What time?

[momtobe2007]

What time do you put your infant to bed for the night? Julia is 2 mo and we've been putting her down between 9-10pm. However, I'm reading a great sleep book that says I should be putting her down even earlier. Does anyone do this? I was thinking maybe around 8-9pm then. She doesn"t nap very well in the evenings so most nights she's exhausted by 8, but I always try and stretch her at that point cause I thought it was too early.
Just wondering if an earlier bed time for your young infant has worked out?

[SnuggleBuggles]

We are night owls in this house and not at all morning people so we wanted ds to be on a schedule that worked with that.

I know there are books that advocate that 6:30-7:30ish bedtime but in my mind it matters more the quantity of sleep they are getting at different intervals over a 24 hour period rather than when it happens. I just don't happen to buy the logic that an earlier bedtime is a cure all. If baby wakes up at 7 vs 9 then everything would be pushed 2 hours earlier. I don't think it means that the sleep will be any better- just that baby will be tired at a different time. kwim?

My dh isn't home till 7. He would hardly get to see the kid with an early bedtime. That first year 9-10 was our goal but I clearly remember nights closer to 11-12 (12 is our grown up bedtime so not a big deal and ds was always pleasant in the evening). We would bring him to our bed for a few minutes to wind down then put him in his crib where he would play himself to sleep pretty quickly. There were a lot of naps for a while in the evening but he would wake up after 1-1.5 hours ready to go. He would then wake up in the late morning, which worked for me since I didn't have to be anywhere but with him.

If 8 works for your schedule and personality and she is tired then I would put her down for bed at 8.

Best you can do is experiment and see what works best for you and your family. :) The one thing I learned about infant sleep in that 1st year is that it is always in transition!

Beth

[Tammy]

We started out about the same time as your daughter. Then I noticed our baby girl getting grouchy and rubbing her eyes earlier so I started giving her bath 30 minutes earlier and then eat/bed routine. When she was still showing signs of being tired earlier I moved the time up another 30 minutes and that's worked ever since. She's 7 months old now and I give her a bath at 7:30 every night, then bf and off to bed (around 8:15-8:30). I have to do it that early so she gets enough sleep since I have to get her up early to go to work. I just do whatever works best for her schedule. Good luck!

[inmypjs]

I am a big believer in early bedtimes. I have 2 children. Our DS is 2 1/2 is goes to bed as early as 7pm or as late as 8pm depending on his nap that day. Our DD is 5 1/2 mos old and I believe she went to bed about 9/10 at that age, but we just gradually began moving it earlier as she got tired earlier. She now goes to bed between 6 and 7pm, sleeps til 5am, feeds, then back to bed for an hour or 2. I hear what others are saying about spouses not getting home until later, but I just feel very strongly about that when they need to sleep, they need to sleep. I am not saying that later is wrong at all, just that we have made the earlier times work for us. I would recommend the books Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child and Good Night Sleep Tight. Both talk about appropriate bed times at different ages. HTH!

[momtobe2007]

Thanks for the replies. Katie, I got that book and it's awesome!! In fact, I changed her bedtime within reading the first 15 pages of the book! She was going to bed closer to 10 cause I figured she would sleep longer. Well, she never slept longer. Always got up at 5:30. So, I read the first few pages and started putting her to bed closer to 9 most nights and it's awesome! She's getting tons of good rest! Now, I can finally have time to finish reading the book. :)

[SnuggleBuggles]

They do need sleep but in our case I bet my ds got the same amount of sleep per night, it was just in a different slot. I wouldn't scarifice my ds' sleep for my convenience but since he was getting the recommended amount of sleep at night I'm not sure I get why that sleep needs to be earlier. kwim? Everyone has to pick what works for their family but just know that, at least in our case, a late bedtime didn't translate to less sleep. :) Just later sleep.

I am glad that the early bedtime is working for you though!! :)

Beth

[maylips]

We have a 4-month old and I can tell you and I are similiar b/c my questions run in line with yours a lot on this sleep board!

Not to get off topic too much, but my question for both you and Katie is about that early bedtime. I'd like to get my daughter to sleep around 8:30 - and she usually goes down around 9:15-9:30, but she's not sleeping longer than 5 hours at a stretch. So part of me wants her to go down later just so she'll sleep later for ME (totally selfish, I know).

If I put her down at 8:30 and she sleeps 5 hours, she's still getting up at 1:30. She teased us for awhile by sleeping until 4:30 -- and a blessed couple of times she slept until 6:30. Then I bragged to my friends she was sleeping through the night and of course she reverted back to the every 4-5 hours again. Last night, we did our routine, I b/f her around 9:30, she fell asleep around 10:00 and was up at 2:00 a.m. I fed her, she fell back asleep and slept until 6:00. Do I just need to accept that pattern?

[SAHMIL]

Sounds like she is in the middle of a growth spurt. When sleeping patterns are erratic, they are usually having a growth spurt.

[KimS]

At two months, she is probably still eating quite often. My son used to take three naps, the last one around 4:00 pm. Then, I would put him down for "bedtime" no later than 7:00. But, at that age, he would be up to eat about around midnight, sometimes earlier. The way I handled it was anytime he would get up after his "bedtime" I treated as overnight eating, so low lights, no talking, no eye contact, just minimal interaction to get him satisfied, then back in his crib. Durig the day, I did not keep him awake longer than 2 hours from when he last woke up. I read alot of different books about babies sleeping and found the one I most agreed with was Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. Of course, like anything, you take what you like from it and don't use what you don't like. Good luck.