Activity time for a nearly 4 year old?

[snowbird]

Well LJ was waking at 6.30am ish and going to bed at 6pm, asleep by 6.45-7pm maybe. (12 hour 15 min A). Now we are in a bit of a mess and we are not sure if we are putting her down too early or if she is OT and needs to go down earlier. Help please!

She is hard work to get to bed and I know this could be the whole 'nearly 4' thing. She plays and plays in her bedroom and messes around and sometimes does not go to sleep until 8pm, sometimes later. She did play before and we pretty much just left her to it and said to go to sleep when she was ready and she did so pretty quickly.

Tonight she seems tired (maybe not I'm thinking now - still awake! Maybe just very sensitive at the mo). Went up at 6.10pm and probably left 25 mins later. She's still awake now  Woke at 7am this morning so I think we put her down to early.

We have tried a 6.30pm bt, but she's still been hard work. Also she's sometimes lying in longer now - assuming that's making up for the late nights she sometimes has!

So what A time do your 35 months olds have? She's 4 in 3 weeks! Any advice on what I should do?

Hope my ramblings make sense and haven't sent you away.
Thanks xxxx

[*Liz*]

My DD is going on 5 now.... But she is generally asleep by 7.15pm. I do find she has to be in bed by 7pm else she is a pest to get settled. She wakes usually between 6.30 and 7am, but can sleep until 8am if she needs a catch up.

Because she lies in I don't tend to do EBT much - she will catch up at the other end anyway iyswim? My DS doesn't sleep in so I would bring his bedtime forwards.

I don't think in terms of A times anymore as it is just SO variable now. I just know that she sleeps 11.5-12hrs at night and set bedtime from there. Same with my DS1 at 6.5 years - he sleeps 10-10.5hrs so I just set it from there.

[~*Nicole*~]

My guy wakes up pretty close to 6:30 am but doesn't usually get to bed until fairly late. I'd say he's asleep around 8:30 pm give or take. But he does still nap at school most days for about an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes. So he has his nap about 6 hours after he wakes up on school days but then often does no nap on weekends at home unless he does a catnap in the car. It's hard to get bedtime to be earlier as I do bedtime with DD and DS at the same time. Plus he seems used to the weeknight bedtime and doesn't seem to settle any earlier even without a nap. If he stopped napping at school I'd try to bring his bedtime forward much earlier but for now this is what it is.

[michaeljacknnugg]

DS needed 10.5-11hrs of sleep overnight at that age. Like Liz I just went for a bedtime that fitted in with his needs.

Body clock plays more into things as they get older, too. Some people (DS, and me too!) have real difficulty going against their pre-set times. He's always been an early bird and I'm not expecting that to change. You might need to find the sweet spot that matches both her body clock and sleep needs.

[snowbird]

Because she lies in I don't tend to do EBT much - she will catch up at the other end anyway iyswim? My DS doesn't sleep in so I would bring his bedtime forwards.

Thanks, Liz! Yes, LJ would never normally sleep in, but it has become something she will do over the last 6 months or so - maybe we'll leave ebt for now then and go with a set one.

Thanks ladies for the details of your routines. Thinking about trying for 6.30pm bt (PJs immediately after dinner to save faffing time), with an aim to leave at 7pm and her to be asleep by 7.15pm/7.30pm. LOL - she might have other ideas! xxx

[creations]

Mine only turned 4 a couple of months ago so I'm definitely the one here saying the 'nearly 4' thing is likely having an effect.  Mine didn't actually change BT or WU significantly but his sleep was certainly disturbed during the birthday time.

The other thing I always see here is his sleep is effected by the seasons changing.  He seems to sense the change and it effects his sleep long before I realise the season is changing or the clocks are going to change. It has always caused us a problem, less so now that he understands more and we can talk with him about it but for instance he's been waking at 5 or 6 the last couple of weeks, at 6 he is convinced it is morning and even left his room a couple of times instead of waiting for his timer lights.  After a chat about seasons and clocks etc he accepted he was just getting it wrong. His body clock is very strong and you could normally set your watch by it but across the season change it goes all out of whack and he is confused and up early.
Clocks change next weekend.

