# How long between dinner and bed?



## onyxravnos (Dec 30, 2006)

It seems that the 'horrible, i'm gonna scream' part of my day is always in the inbetween of dinner and bedtime. we've slowly moved bedtime up and up but i'm still pulling my hair out at the same time though i don't want to have too little time inbetween otherwise DH would get home say goodnight and _Never_ see the kids during the week...


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## ~PurityLake~ (Jul 31, 2005)

My husband leaves work around 6:30, but it varies daily. We eat dinner around 7 pm if we eat dinner and bedtime is 9 pm. None of these times are strictly held, it's more of a goal we aim for.


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## MaddieMay (Jul 14, 2006)

Two hours tops, unless it's a special event (wedding, etc.) or something. Dinner, play while one parent cleans up dishes, bath, story/song, then bed.

DS goes to bed at 7:30ish-I hold to that whether or not DH is working late. I've tried keeping DS up so he can see his daddy, but it just ends up being miserable for DS. If DH works late, he often makes up for it the next morning by getting up and having breakfast with DS while I sleep in...as long as DH's schedule permits.


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## MamieCole (Jun 1, 2007)

I'm the vote for 4+ hours. We eat dinner around 6 and we go to bed between 10-11pm. We all go to bed as a family at the same time.


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## CherryBombMama (Jan 25, 2010)

we have dinner early (3:30 to 4, ive just started pushing it to 4) and bed time for ds1 is 8, but there are usually two snacks for him in between that time


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## Holiztic (Oct 10, 2005)

I voted other, lately 3.5 year old DS gets up from dinner and goes straight to bed! Our bedtime ritual is nearly an hour, so maybe I should have voted for an hour.

DH gets home just before dinner, so DS gets 45 minute dinner and 45+ minute bedtime routine with DH and I (Daddy does most of bedtime routine). Not too bad.

DS falls apart after 6 pm since giving up his nap last month, so we have to do it this way!


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## Tway (Jul 1, 2010)

Dinner is at 6 or 6:15-ish, when DH gets home. And bedtime these days is around 9. Gives us time to eat, clean up, go for a walk or hang out in the living room, do bath, PJs, book, feed, and bed. It will change eventually, I'm sure, but it's what we finally found that works for us.


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## Limabean1975 (Jan 4, 2008)

I voted 1 hour, but really bedtime is nearly immediately after dinner. DH gets home around 6-6:30, and DS really needs to be in bed between 6:30 and 7. DD goes at the same time as him which works out nicely. It is a rush though. I barely get dinner on the table by the time DH gets home (I'm terribly disorganized about dinners), we eat, then do the bedtime routine (which is short: DD I just take her right up & nurse her to sleep. DS brushes his teeth downstairs, then DH takes him up and reads him to sleep).


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## kinley (Nov 1, 2010)

For a mother it has to be at least two hours after dinner before going to bed. And for a baby most babies go to sleep drinking milk .So I think that’s not going to be a problem. There’s another thing a baby needs to be fed every two hours. Remember to burp the baby after every feeding. It takes a baby to adjust to the outside world so a lot of patience is needed.


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## treeoflife3 (Nov 14, 2008)

we aim for dinner at about 6 and kiddo's bedtime is about 8 (she actually asks for me to put her to bed if things run late right now haha.. wonder how long that lasts!)

so about two hours. She used to go to bed at 7 though. I wish she still slept 7pm to 8am... that was a nice schedule for me.. ha!


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## Llyra (Jan 16, 2005)

Now, it's about an hour and a half-- we eat at about 5:30. The twins go to bed at 7, and DD1 at 7:30. When they were little, though, we aimed for a 5:00 dinner, to put more time between dinner and bedtime, mostly because I needed to be much more involved in their falling-asleep, and I needed time to get things cleaned up and get myself ready to settle. They're 6, 3, and 3.


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## hollytheteacher (Mar 10, 2007)

We usually eat around 6 or 6:30 and put ds (3 years) to bed at 9 although sometimes it takes until 10 for him to fall asleep on days that he takes a nap at school.


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## Chloe'sMama (Oct 14, 2008)

That is our 'witching hour' too. We have dinner most nights between 6-7 and then the bedtime routine starts... bath, books, milk etc. The baby stays with us until we go to bed at 10ish.


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## octobermom (Aug 31, 2005)

We do dinner then bedtime for baby almost imediently with in the hour.

Deanna


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## mamadelbosque (Feb 6, 2007)

We usually eat dinner 5:30-6ish and ds1 has bedtime ~8:30, so 2-2.5 hours after dinner's done he's in bed.


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## SeekingJoy (Apr 30, 2007)

We base everything on wake up time in the morning. DD needs 12 hours of sleep, so if wake up time is 6:30 am, her bedtime (is and has been for a while) 6:30 pm. DS needs 11 hours and so goes to bed around 7:30 pm. Dinner is at 5 to 5:30 pm.

The quicker I can manage to get everyone fed, bathed (sometimes), in pjs and in bed, the better for all.

DH often doesn't see DD during the week, and it is sad, but how much fun is it to see a screaming, miserable child? To make up for it, he and DD shower together in the morning and hang out while he is getting ready for work in the morning.


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## liberal_chick (May 22, 2005)

Dinner at 6, bed at 8.

We run a pretty strict evening schedule so that dh and I will have time to spend together at night.


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## 4Marmalade (May 4, 2004)

It's not a great time of day here either. We eat dinner around 5-5:30pm and bedtime routine starts right after dinner with dh taking the twins to get their jammies on while I tidy the kitchen. Then we kind of tag team all 4 kids making sure jammies are on, teeth brushed, homework done, books read, etc... until about 6:30pm when we start getting the younger 3 into bed with nursing and stories. Ds1 stays up until about 7-7:30pm. It's a little crazy and rushed but my kids are all early birds and up at 5:30am so we need the early bedtime.


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## greenemami (Nov 1, 2007)

I found if there was too much downtime between dinner and bed, dd (3.5) would get all wound up and catch a second wind.

We do dinner at 6, usually done around 6:30 and then immediately start getting ready for bed with the goal of lights out around 7:30. We were pretty strict to get into this routine into place but now are a little looser as she gets used to it...i.e. the kiddos can play with daddy for a few minutes while I clean up and then they brush teeth, etc.

It is harder when dsd is here because she doesn't get back from school until 4:30ish, but we have her finish homework/read/hang out with dad in her room wile I put the little ones to bed, so she doesn't mind going in her room early. She usually goes to sleep closer to 9-9:30.

Oh, and dd always has a snack while we read stories as well-dsd could have one as well, but doesn't usually choose to have one even though she goes to bed closer to 3 hours after dinner.


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## kcparker (Apr 6, 2008)

I voted other. The way our house runs, dinner isn't ready until about 7:15-7:30, so we go straight from the dinner table to the tub or brushing teeth and the start of the night-time bed routine. If it's early-ish, we might read a few stories, or DH might read to DS1 while I put DS2 down, then DS1 comes and joins us.


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## Honey693 (May 5, 2008)

Dinner here is ~530pm and bedtime is usually midnight. There's 2-3 snacks or another meal between the two.


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