My 5Yr Old Starts School Soon, How Soon Should I Start Getting Her to Bed Early?

One thing I can suggest is to wake up early for a few days.She will get cranky but then after a few days she will want to go to sleep earlier.As I see it the sooner you start the better for everyone.You will really enjoy the peace and quiet in the evenings.

My 3 yr old has preschool at 8am T/Th and 12pm on Wed and he doesn't nap as much as he use too. But he sleeps at 10pm too on Sundays. But if he's really tired he sleeps early sometime between 6:30 and 8:30 and all night long. If showered the night before, he should get up by 7am to change, eat breakfast and all that. But if showering in the morning, then 6:30am should be wakeup time. But I guess it would depend on school's distance too.

Hi,
My friend has a daughter that just started school and she just stopped giving her naps during the day she started a few months before school started it was hard at first because her daughter was tired but now she goes to bed at about 8pm and gets up about 6:45am to get ready for school. Hope this helps.

M.

My son, also starting K next year, started preschool this past fall. We had the same issue, more or less, ours was more a varying bed time anywhere from 8-9:30. We just started gradual, and always set the time on the stove starting at 30 minutes before bed time. We would set it for 15 minutes to mark the "Half way" Some nights he would go at the halfway point to do his teeth etc, othertimes he would wait until the end which we allowed for so when he did it at the half way, he just went down a few minutes early. He can't tell time yet so it all worked out :)

Although he was in bed by 8pm with in about two weeks, it did take a little time for him to fall asleep that early. If there were nights he was having a hard time, he could lay in bed and look at a book, quietly, and he had to stay in bed. If he started getting up and down to play the 'I need...." game then the book went on the shelf and he just had to lay there.

It wasn't/isn't foolproof, there are still nights we slack and he gets to bed later, but it only takes once of having to wake him up in the morning to get ready for school to remind me that I need to get him to bed so he gets enough sleep! We found the transition to be easier than we expected and actually realized that he really needed the earlier bedtime, we just weren't noticing the signs. We have always put the twins to bed at teh same time, ever since they were infants, and then he got to stay up a bit later to get some 1:1 time with us. Now everyone is in bed at or near the same time.

Good luck!

Hey there, I am starting to do the same thing trying to get my daughter to wake up earlier. So I actually started getting her up 1 our ealier then she ususally wakes up, and then doing another hour in about 1 week or so. The same thing would work for you just wake her up a little earlier each time and then she will go to bed earlier. HOpe that works!

K.
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My son did the same thing, he used to go to bed at midnight. When i had to get him to go to bed at a good time, I basically did it slowly. start with doing a half an hour every couple of days and then keep going down until you get to your desired time. My son now goes to bed at 8 pm with no issues. It helped take the shock away from him going to bed much earlier than normal and then he just got used to it. I hope this helped a little. It

Dear R.,
When my son started school we faced the same predicament! We moved his bedtime back by 30 minutes every two weeks so he could adjust more easily. So maybe try in June. It is hard because those are the summer months and as parents we get busy and it stay light for quite a bit. I agree with you that a gradual adjustment is best!

M.

Actually, 10pm IS late - is just 2 short hours from midnight! I have 4 kids, and we've always had bedtime rituals (8 pm bedtime since their were babies) like taking a bath, quiet playtime (reading), brusing teeth, etc. If she's taking a nap at some point during the day, either eliminate it if possible, or shorten it considerably. You can also make sure other kids in the house is going to bed at that time, so she doesn't feel isolated. Try putting her to bed an hour earlier each week so that it's not all at once. Let her play physically hard - outside if possible during the day/early evening, so she is more inclined to want to sleep at night.

Getting enough sleep is really critical to learning, overall development, emotinal health, immunity, etc - just as it is to adults. Do a search on google to see how many hours she needs at this age, to be sure she's getting enough ;)

Good luck!

My daughter doesn't deal well with change. So, because she couldn't tell time, I just started to tell her that it was time to go to bed just a little bit earlier each night - maybe 10 or 15 minutes.

If your daughter is taking naps that cause her to stay up until 10ish, you may want to start easing up on those. My daughter's kindergarten had "rest time" right after lunch that, as the year progressed, transitioned into "quiet time". That is to get them ready for the all day work they do in 1st grade.

Good luck!

R.,IT MAY BE HELPFUL TO START MOVING HER TIME UP BY THE HALF HOUR .IF SHE GOES TO BED AT 10PM MOVE IT UP TO 9:30 PM MOVING IT UP SLOWLY HELPS A LOT .ALSO YOU CAN TRY PLAYING GAMES THAT
THE HOLE FAMILY CAN DO .BOARD GAME OR READING A BOOK.BY THE TIME SHE STARTS SCHOOL SHE WILL BE GOING TO BED AT THE TIME
YOU NEED HER TO .HOPE THIS HELPS .

