How many hours sleep for kids ?

robnye

we started our kids at an early age, with a routine at night

my kids are 9,12,14
the 9 yo - sun-thurs= 8:15 - 8:20
fri - sat = 08:30 - 9:00

12 yo - sun-thurs = 08:45 - 09:00
fri -sat = 09:15 - 09:45

14 yo - sun-thurs - 09:45 - 10:00
fri-sat = 10:00-10:30

these arent strict times, but they do work

the middle one is the early bird at the weekend and tends to start moving around at approx 6:00am, but otherwise they all wake up with alarms at 7am midweek

jellyhead

gosh jay-jay, i hope i have a little one that sleeps as much as yours does lol! since starting to sleep properly (not until he was 3 years old though) my 8 year old needs around 10 hours. less than 9 and he can't cope, he feels horrible. he gets emotional, he can't concentrate, he feels irritated and niggly, etc. he's normally in bed by 8, sometimes 8.30. his friends go to bed later than he does, i would let him stay up later if he could cope but he really does need more sleep than his friends do and can't get up for school if he goes to bed late.

i know children of 4 and 5 who rarely go to bed before midnight. teachers complain that they can't concentrate but their parents say if they were tired they wouldn't wake up at 5 or 6am.

tightgit_2

The meditation cd's are a great idea. They love it when I do meditation with them, but I don't always have the time. I will try to find some suitable for them. They used to be excellent sleepers when they were young and I found it easy to get them to bed on time, but as they have got older it has just got more and more difficult.

Savvy_Sue

tightgit wrote:

My kids are 12 and 9 and they share a room. They are normally in bed by 9.00, which I think is o.k for the 12 year old, but a bit late for the 9 year old. But the 9 year old will not go to bed on his own. At the weekend they'd stay up all night if I let them, they just don't feel tired. I am sure this ruins their routine, but it seems a bit mean not to let them stay up.

We had a nightmare when we first moved down here: we'd been gazumped, and the only certainty we had was where the kids were going to school, so we ended up staying with a friend. 3 adults and 3 kids, then 7, 9 and 12 in a 3 bed semi meant the 3 kids in one room, youngest on a mattress on the floor. I used to put him to bed, but he never went to sleep before the other two came up, separately. Then the eldest had to get up really early to get to school, and woke the other two up. Middle son could cope, he's always been an early riser, but youngest was so tired the school wondered if he was depressed!

Officially the younger two still share a room, but we moved middle son out when a French exchange student came last summer and he's never quite made it back to his old bed ... but it was getting more and more difficult anyway, youngest likes a nightlight, middle one doesn't, youngest was waiting up for middle one, who was coming up later and later and later. Now 15, I think I'm lucky if I can boot him into bed before midnight: he says he's not tired and won't go to sleep anyway, it's a constant battle but he does still get up for school OK.

Younger one also more and more difficult to get to bed: now 12, he thinks it's OK to ignore me completely, and that his bedtime should be later than 9 pm. I've told him when he actually gets to bed regularly at 9 pm I'll discuss making it later, but since he can't tell me when he last went to bed at 9 pm I will continue asking him to go then. Shouted so loudly when I found him watching TV at 10.20 pm two days ago that I have had the sore throat from hell ever since. (Where ARE the smilies! ???)

But, one thing to tackle would be the youngest feeling scared. Nightlights, door open, reading, quiet radio - my feeling is that even if not actually asleep, being in bed is more restful than being up. Maybe start with a short period of being on their own, and extend it as they get better at it. It's useful ready for when older one goes away on school trips or sleepovers etc, and for when younger one wants to do these things: you don't want a crisis of fear then!

As for weekends, yes mine stay up later at weeekends, and have done ever since they stopped being crabby and unreasonable when overtired. But sometimes I need them to get out of my hair, so letting them read in bed is to my mind preferable to having them watch their rubbish instead of mine on TV!

