Will you let your toddler stay up till they crash for the holidays or do you put them to bed/leave someplace when they start melting down?
We are hosting Christmas Eve. Told everyone to come after 3 and dinner is at 5. Last year we hosted and I got my ass handed to me by my in-laws for wanting to put my just turned 1 year old to bed at 8:30pm because she was rubbing her eyes, yawning and was getting cranky. DH put them in their place very fast as I went upstairs to put her to bed. So I'm dreading this year and what they will say when it's time for bed.
DD will be 2 in a few days and is usually sleeping around 8 after starting her bedtime routine at 7. The latest I have kept her up is 8:30pm and it was so difficult to put her down that night.
Post by MadamePresident on Dec 19, 2014 21:26:42 GMT -5
My kid will usually be happy until she crashes and will go to sleep easy. So I'd let her stay up, if she was hard to get to sleep, I'd probably sick closer to bedtime.
Post by Velar Fricative on Dec 19, 2014 21:32:11 GMT -5
For holidays and other special events, she's done pretty good until around 9:00. Bedtime is 7:30-8:00.
I'm okay with bending the rules for special occasions BUT my kid does okay with it. If she didn't, I'd make no apologies about putting her to bed or leaving early. We are hosting Christmas Day dinner this year so we will take advantage of putting her to bed when she is done for the night. Likewise, we have a few babies coming and no offense taken if their parents leave early.
Post by ilikedonuts on Dec 19, 2014 21:32:17 GMT -5
My kids can go all night (at 11 months DD2 lasted until 11:45pm at disney) but if they needed a strict bedtime I'd be following it and telling off anyone who gave me a problem about it.
We will let him stay up until he crashes. Not sure how New Year's Eve will go. We will be at a friend's house 40 minutes away. DS loves playing with their kids so it will be interesting to see how long he can hang out.
I'll push an hour or so, but only if it's for something I'm interested in. Staying up late the night before Christmas at my house for my ILs? Not likely. Once a year party with people we rarely see? Maybe.
This is very, VERY much one of those things where I want to punch pre-kids me in the face with my, "Ohhhh we'll be totally flexible! The baby will fold into our lives and schedule! Tra la la la la!"
Hahahahahahaha fuck you, me 18 months ago.
It sucks because my SIL has two kids 5 and almost 2 and they'll stay up until like midnight and sleep the next day away. She always gives me PA shit about not staying all night with Cora and leaving "early" at 8pm.
Last year my FIL was like "we just let our kids crash when we were out". Dude, maybe when they were like 5 or older but a 1 year old and even a 2 year old? You don't just let them crash. My kid has never just crashed anywhere except her crib.
Post by Velar Fricative on Dec 19, 2014 21:41:36 GMT -5
I remember feeling like such a genius when I thought to have PJs, sleepsack and an overnight diaper with us when we went out late. Change her just before leaving, put her arms through the sleepsack but don't zip up until we get home, and DONE. Luckily she slept well in the car so it was NBD to zip up her sleepsack and transfer her to bed after getting home.
During football season, O is regularly up till 9 or later on Thursdays and Fridays. We're on our way home from a basketball game right now. If he's getting obviously tired, we go home, but he is normally fine as long as there is activity. We let him stay up later at my parents and fil houses.
Will you come here on Christmas Eve and tell my MIL off? Or just let me borrow your balls so I can tell her off myself?!?!
What is there to tell off? At 6:58, I say "Say night night to grandma!" and carry her to bed.
My ILs (and to a certain extend my amazing and fantastic parents) do NOT "get" DD's early (to them) bedtime. But they're not the parent. And they're not the ones who have to wake up with her. (Well, my parents do when I stay with them but they don't question my parenting either unlike my $:9^{^€@ ILs).
I did this last year and my MIL yelled at me saying "lmb, it's christmas eve. You can not put that baby to bed yet". In front of everyone. I sat there staring at her with my mouth on the ground. I know I said something back about her being tired but the idiot just kept yelling at me. That's when I took her upstairs and stayed in our bedroom after she finally fell asleep. Bitch ruined my holiday. This year, DH said to tell him when I want to put DD to bed and he'll do the dirty work.
I remember feeling like such a genius when I thought to have PJs, sleepsack and an overnight diaper with us when we went out late. Change her just before leaving, put her arms through the sleepsack but don't zip up until we get home, and DONE. Luckily she slept well in the car so it was NBD to zip up her sleepsack and transfer her to bed after getting home.
This worked for us for a while and it was the best! Plus, all the people wherever we were just loved a little boy in jammies:)
My kid will usually be happy until she crashes and will go to sleep easy. So I'd let her stay up, if she was hard to get to sleep, I'd probably sick closer to bedtime.