[snowbird]

Mmm, thanks Creations!! Well we are doing half 6 going up to bed, leaving around 7.05. Still playing a little bit and not long been asleep now but know that these boards always soppy to give it a good try so she can get used to it. So sticking with it for a couple of weeks xxx

[Buntybear]

I am pretty sure that 4 is an age where sleep need can drop dramatically. There are many 4 years old getting/needing 11 hours or even less sleep at that age.

I am guessing your LO is fairly high sleep needs though? TBH if she is going up at 6pm then I doubt she is OT at nearly 4? I am trying to remember but fairly sure it was that age Olly's bedtime went back a good half an hour suddenly. His BT went to 8pm to 6.30-7am.

Also agree with Creations. Olly has just started waking up at 6-6.30am again and I am sure it is because the morning are getting lighter (although he has a black out blind). A friend said today her DS is also waking with the dawn although he has a light on all night so again wouldn't be affected but the sunlight!

[creations]

Olly has just started waking up at 6-6.30am again and I am sure it is because the morning are getting lighter (although he has a black out blind). A friend said today her DS is also waking with the dawn although he has a light on all night so again wouldn't be affected but the sunlight!

It's almost freakish isn't it? DS's room is blacked out too. This morning it was sometime between 5 and 6 he woke and eventually he started making stupid noises and whispering Mummy because he was so bored waiting so long for his timer lights.

I am pretty sure that 4 is an age where sleep need can drop dramatically.

Yes I'm expecting this at some point this year too. If it wasn't for the season change happening now I could suspect drop in sleep needs but today he asked for EBT as he's lost so much sleep the last couple of weeks due to the early mornings.

sticking with it for a couple of weeks

Hope it works out for you

[snowbird]

Thanks. Yes always needed lots of sleep. I will make a note of how it all goes over the next couple of weeks and see what I find xxx

[pgibb]

My daughter is 4 in 3 months & we're also having a few bedtime problems that started recently. She used to sleep 6.30pm-6.30am but now she's taking around 45 mins to get to sleep & waking early. I wondered if her sleep needs were dropping as its very rare she'll have 12 hrs now,most nights sleeps 11-11.5 hrs. We shifted bedtime slightly later so left her at 6.30pm instead.  Some days she seems a little tired and grumpy but is mostly managing fine with that. The clocks changing has shifted everything an hour late at the moment. I'm hoping to try & shift things back a bit earlier as her waking later during the week isn't ideal with getting ready for work etc trying to creap around & she wakes quite easily! She seemed tired today so tried for a slightler earlier night but still took so long to get to sleep didn't really work out!!!x

[snowbird]

Hard work eh pgibb. We've had lots of we problems and managed to work with them, but late bt and late wu is new to us lol!

Just got back from 5 days holiday and not been too worried about her bt.normally we would limit the entertainment in the evening and protect bt, but she's not going to sleep anyway so not worrie about it!

She's been falling asleep quicker, but we've been leaving her st about 8.45pm. Asleep by just after 9. Woke at a bout 8.45am this morning - biggest lie in ever! Yes, the clocks have made bt 9pm. Our plan is to move things back slowly, 15mins at a time.

Got home from hols at 4.30pm today after a 4.5 hour trio home.lj played a bit and after dinner we took her for a walk in the hope of tiring her out and then played with her. Went up to bed at 7.30pm, left at 8pm and asleep by 8.45pm. It's going to be a hard slog this one lol! Xxx

[Buntybear]

Olly's bedtime has also gone back by 30 mins but we are leaving it there for the mo as it is the holidays and we are getting lie ins!

[snowbird]

Yes, had more lie ins recently than ever!

Bed at 7.05pm and asleep by 8.15pm. Bt routine took a while and settled v quickly. Woke up at 6.35am today hence earlier bt. Gro clock set for 7am tomo, wish us luck 😉 xx

[Buntybear]

Good Luck! xx