Oh for the days when I was bigger than them and could pick them up and carry them upstairs ...

kevinlawry_2

dont worry about it mine go at 7 and wake up at 7 think you might be over reacting

Poppy9

Mine slept for min of 13 hours until the age of 5 - gradually this has reduced to about 11 hours. Everyone is different. If pre school and still having a daytime nap they might need less at night. I think the guide is can they get up in the morning, are they crabby? If so they need more sleep. As a poor sleeper myself I sympathise. I am a real night owl and come to life at 10pm. Never asleep before 1am usually 2am. Trouble is I would sell my soul at 7am for a lie in I have tried all the tricks for making you sleepy and it just doesn't work for me.

As an aside do many of you allow TV's or playstation in childs bedroom. I have always refused. Not because I am worried about what is being watched but more that its a bit anti social. At what age do you think I should give in. I was 20 before I had a tv in my room LOL - don't think I will manage to hold out this long as Grandma already offered one for little P 10th birthday. :cool:

Trix

My kids (7 and 10) haven't got TVs in their rooms. Eldest has a PC but doesn't use it too much (her choice). I don't allow it to be used in the hour before bedtime though which we class as 'quiet time' where no playing etc is done, just reading or cuddling on the settee watching quiet programmes. I have no intention of letting them have TVs in their rooms until they are at least in their teenage years. I agree that a lot of it is the social thing - once they have TVs they disappear into their rooms so there is little 'family life' and you lose out on chats - not only about what is being watched, which often brings up issues that are good to be discussed, but life in general. But I don't agree with kids watching TV to go to sleep either. It stimulates the mind too much and doesn't allow it to shut down slowly, doesn't allow time to think about anything that has happened during the day and can become too much of a habit so they can't sleep without it.
My nephew has had a TV and DVD in his own room since he was 2 (or maybe younger) and spends most of his time alone in his room watching it. I don't know if he still does but he used to eat all his meals in his room as well while watching films - alone. Yet at night time he still shares a bed with his parents (nearly five years old) and hasn't slept in his own bed since he was born :eek: . He will have a brother in a couple of months so the bed is going to be a bit squashed!

grant1wish

What a great thread.

My daughter shows that all children are definately different. She is 16 months, and we have desperately tried to get her into a routine. But from one day to the next we have no real idea of what time she will go to sleep and what time she will get up.

It is often around 9.00 at night (is this bad for her, she is not at nursery or pre-school yet) and gets up anytime between 7.00 and 9.30.

It all depends on the days activities and the length of nap in the day.

Looking at other posts, and the great routines the kids are in I feel like a cr*p dad!

G1W

Poppy9

grant1wish

No you are not a crap Dad. I remember feeling pressure from older family members to get a routine going from the 1st week. Me I just chilled and slept when she slept as I was off work. The health visitor called once and had obviously woken me - she just smiled and said great she would see me again. Later told me that she wished more parents would play it by ear in the first few weeks if possible and snatch sleep at every opportunity. Getting a routine was quite simple after a few weeks - I noticed a pattern. The bad side was it was a 6 hour sleep in the day and no more than 3 unbroken at night. Waking her from the long day sleep was impossible so the only option was to stop her going to sleep. By 4 months the long sleep was at night which was great. When down to one day sleep and it was gradually getting later in the afternoon (about 2pm aged 18 months) I stopped her sleeping by day altogether most days. This was because she wasn't waking until 5pm and then wouldn't go to bed till 9pm. Not too late for her but give us little grownup time. Instead I put her to bed about 6pm (frequently earlier ) and she would sleep until 7.30am at least. However if she was exceptionally tired in the afternoon and crabby I would have to let her sleep though.

Trix - glad I am not the only one. I didn't even think about letting her have a PC in her room. Another issue for another day no doubt

RCB28

Just in case anyone has kids aged 5 and nearly 3 here are our bedtimes!!!

Ours both go to bed at 7pm (sometimes later on weekends or during holidays but they still get up at the same time and are crotchety so I sometimes think what's the point???!!!) and they wake at approx 7am so 12 hours sleep for both.

Routine works for me...I have to have some time with my husband...ahem even though I'm now spending this time selfishly glued to my PC...ooops!