5Yo and 2.5Yo Won't Go to Sleep on Time

Take all the toys and other like items out of their room. Bedrooms are for sleeping. Get them each a book light and let them read until they fall asleep. I never had any toys in the kids rooms. They had stuffed animals and books. Nothing more. Those get really boring really fast. :)
YMMV

If the 2.5 yo takes a nap at daycare, she's likely not tired at 7:30 so that is why she won't fall asleep when you try putting her to bed first. If she were really tired, she would fall asleep pretty quickly after going to bed, and would not be able to wait up for her sister.

My boys share a room. What I used to do when my youngest still took a nap was to put my oldest to bed first since he had to go to bed at 7:00 in order to function. Since the little one took naps and wasn't tired at 7:00, I would put him to bed at 8:00-8:30. Since older brother was already sleeping, he would settle right down and go to sleep.

If putting your oldest to bed first won't work for you, you will just have to get really firm with them. When the lights are out, it's quiet time. No getting out of bed, no talking etc... Give rewards for complying, and consequences for breaking the rules. Do they have a favorite lovey or comfort item that they sleep with? Tell them that they will lose that item for the night if they fool around and get out of their beds. Be firm and consistent every night.

Good luck!

Stagger their bedtimes. 2.5 year old goes to bed at 7:00, 5 year old at 8:00.

It's going to take a few nights to work...you just have to stick with it.

Also, remove any noisy or light emitting toys, and put up blackout shades on the windows. And put a pull switch on the ceiling light so you can disable the wall switch.

Would continue to stagger bedtimes. Also I do not know what time you get home from work, but by the time everyone eats dinner and gets a bath, maybe the kids feel like they haven't had a lot of playtime together. You could set a timer and give them 30 minutes to play then tell them when the timer goes off they have to go to sleep.

Try putting one in your bed to go to sleep, then move before you go to bed? My Kids share a room. We can not put them down at the same time. Or we run into the "party" atmosphere.

What you have learned is that a 7:30 bedtime is a couple of hours too early for them. Try putting them to bed at a more normal bedtime for kids that age. I think that they'll be a bit harder to get up in the morning but truly, the child care provider won't care if they come in sleepy.

I had parents bring their kids straight from bed at home still in their nighttime diaper and pj's. They laid back down when they got to the center and slept until 6:30am or 7am. I'd get them up when I had breakfast cooked, they'd eat then get cleaned up and dressed for the day.

Move your bed time by an hour. They aren't tired at 7:30, but may be closer to 8:30. If they are "partying" until 9, then take the cue and move the bed time. I would start your bed time routine at 7:45... snack, water, potty, brush teeth, stories and cuddles. That should take you up to about 8:15. Keep the lights in the living room dim and let them flip through books until "lights out" at 8:30.

When I tell my 5 yo it's time for bed - she goes to bed. There are no options. I can't believe that you let them get out of bed. I can understand having issues with the younger one understanding bedtime. But the 5 yo should be setting an example for the younger one. They don't necessarily go to sleep right away but they definitely don't get out of bed to "party." Isn't the room too dark to play?

Moving their bedtime later seems like you are just giving in. My 5 yo will be starting school next fall and she will need to be in bed even earlier since she will not have "nap time" at school. And yes, she still sleeps a good two hours during the day for nap time. Both go to bed by 7:30, fall asleep around 8:00 and wake up at 7:00 the next day. I seriously think you just need to put your foot down. It will catch up with them when they have to be up earlier for school with no nap time.

The only way I know is to stay ontop of them and tell them to hush every time they start getting loud. It's the only thing I can think of since you don't want to stagger the bedtimes?

Do you give a long hot bath before bed? This really helps with getting them relaxed!

Are they taking too long of naps at daycare? I personally would push back bedtime till 8:30p (when it's actually dark, it's HARD to go to bed when its still light out) and stay ontop of them for as long as it takes for them to realize that you mean business about knocking off the playing at bedtime!!

We used Ferber, it worked for us.

While we haven't had this problem as yet, I know he recommendt the following:

Since they don't go to sleep until 9 anyway, try putting them in bed at 9:30 for a week, with hopes that they'll be truely tired and fall right to sleep. After a week-10 days of reaffirming the 9:30 bed = sleep association, peel back the bedtime 15 minutes every night or two until you have them going to sleep shortly after whatever time you put them to bed.

In order for this to work, you must not compromise and allow them to sleep in in the morning, or steal make up sleep in the form of extra long naps.

Good luck to you and yours,
F. B.

Stagger the bedtime and make it clear that they need to stay in bed and be quiet. When DD goes to bed, it is not play time. If I have to put her to bed repeatedly or go in and shush her, then she loses whatever she was playing with.

I would imagine that (at least at this time of year) since the sun is still up, they don't "feel" like it's bedtime at 7:30. Don't get me wrong, I completely understand your reasoning for 7:30, but the kids don't care about reasons. The sun is still up, so by golly, they should still get to be up, too! :)

It could also be that even though they are getting up early and going to bed later than you would think they should, that they are getting the sleep they're missing during naptime at daycare. Check with the daycare to see if they're napping well/for how long. If they're getting good naps in, try pushing bedtime back to 8:30 (closer to sunset) and see how it goes. They'll still be tired of a morning, but as long as they're getting enough total sleep, they'll be fine. :) Good luck!

Someone mentioned a staggered bedtime at one point and I think that is a great idea when kids share a room. Put the little one down at 8pm and the older one at 8:30. Sit just outside the door if they are still playing, so you can enforce quiet time.

Oh, you tried staggering bedtime. Whoops. :) Then maybe the sitting by the door thing will get your 2 year old to realize it's time to close her eyes and try to sleep. That always helps out kids who have rooms really close together with doors across the hall from each other. Some nights they go back and forth to each others rooms or whisper loudly to each other. Little buggers.

Make sure you are giving them enough play time as a family before bedtime too. Then they won't be trying to do that at night.

Hi, S.:

Something doesn't sound right.
You put them to bed early and then you have to wake them up at
6:00 a.m.

Children usually wait up before anyone else in the house.

Just wondering.
D.