XP: Heading home when you are out

gymnst1013

When you are out with LO in the evenings do you make sure to always leave to get home for bedtime or are you OK keeping your LO out past bedtime?  I'm talking when you're out visiting relatives or at a, for example, Memorial Day party, not just out running errands or anything like that.

 

Rachel5782

We keep him out but make sure there's a place for him to go down.  Luckily both our parents have Pnps at their houses.  Otherwise we brings ours.  LO turns into a pumpkin if he's awake past his bedtime and luckily he goes to sleep anywhere as long as he has his blankie.

maddiemoon43

As long as DS is in good spirits we stretch it.  We're out and about probably one night a week between dinner with my parents, the ILs, friends, travels and road trips, etc.  At home he usually goes to bed about 8, but at least once a week it's closer to 9:30.  He tends to be much happier later when we're out and he's distracted and busy (he's super social) vs. if we just tried to keep him up late on a normal night at home.  DH and I must not be good enough company to bother staying up for.

AshleyPT

We don't mind keeping her up if it is a special occasion. I wouldn't do more than 2 hours with her because then she is hard to put down. We try to get her completely ready for bed (food, night time diaper, jammies) before getting in the car and then just walk in and nurse her. She's usually fine as long as we are out and she's super distracted.

cassoppea

A is pretty good about staying out past her bed time.  We really, really try to keep her on a schedule during the week but we often have plans that keep her out later on the weekends.  If she's up too late, she doesn't sleep as well so we try not to do it too often.  And we also have an easy travel crib if we're going to be out very late.  I will also bring her sleep diaper and PJs and get her all ready for bed before we leave - she generally falls asleep in the car so we just put her right to bed when we get home.

kimbo1216

We stay out within reason. If we know we will be out close to bed time, we pack PJs and change her before we leave. That way, if/when she falls asleep in the car, it's an easy transfer to the crib when we get home. 

nfrtny

It's only happened a few times, but yes. At a family party or something we will stay put later. 

Mylittlebee20

We're usually fine with getting home late as long as it's not nearing midnight. DD usually falls asleep in the car and we take her straight to bed.

lbursey

As long as he's not being a little monster we stretch it a bit (this has only happened a handful of times).  Otherwise, we bring our PnP with us to put him down at bedtime.

Andie_83

As long as Zoey is still in a good mood, I'll stretch it a bit, depending on what we're out doing. Even then, we've never been out later than an hour past her bedtime which is at 6pm.

ladybug122

maddiemoon43:

As long as DS is in good spirits we stretch it.  We're out and about probably one night a week between dinner with my parents, the ILs, friends, travels and road trips, etc.  At home he usually goes to bed about 8, but at least once a week it's closer to 9:30.  He tends to be much happier later when we're out and he's distracted and busy (he's super social) vs. if we just tried to keep him up late on a normal night at home.  DH and I must not be good enough company to bother staying up for.

All of this! 

Birdies08

Sylvia has a timer and if we aren't home around 8pm, she turns into a pumpkin.

We haven't done bedtime somewhere other than home since she was a newborn, but she is pretty attached to her bedtime routine, so I don't think it would go well. Tonight we got home close to the mark and she was cranky pants.

We can push her nap back, though, if we're out and she's tired. 

Debbie0580

polkadot1022:

maddiemoon43:

As long as DS is in good spirits we stretch it.  We're out and about probably one night a week between dinner with my parents, the ILs, friends, travels and road trips, etc.  At home he usually goes to bed about 8, but at least once a week it's closer to 9:30.  He tends to be much happier later when we're out and he's distracted and busy (he's super social) vs. if we just tried to keep him up late on a normal night at home.  DH and I must not be good enough company to bother staying up for.

All of this! 

same here! 

MrsPBNJ0220

If we are visiting relatives and we want to stay (otherwise I would just use him as an excuse to leave, lol) we will stay about 1 hour past his bedtime, typically that is 8:30, and we try to have him home and in bed no later than 9:00.  He is normally to cranky by then anyway so we leave if he gets super cranky.

akayf

We're very flexible, go with the flow type people.   If it's past baby's bedtime, we'll stay unless he's a mess.    Usually, he'll either keep happily playing with everyone or fall asleep in someone's arms.   On the rare occasion he's a cranky mess, we won't stay.

For my older guy, it's the same thing.   If he's happy, we'll stay even if it's past his bedtime but if we see he's heading towards overtired, we'll hit the road.

egpitt22

We just kind of figure it out once that time rolls around.  If one of the kids is starting to lose it, we leave...if they seem to be hanging in there, we'll stick around longer.  If I think we're going to be out somewhere close to or past bedtime, I always bring PJ's and toothbrushes along with us, that way we can get them ready for bed before putting them in the car.

SarahKate31

We usually don't push it more than 30-45 mins. We've pushed it more than that before and DS usually handles it fine at the time, but we pay for it big time the next day. He doesn't sleep in as a result of going to bed late the night before and so he's fussy and skips napping, and it's just not worth it.

MammaBear81

Rachel5782:

We keep him out but make sure there's a place for him to go down.  Luckily both our parents have Pnps at their houses.  Otherwise we brings ours.  LO turns into a pumpkin if he's awake past his bedtime and luckily he goes to sleep anywhere as long as he has his blankie.

This- if we are planning to leave 30-45 min past bedtime, I'll let them stay up (and put them in their jammies) but anything past that and I put them to bed there and wake them up to take them home.