This is us. Other than the past week DD is usually fine being up later and luckily enough will sleep later in the morning to compensate. Which is good news because the kid will sleep nowhere else other than her bed.
I push bedtime a bit more with DS but he needs it more. He will also sleep pretty much anywhere so there's that.
I have already told my dad who is always late with dinners that we will be leaving his house on Christmas at 6pm so I can get t to bed at 7pm. We are going to be exhausted visiting family at a few different locations on christmas day.
Christmas eve we will probably let her stay up till 8 depending on her mood. We will be celebrating at where we are staying so we bribe her with staying up only after she gets completely ready for bed so all she has to do is jump in bed when we say bedtime
Until we're ready to go. However, we won the lottery with this kid and he has no issues with staying up until whenever or crashing wherever. Only you know your kids' limits, so do what works for you and EFF everyone else.
It can depend on the day and circumstances. At home, DS is ready for bed by 7:30. If we are somewhere especially exciting, he can be distracted for maybe an hour past his bedtime. I bring an overnight diaper, pjs and throw him in the car. The transition to the bed is pretty easy for us once he's out. But he won't sleep any later in the morning, so staying up way late never ends well.
We do get shit from my ILs when we do this... But then again, if he's tired and whining, my MIL will say, 'Ohhhh this little boy is sooooooo tired.' But if we leave early we get 'Oh, you're leaving so soon.'
Whatever. I have to deal with the baby the next morning, so we play by my rules.
we leave at her normal-late bedtime (630). which usually means she ends up going to bed about an hour late. that's really all she can handle. idgaf if it bothers anyone. when she isn't a baby, we can try to push her more but our lives are all easier if i just meet her needs.
even when we traveled for tgiving she didn't go bed much later than 7.
actually, the only person who has given me shit is my sil, but that's her problem. my mil is more than gracious and my dad doesn't care.
If it's at my house (or the house where we are currently staying), I totally put them down at or near regular bedtime. Why? Because *I* need them to be in bed, so I can have a break from dealing with them!! Haha, am I the only one with that as my primarily reasoning?? I could probably keep mine up an hour or more late, and they'd be fine, but they'd wake at the same time as usual the next day. And I'd lose my post-bedtime kid-free time!
My girls are party animals and will stay up as late as we let them, but DS can only last maybe an hour past his usual bedtime. We take them home when they start to crash, and if we're hosting, I keep them closer to their usual bedtimes. It's better for everyone that way.
On Thanksgiving he stayed up playing with family until 10:30. He was horrible the next day - HORRIBLE - but it was still worth it. He doesn't get to see them that often.
this is the ONE TIME that having the world's crappiest sleeper comes in handy. this kid can stay up later than almost every adult I know. Without meltdowns or tantrums. Smiley and social until well past midnight...It's me who turns into a pumpkin and drags kiddo home.
This is what I was going to say too. Word for word.
Post by twolittlecheers on Dec 20, 2014 1:31:38 GMT -5
That's why we host so much. My kids don't sleep other places. So we host, they are home, and after they go bed I can relax. Ds is 17 months and we keep his bedtime around the same time. Dd is almost 4 so if she's doing ok we let her stay up.
this is the ONE TIME that having the world's crappiest sleeper comes in handy. this kid can stay up later than almost every adult I know. Without meltdowns or tantrums. Smiley and social until well past midnight...It's me who turns into a pumpkin and drags kiddo home.
This is what I was going to say too. Word for word.
Yup. All my kids are natural night owls. Normal life is basically a constant battle to get them to go to sleep at a decent hour. Holidays and special occasions are a nice excuse to skip the bedtime fight.
DS2 in particular becomes increasingly charming and delightful the later it gets (the other two are good for a while but do start to crash by 9:30-10ish). It's bizarre.
We are having this issue now. ILs are upset bc we don't want to attend Christmas Eve that starts at 7, when we start bedtime. We can get her to maybe 8, but her day is off afterward.
My mil saw E melting down at 7:30 on thanksgiving is giving DH crap about it.
Post by dulcemariamar on Dec 20, 2014 6:46:48 GMT -5
We can push her bedtime back two hours at most if my LO is having fun but the second we take her out of the environment she will go in total meltdown mode.
For the fact your DH let them have it last year, I'd hope it's not an issue this year.
That being said, at age 2, we Worked around his bedtime. He needed that. Trying to keep him up made everyone sad. Now, at 6? I won't do it weekly, but he's stayed up a good 2+ hours past his bedtime. I'll usually only do that when I know we can be lazy the next day.