I am a Mom of four..My oldest is now 22 and my other three are 17!
Here is what I know worked from my experience...I started on a routine from day one and to this day they stick to what they know. If you start a bed time routine they will adapt to it. I believe that a child of 5 should be in bed by defintiely no later than 8pm. You start working into the bedtime at leat two weeks before. Move bedtime up earleir and earlier until you hit the target time. You have to be able to work whatever your household routine is into that time frame and stick to it. In other words, do not plan outings etc.. if you cannot be back in time for bed...Make sure dinner, bath time, play time with daddy, story time before sleep was always the winner in our home. Being consistent and sticking to it makes it work.
Our children never fussed and it worked to this day. The younger ones are 17 and in high school and to this day they all are in bed before 10pm....My two daughters will be in bed by 9pm if they can get there....
As well, making sure breakfast is part of the morning routine helps with school and a better performance from the child. My kids had that routine down pat and bed time and breakfast was so important to them and their schooling.
A babysitter at ahnd in case you need to be elsewhere after bedtime makes the process complete..do not bend and mend because you will defeat your goal of getting a bedtime down pat! Good luck and it does work, I promise!

My 4 year old will be starting kindergarten this year also. I have started her getting ready for bed at 8:00p.m. but sometimes I have things to do and don't get her ready that early. I have been separated from my husband for a while so I don't get any help from him. I will be moving back to live with my husband next week and I'll have some help from him then but he leaves me in May again. All the advice I can give you is try your best and don't let he watch t.v. and give her some warm milk to drink at night so that she gets sleepy. I wish you luck, it's exciting to watch them grow so fast.

I have used a reference book called Good night sleep tight. It is a very helpful and useful tool for me and my family. My recommendation and experience has been to start about 1-2 months prior to starting school. Start in increments of 30 minutes meaning start putting her to bed at 9:30 for a few days and see how she transitions. Once you feel that she has transitioned start another 30 minutes 9:00, then 8:30, then 8:00pm. Make routine consistent everytime each night faithfully, if you tool it will be better for everyone. Now if she is going to have to wake up early to be ready for school you may want to modify her evening schedule dependent on your morning schedule and how she is handling it. This was a quick note but I hope it makes sense, if it does not email me back. Have a great day and good luck. Bren.

R.,
I have a five year old who is currently in kindergarden. Her school hours are 8:15 to 2:15. I put her to bed between 7:00 and 7:30. By the end of the day she is worn out, so this time I have found to be just about right. On the weekends I allow her stay awake late as a treat for going to bed when I need her to and for waking up happy and ready for a wonderful day of learning. We started getting her and the family used to this bed time probably a month before school began.

Hi R.,

I would suggest to begin the transition as soon as possible. Make sure you are rested enough, though when you start this because it will be difficult on you too. To start the process, let her go to bed as usual, then the immediate next morning get her up at 7am, or whenever you think is significantly earlier than her normal time to get up. I do not know if she still takes a nap mid-day (my 5 yr old does not, and if she does, we have a REALLY hard time getting her down that night), but do not let her have a long nap midday. She will be pretty tired that night after dinner which at that point, start a bedtime routine. At my house, we put our plates in the sink and clear the table after dinner, then we set the timer for 10-15 minutes (gives us time to do the dishes), and when the timer goes off, brush teeth and put on pj's, then it's bedtime. My husband prays with our son, and I go in a pray with our daughter (or switch it up). This will take a few days, but once she gets used to it, it will be part of her routine and all will be well. Let us know how it goes! God Bless you!!

I had to transition my son for kindergarten for the fall of 2005 and I found it easy to start him on a sleep routine about a month in advance. I would put him to bed at 9:00pm everynight and get him up at 7:00am every morning except on the weekends. He did well until he actually started school. He was so exhausted that he began to wet the bed because he slept too deeply and could not feel when he needed the bathroom. I started putting him to bed at 8:00pm and that helped a lot. Then I pushed the bedtime up to 8:30pm. He is now in the first grade and he has not wet the bed since the beginning of the year kindergarten. My advice to you is to watch your child for signs of exhaustion and let that guide you in determining the appropriate bedtime. School really took a lot of energy out of my little guy and he needed the extra sleep. Good luck.

I would start getting her to bed and into the routine as soon as possible. Kids need routine and the sooner you begin, the easier the transition once school starts. Changes in anything should be done gradually to ensure a positive result, therefore, transitioning to an earlier bedtime now will make it easier. I would start by having a set routine for bedtime - brush teeth, read books, bedtime. Try doing this for a week around 8:30 pm so that she is in bed/lights out by 9 pm, then after a week, transition to start the routine at 8pm to have her in bed by 8:30 pm. Kids this age still need about 10-11 hrs of sleep.

L. Kandell, MS, RD, IBCLC

A little about me: Mother of two kids - 3rd grade daughter & Kindergartener son. I am a registered dietitian specializing in maternal & child health and also a board certified lactation consultant. I have been working in the field for over 15 years.

My daughter would go to be around the same time 10-10:30 pm. I started her with 1/2 hour increments. First she went to bed at 9:30 then 9 then 8:30 then 8. It took three months so hopefully you have sometime before your daughter starts schools. Doing it slowing made is easier on both of us. Good luck!