids to bed at 8:30ish and her kids are the same age as mine. i get up early and my kids always have (no matter what time i lay them down) so i figure if i want some time to wind down it will have to be in the evenings. so i started to lay them down at 7:30. it works perfectly.

My 22 month year old goes to bed about 730ish..the problem if I keep him up too late he still wakes up early and then is crabby! I have friends who put their toddlers to bed much later but I think the norm is between 7-8

Hi J....2 year old should be getting at least 12 hours of sleep a night. When my girls were two (and even now that they are 5 and 7) I put them to bed no later than 8pm. I would put them down at 7:30pm if they couldn't tell time. I hope that helps!!

My 2 year old son generally goes to bed around 7:30pm.

This is a tricky question! :-) I would say that 7:00 - 7:30 is probably the best time; however, there are a thousand and one other things to consider! If you are a working mom, then by the time you get home and get dinner ready, get her in the bath, etc. 7:00 is just about impossible! If she has to get up at 6:00 (or just gets up that early on her own) then the earlier the better. If she doesn't get up till 8:00 a.m. then 7:30 would be fine.

I personally had my boys in bed between 7:30 and 8:00 at that age. I am a working mother with all the stress that comes with it and like I said above - you have all those other things to do. You also want to spend some time with them - whether it is reading or just laying on the couch and enjoying a bit of TV time together.

The point of all this rambling is it depends on the child and you, but certainly no later than 8:00.

My 10 year old is in bed by 8:30. He has to get up at 6am to get ready for school and even on the weekends he is alseep and awake at the same time. So the time doesn't change on the weekends. Even with both my boys were your daughters age, they were asleep no later than 8:00pm. Good Luck K. S.

That depends on your family schedule. Are you normally up in the mornings by 7 am? If so, then your 2 yr old should be in bed falling asleep around 7 pm. If you all sleep in later in the mornings, then you probably can have her in bed a little later as well (not if you WANT to sleep later, but if your child naturally stays sleeping later). Some kids (mine!) wake up at a pre-set internal time that has nothing to do with what time they went to sleep the night before. If your child is like that (mine almost NEVER slept beyond 7 am and even now at ages 8 and 11 don't sleep later than about 7:45 even ont he weekends) then you need to try to keep a consistent bedtime in the neighborhood of 7 pm. They will not sleep later just because they go to bed later... they will just be irritable all day if they haven't gotten adequate sleep.

Try to have a regular bedtime routine that is not more than 30 minutes long (including teeth brushing, potty, story and prayer time, etc). If it is longer, it looses some of its effectiveness in "signaling" bedtime. Then have her in bed with the lights out at about that same time each night, even on weekends.

As your daughter grows, you can move her bedtime back later if it works for your family routine, as her need for sleep decreases (but only a little) over time. I still try to have my 11 yr old in bed around 9:00. He seems to need about 9 1/2 -10 hours sleep to feel really rested.

I never had a schedule for my first child and boy it was a pain getting her to bed. Now we start at 7 or 7:30 getting her ready for bed. Bath, dressed, snack, goodnites,brush teeth in bed, small talk about good day we had, lullabye, and final kiss goodnite. Kid asleep by 8:30, wakes up at 8am

Once i followed Supernanny.com advice, no more cranky mornings or very honory child before bed. Life is better. We do amend the actual bedtime sometimes do to special days. Grandma can never stick to the schedule adn always has her going to bed an hour later. Sometimes the day requires her to go to be earlier.

I would say between 8:30-9:30pm. depending on the night for my kids that is the time I would put them down and now that they 14,13,5,and 4 I still do the same thing!! Good luck!!

7 pm is a good time for a child that is 2 and then move it to 7:30 when they get closer to 3. I wouldn't go later than 8 for a 3 year old. They need 12 hours a night and a nap of 2-3 hours