Right now my 3 go to bed around 7:30. They are not asleep until 8:30/9. They get up anywhere from 7 until 9. Pre school is starting in the fall. They will have to be there by 8. So that means they will be having to be up by 6:30. I am thinking they need to be in the bed by 7 to be getting enough sleep.
My problem here is 3 nights a week their daddy will not be home until 8:30. That will be 3 days out of the week they will not get to see him or him them. Do I try to come up with other times they might be able to see him, go by his work when I pick them up. Or just let them not see each other those 3 days? Or just wing it and see how it goes?
Any ideas?
Thanks
Melissa

Melissa
mom to Abbie, Andy & Levi
November 11, 2005
34 weeks 5 days

http://benefieldtriplets.blogspot.com/

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I'm a firm believer that kids need their sleep. I would put them to bed at 7pm every night whether dh is home or not. And I'd sit by their door so they don't play and will actually fall asleep by 7:30pm.

Mary

born 12/12/04 33w2d

My girls will be 5 in July. They have gone to bed at 6:30 pm everynight since they came home from the NICU, they sleep until 6:30-7am. (Other than times when there was something going on or someone over.) My DH works wierd hours all week, so on the days he wont be home in time in the evening, he gets up early to see them before work. We usually have breakfast as a family instead of dinner. Dh always goes in at night and gives kisses and tucks them in.. My kids need their sleep so this works well for us. HTH

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Mine are in preschool now. We go to bed between 7:30-8 and they are up at 6:45 to get ready in time for school. They take short naps at school. A couple of things to think about.
1. Your timeline for getting them home, fed, bathed and in bed. We rush from about 5pm on to get everyone in bed by 8. I'd love to do 7, and I think they would sleep, but I can't figure out how to do it all quicker.
2. They will be tired. It is a big adjustment. I would really try to guard their sleep. I personally like the idea of stopping by to see Daddy at work if it works for him.

It is getting easier for us, but mine are absolutely fried by Thursday and Friday. They take 2 hour naps on the weekend and we let them sleep in until about 8.

Good luck!

Susanne

gbg @ 31.6
5/2006

Mine go to bed between 6:45 and 7:15, and they're up between 6 and 6:30. My husband is in the military, and is often gone about 2 weeks a month...so those nights it's mom only. Given that it's only 3 nights a week, I'd say don't worry about Daddy time...they'll see him 4 other nights, and maybe he can play a bigger roll in the bedtime process. When my husband is home, he's usually home anywhere between 5 and 6. We eat at 5:30, with or without him. He does baths, brushes hair & teeth, and reads the story. They get all of his attention in the evening when he's home.

They just know that Daddy's at work, and that he has to work to pay for our house, school, gymnastics, dance, food! all the things that they love. I know they miss him, but that's our life. And since we're military, we often have friends with no Daddys at home, and have impromptu dinner parties, etc. so they get other special things that they don't get when he's home.

This is kind of long, but I guess what I'm trying to say is that for us, keeping the girls on a schedule regardless of my husband's schedule was the priority, and I think they do better because of it. He is a pilot, so he often works nights, weekends, etc. and then will be home randomly during the day. We just do our thing, and fit him in when we can! Everyone is much less stressed, me, the girls, etc.

HTH!

Alice

GGG born 9/3/05 at 35w3d

Last year at age 4, my kids had to get up at 6:45 for preschool to catch the bus. We actually continued to nap them every afternoon, and they slept between 2 and 3 hours. So, they only needed about 8-9 hours of sleep at night and would go to bed around 9:30!

This worked well for us because it gave us more "family time" at night and we could go out together and do things without worrying about rushing to get them to bed. And gave a nice break to whichever parent was at home with them in the afternoons!

We had to stop the naps for kindergarten, and it was a rough couple of week transition. Now they go to bed around 8:30 pm, asleep by 9:00 pm and up around 7:15/7:30. They do still take a nap on Wednesday for 1.5-2 hours because they go to Awana and that makes for a late night.

BBB born 7/26/04 at 35 weeks