Do/Did you have a night owl and how did you adjust their bedtime?

DD is 15 months and for as long as I can remember she has always gone to bed late, I am talking 10pm or later. This does not bother us because if she was to go to bed at the usual 7pm that everyone elses children seem to go to bed at, she would never see her daddy who doesnt get home from work until about then. But I think she needs much more sleep than the she is getting.

She usually only has one day sleep which could be anywhere from about 30 mins to 1.5 hours.

I am wondering how should I go about it, do I bring it back half an hour at a time each few days until I get the time i want.

I am worried about her waking earlier if I make her bed time earlier, currently she sleeps to about 8am.

have you had success with this?

Salad - We have always had a late bed time too, and also like you, are ok with this because it means DH and DS get some quality time together and we all have dinner together.

I have never bothered to adjust his sleep as the few times that I attempted all hell broke loose and I instinctively knew that it wasn't going to achieve anything. I also found that trying to change it just ended in fights and tears until normal bedtime when he would settle down nicely and that would be it. And so I have watched with interest as he has changed his bedtimes himself.

For a while he bumped it up to 10-11pm but we are now back down to 8.30 - 9.30. He is only 20 months old too, so if you really don't think it is harming her, I would say continue following her lead, and when she starts to quieten down at night take her somewhere quiet and do quiet activites, like read stories in a soft voice and sing gentle songs like Twinkle Twinkle and just let her wind down without any other distrations.

Good luck! :hug:

Thanks mummy tummy, the last thing I want to do is rock the boat we are already having enough issues with her staying asleep at night, the last thing i want is problems getting her to sleep.

my 3 yr old has a 9pm bedtime he always has well when he was littler he would go down then wake for a feed

a lot of people comment we should have him in bed earlier he is happy goes off to bed happily, wake happy when ever if I need to wake him as we have to go out he wakes fine so I am like well it works for us

I agree Rach - it seems to be everyone else that thinks we have him in bed too late. But it works for him and it works for us, and I always ask those people when their little darling wakes up - it is invariably 6 or 6.30. When I say DS wakes up at 8am (7.30 if we need to wake him earlier) I always see that little flash of green eyed monster!! So I figure he isn't any different, just that his routine is a couple of hours later.

I think everyone needs different amounts of sleep, no one person is the same. In my household, 9 or 10pm bedtime is extremely late, but that's my household only. I certainly don't think there's anything wrong with that doing. My DD1 is in bed by 8pm and sleeps till 8-9am.
You say you think she may need more sleep. Is she looking more tired during the day or at night? If she is, then you could try bringing her bedtime early by say 30 minutes to begin with. But if she likes to see Daddy before going to bed, than that might be tricky.

If it doesn't bother you, then I'd leave it.
My little guy used to go to bed around 11. It nearly killed me. That meant I had not a single minute to myself all day as DD gets up before 6.
For some reason he'd go to bed at 6 because he was tired but only do one sleep cycle and then be up until 11.
We started not letting him get up and laying with him until he went back to sleep. Now he goes to bed at 6. He does wake up lots but he goes back to sleep pretty quick. He has started to get up about an hour earlier but I can deal with that, rather that than the late bedtime. Plus he gets about 5 extra hours sleep so one less is no biggie.
Much much nicer.

We have a little night owl as well. 9pm is Sam's usual bed time, 8pm is the earliest he's ever gone down for the night. He sleeps until around 7am and wakes happy... He also still has two day sleeps most days at 16 months old. Today is looking like only one day sleep - but that one day sleep was three and a half hours (:o) plus a little 15 minute catnap in the car this afternoon.

If it works for your family, then stick with it. I look at families that insist on a 7pm bed time... and occasionally think that would be nice - but I also notice those families often complaining that the kids are wanting to start the day at 5am - not for me, thank you!

BW