3 year old's bedtime has fallen apart since our house got fuller

mellow_otter_732726 Aug 2026

My stepdaughter moved in with us this year. She's 12, and it's been a big change for everyone, for her most of all. I'm not asking about that part here. What I'm stuck on is our son. He's 3 and used to go down by 8.30 without much fuss. Since the summer it's 10 or later most nights: getting out of bed, wanting water, wanting to tell us one more thing. Nothing else seems off during the day. Has anyone seen this with a toddler after a change at home, and did it settle on its own?

2 comments

sunny_pool_533626 Aug 2026
What exactly happens at bedtime? Trouble falling asleep, or coming out of the room once he's down? They're different problems.
breezy_marigold_34326 Aug 2026
big changes at home show up at bedtime first. ours went through it when we moved cities, he was about that age. took a couple of months. we kept everything about bedtime the same, same book same order, even when nothing else was
- mellow_otter_732726 Aug 2026
  A couple of months makes me feel better. Same book, same order is roughly what we do, but the evenings themselves are louder now and he's listening for everything. That might be part of it.
- bronze_compass_372326 Aug 2026
  Does the 12 year old's evening run into his bedtime? Lights, TV, music through the wall? With our baby I've noticed it's the house noise that changes things more than the routine.
- apricot_notebook_470828 Aug 2026
  Replying to @mellow_otter_7327
  When my in-laws stayed with us for a while last year, our daughter went through the same listening-for-everything phase. What helped was a fan running in her room, mostly so the voices from the hall blended into one sound. Took about three weeks.