How much sleep for 4 yr. olds?

My girls used to need at least 13 hours of sleep per night, but recently they
have started waking up after about 9 or 10 hours of sleep on most days. They
used to sleep in late (8:30-10:00 am), but now Madison is usually up before
7:00 and Jordan wakes up shortly after that. It doesn't seem to matter if we
put them to bed later. They still wake up early. I really don't mind it now
because they have to be up early for preschool 3 mornings per week anyway, but
I'm anticipating a very long and tiring Summer since dh is back to working 14
hour days now that the weather has warmed up. How many hours of sleep should 4
year-olds be getting? I know some children need more sleep than others, but
what is the norm? They don't take naps, BTW.

TIA,
Andrea
twin girls-Madison & Jordan
4 yrs. old!

I am not sure what the norm is but, I can tell you what our norm us.=)

Alexis is usually in bed by 8-8:30. And she is deinfetly awake by 7. Usually
6:30 though due to the noise her little sisters are making. I think 10-12
hours is probably normal.

BTW, Alexis still rests during the day and rarely falls asleep for about an
hour.
~Kimberly
Mommy to Alexis Iliana 07/17/99 and
Emma Elidia & Aislyn Gabriela 10/01/02
come see us...
http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/a/aislynemma/

I am not sure what the norm is but, I can tell you what our norm us.=)

Alexis is usually in bed by 8-8:30. And she is deinfetly awake by 7. Usually
6:30 though due to the noise her little sisters are making. I think 10-12
hours is probably normal.

BTW, Alexis still rests during the day and rarely falls asleep for about an
hour.
~Kimberly
Mommy to Alexis Iliana 07/17/99 and
Emma Elidia & Aislyn Gabriela 10/01/02
come see us...
http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/a/aislynemma/

I am not sure what the norm is but, I can tell you what our norm us.=)

Alexis is usually in bed by 8-8:30. And she is deinfetly awake by 7. Usually
6:30 though due to the noise her little sisters are making. I think 10-12
hours is probably normal.

BTW, Alexis still rests during the day and rarely falls asleep for about an
hour.
~Kimberly
Mommy to Alexis Iliana 07/17/99 and
Emma Elidia & Aislyn Gabriela 10/01/02
come see us...
http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/a/aislynemma/

Dang, I just read advice on this and can't remember it (dismissed it because
mine get the "right" amount. phew). BUT they were saying that too little
sleep is causing learning deficits in grade schoolers, so I'd try to get
them to sleep a bit more if you can ...

I think like Kim that I would expect 10-12 at age 4. Maybe lack of sleep is
one reason for the sass ;-)

PS Oh goodness, that reminds me -- on the sass front, Hanna is 2000% worse
when tired or hungry, so I have tried a) to avoid those and b) to get her to
understand how her body is causing her mouth to behave badly. That has
helped her to get a bit better, too, with time and repetition.

--Janet
Elliot, Hanna, Connor (10/21/96)
and Holly (4/4/01)

"Andrea" wrote in message
...
My girls used to need at least 13 hours of sleep per night, but recently
they
have started waking up after about 9 or 10 hours of sleep on most days.
They
used to sleep in late (8:30-10:00 am), but now Madison is usually up
before
7:00 and Jordan wakes up shortly after that. It doesn't seem to matter if
we
put them to bed later. They still wake up early. I really don't mind it
now
because they have to be up early for preschool 3 mornings per week anyway,
but
I'm anticipating a very long and tiring Summer since dh is back to working
14
hour days now that the weather has warmed up. How many hours of sleep
should 4
year-olds be getting? I know some children need more sleep than others,
but
what is the norm? They don't take naps, BTW.

TIA,
Andrea
twin girls-Madison & Jordan
4 yrs. old!

Dang, I just read advice on this and can't remember it (dismissed it because
mine get the "right" amount. phew). BUT they were saying that too little
sleep is causing learning deficits in grade schoolers, so I'd try to get
them to sleep a bit more if you can ...

I think like Kim that I would expect 10-12 at age 4. Maybe lack of sleep is
one reason for the sass ;-)

PS Oh goodness, that reminds me -- on the sass front, Hanna is 2000% worse
when tired or hungry, so I have tried a) to avoid those and b) to get her to
understand how her body is causing her mouth to behave badly. That has
helped her to get a bit better, too, with time and repetition.

