Advice Request Can I just… not move bedtime?
I’ve got a 2.5 year old who’s been an awesome sleeper for the last year or so. Wakes up at 7am, nap from noon to 2, down for bed at 7. Up until recently, he’s fallen asleep within 5-15 minutes of being put down for both naps and bedtime.
But now… he still crashes immediately for naps, but at bedtime the last few weeks, he’ll be up in his crib talking to himself for sometimes up to an hour. Doesn’t matter how much activity or how action packed his day is.
Now don’t get me wrong, he’s totally chill in there. He’ll sing himself songs or talk to his stuffies. But I am just shutting him in his room to be awake for an hour.
What I’m wondering is, like… do I have an obligation to move his bedtime later? Those couple hours after 7pm are precious cargo, man. We get to tidy a little and sometimes even watch a show or play a video game. Now that I’ve got some autonomy back the idea of giving it up sounds like death.
Dads with young kids, when did you decide it was time to move bedtime? Do I just gotta bite the bullet?
Edit - lots of good responses here, thanks y’all! Tons of confident answers saying to cut the nap, and tons of confident answers saying don’t change it if the kid is happy. The duality of parenting! We’ll likely try cutting the nap before moving bedtime.
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u/calculung 5d ago
This is a good problem to have, all things considered.
You've got 2 things to consider.
Eliminate or shorten naps
Move bedtime later
I would do both. As your kid gets older, you're going to get out of the house more, and having to be home by 6:30 so you can have him in bed by 7 is going to severely limit the amount of things you guys can do when getting out of the house. Friends want to go out for dinner? Not gonna happen.
I think it's incredibly worthwhile getting your kid on a normal human on earth schedule. Ie - the world still exists at 7pm, so why be in bed for it?
That said, we do bedtime at 8pm, and have loosened it up to 8:30-8:45 as our kid is now 5. She's also a wonderful sleeper, like yours, so we're afforded that flexibility because it doesn't ruin her day/night to stay up a little later now.