--Janet
Elliot, Hanna, Connor (10/21/96)
and Holly (4/4/01)

"Andrea" wrote in message
...
My girls used to need at least 13 hours of sleep per night, but recently
they
have started waking up after about 9 or 10 hours of sleep on most days.
They
used to sleep in late (8:30-10:00 am), but now Madison is usually up
before
7:00 and Jordan wakes up shortly after that. It doesn't seem to matter if
we
put them to bed later. They still wake up early. I really don't mind it
now
because they have to be up early for preschool 3 mornings per week anyway,
but
I'm anticipating a very long and tiring Summer since dh is back to working
14
hour days now that the weather has warmed up. How many hours of sleep
should 4
year-olds be getting? I know some children need more sleep than others,
but
what is the norm? They don't take naps, BTW.

TIA,
Andrea
twin girls-Madison & Jordan
4 yrs. old!

Dang, I just read advice on this and can't remember it (dismissed it because
mine get the "right" amount. phew). BUT they were saying that too little
sleep is causing learning deficits in grade schoolers, so I'd try to get
them to sleep a bit more if you can ...

I think like Kim that I would expect 10-12 at age 4. Maybe lack of sleep is
one reason for the sass ;-)

PS Oh goodness, that reminds me -- on the sass front, Hanna is 2000% worse
when tired or hungry, so I have tried a) to avoid those and b) to get her to
understand how her body is causing her mouth to behave badly. That has
helped her to get a bit better, too, with time and repetition.

--Janet
Elliot, Hanna, Connor (10/21/96)
and Holly (4/4/01)

"Andrea" wrote in message
...
My girls used to need at least 13 hours of sleep per night, but recently
they
have started waking up after about 9 or 10 hours of sleep on most days.
They
used to sleep in late (8:30-10:00 am), but now Madison is usually up
before
7:00 and Jordan wakes up shortly after that. It doesn't seem to matter if
we
put them to bed later. They still wake up early. I really don't mind it
now
because they have to be up early for preschool 3 mornings per week anyway,
but
I'm anticipating a very long and tiring Summer since dh is back to working
14
hour days now that the weather has warmed up. How many hours of sleep
should 4
year-olds be getting? I know some children need more sleep than others,
but
what is the norm? They don't take naps, BTW.

TIA,
Andrea
twin girls-Madison & Jordan
4 yrs. old!

Dang, I just read advice on how much sleep kids need and can't remember it
(dismissed it because mine get the "right" amount -- about 10 hours at age
6-8, as I recall. phew). BUT the article was saying that too little
sleep is causing learning deficits in grade schoolers, so I'd try to get
them to sleep a bit more if you can ... but remember that you can probably
average it out, so if they are doing 9.5 three days in a row and then 13,
that's probably fine even though hard to handle.

Btw, I would def. resist the temptation to do later bedtimes -- I tried it
with mine about 6 months ago. They were up by 6 or so, sometimes disturbing
Holly and the dogs, so I thought maybe an 8:30 to 9:00 bedtime rather than
their current 7:30 to 8 would work. Nope. They still woke at 6 but just
got very cranky. Finally I reasoned that if they go down "early" and wake
when *they* are ready, then they are probably better refreshed for their day
than if they go down later and then have to be dug out of bed protesting and
whining for school. Even though it makes our evenings shorter and more busy
than they would otherwise be.

Anyway, I think like Kim that I would expect 10-12 at age 4. Maybe lack of
sleep is one reason for the sass ;-)

PS Oh goodness, that reminds me -- on the sass front, Hanna is 2000% worse
when tired or hungry, so I have tried a) to avoid those (esp. I have to
stuff food into her asap after ballet!!) and b) to get her to understand how
her body is causing her mouth to behave badly and that she does have the
power to control it. That has helped her to get a bit more self control,
too, with time and repetition.

--Janet
Elliot, Hanna, Connor (10/21/96)
and Holly (4/4/01)

"Andrea" wrote in message
...
My girls used to need at least 13 hours of sleep per night, but recently
they
have started waking up after about 9 or 10 hours of sleep on most days.
They
used to sleep in late (8:30-10:00 am), but now Madison is usually up
before
7:00 and Jordan wakes up shortly after that. It doesn't seem to matter if
we
put them to bed later. They still wake up early. I really don't mind it
now
because they have to be up early for preschool 3 mornings per week anyway,
but
I'm anticipating a very long and tiring Summer since dh is back to working
14
hour days now that the weather has warmed up. How many hours of sleep
should 4
year-olds be getting? I know some children need more sleep than others,
but
what is the norm? They don't take naps, BTW.

TIA,
Andrea
twin girls-Madison & Jordan
4 yrs. old!

Dang, I just read advice on how much sleep kids need and can't remember it
(dismissed it because mine get the "right" amount -- about 10 hours at age
6-8, as I recall. phew). BUT the article was saying that too little
sleep is causing learning deficits in grade schoolers, so I'd try to get
them to sleep a bit more if you can ... but remember that you can probably
average it out, so if they are doing 9.5 three days in a row and then 13,
that's probably fine even though hard to handle.

Btw, I would def. resist the temptation to do later bedtimes -- I tried it
with mine about 6 months ago. They were up by 6 or so, sometimes disturbing
Holly and the dogs, so I thought maybe an 8:30 to 9:00 bedtime rather than
their current 7:30 to 8 would work. Nope. They still woke at 6 but just
got very cranky. Finally I reasoned that if they go down "early" and wake
when *they* are ready, then they are probably better refreshed for their day
than if they go down later and then have to be dug out of bed protesting and
whining for school. Even though it makes our evenings shorter and more busy
than they would otherwise be.

Anyway, I think like Kim that I would expect 10-12 at age 4. Maybe lack of
sleep is one reason for the sass ;-)

PS Oh goodness, that reminds me -- on the sass front, Hanna is 2000% worse
when tired or hungry, so I have tried a) to avoid those (esp. I have to
stuff food into her asap after ballet!!) and b) to get her to understand how
her body is causing her mouth to behave badly and that she does have the
power to control it. That has helped her to get a bit more self control,
too, with time and repetition.

--Janet
Elliot, Hanna, Connor (10/21/96)
and Holly (4/4/01)

"Andrea" wrote in message
...
My girls used to need at least 13 hours of sleep per night, but recently
they
have started waking up after about 9 or 10 hours of sleep on most days.
They
used to sleep in late (8:30-10:00 am), but now Madison is usually up
before
7:00 and Jordan wakes up shortly after that. It doesn't seem to matter if
we
put them to bed later. They still wake up early. I really don't mind it
now
because they have to be up early for preschool 3 mornings per week anyway,
but
I'm anticipating a very long and tiring Summer since dh is back to working
14
hour days now that the weather has warmed up. How many hours of sleep
should 4
year-olds be getting? I know some children need more sleep than others,
but
what is the norm? They don't take naps, BTW.

TIA,
Andrea
twin girls-Madison & Jordan
4 yrs. old!

Dang, I just read advice on how much sleep kids need and can't remember it
(dismissed it because mine get the "right" amount -- about 10 hours at age
6-8, as I recall. phew). BUT the article was saying that too little
sleep is causing learning deficits in grade schoolers, so I'd try to get
them to sleep a bit more if you can ... but remember that you can probably
average it out, so if they are doing 9.5 three days in a row and then 13,
that's probably fine even though hard to handle.

Btw, I would def. resist the temptation to do later bedtimes -- I tried it
with mine about 6 months ago. They were up by 6 or so, sometimes disturbing
Holly and the dogs, so I thought maybe an 8:30 to 9:00 bedtime rather than
their current 7:30 to 8 would work. Nope. They still woke at 6 but just
got very cranky. Finally I reasoned that if they go down "early" and wake
when *they* are ready, then they are probably better refreshed for their day
than if they go down later and then have to be dug out of bed protesting and
whining for school. Even though it makes our evenings shorter and more busy
than they would otherwise be.

Anyway, I think like Kim that I would expect 10-12 at age 4. Maybe lack of
sleep is one reason for the sass ;-)

PS Oh goodness, that reminds me -- on the sass front, Hanna is 2000% worse
when tired or hungry, so I have tried a) to avoid those (esp. I have to
stuff food into her asap after ballet!!) and b) to get her to understand how
her body is causing her mouth to behave badly and that she does have the
power to control it. That has helped her to get a bit more self control,
too, with time and repetition.

--Janet
Elliot, Hanna, Connor (10/21/96)
and Holly (4/4/01)

"Andrea" wrote in message
...
My girls used to need at least 13 hours of sleep per night, but recently
they
have started waking up after about 9 or 10 hours of sleep on most days.
They
used to sleep in late (8:30-10:00 am), but now Madison is usually up
before
7:00 and Jordan wakes up shortly after that. It doesn't seem to matter if
we
put them to bed later. They still wake up early. I really don't mind it
now
because they have to be up early for preschool 3 mornings per week anyway,
but
I'm anticipating a very long and tiring Summer since dh is back to working
14
hour days now that the weather has warmed up. How many hours of sleep
should 4
year-olds be getting? I know some children need more sleep than others,
but
what is the norm? They don't take naps, BTW.

TIA,
Andrea
twin girls-Madison & Jordan
4 yrs. old!