Bedtime Q's??

Noodle716

I am sure this is repetitive but I looked back a few pages and couldn't really find anything...We don't co-sleep because LO doesn't sleep well. I have tried so many times - I was sort of bummed about it but she sleeps well in her crib (since she was 6 weeks)...I do bring her to bed with me in the morn. and she will sleep for about an hour but that is it... soo that brings me to my questions...

Anyhow, DD seems to start getting tired (rubbing eyes...fussy...wants to be held, etc) at around 5:30 -6ish... I usually start bedtime at 6:30 if I can because if she goes down any earlier, she is up at 4am. So we do bath, books, music, last feeding. She is usually asleep in my arms by 7:15 and I hold her and rock her for about 20 mins while she sleeps. If I put her down before 8 she ALWAYS wakes up at 8. So the last few nights I have tried to hold her off to nurse later and be put down at 8. Tonight I put her down at 7:45 and she woke up at 8. Last night I put her down at 8 and she was up a half hour later. She wakes up wide awake fussing/almost crying so I clearly can't just leave her. I am not sure what to do. Once I go up there the second time and nurse her again, she goes back down for the night. She may wake up once around 1 or 2 to nurse but usually sleeps till 6. Several of my friends said their children have 6:30-7 bedtimes. Is 8 to late? Does it really matter? I can't figure out why she always wakes up after a half hour. My thoughts are that she is falling asleep too quickly the first go rounds and she needs to nurse more??? Should I try to start ealier with the routine when she is less tired and showing sleep cues so she will eat more? Part of holding her off to a later bedtime is also so that DH can at least get some time with her after work (I stay home).

lkstor

DS does this when he is overtired.  I would try to push her bedtime up by 30 minutes and see if it makes a difference.

GL!

mrs.mkd

Have you thought about just putting her down for a short nap around 5:30? We have just recently begun putting DD down around 7. We worked our way earlier from 10 -11pm as a newborn, 9 pm around 3-6 months, 8 pm around 6-7 months, and now 7. This was totally based on DD's cues, and some trial and error.

When she had a later bedtime she took an early evening nap - usually sometime between 5 and 7, depending on her last nap. So she'd have 4 or 5 shorter naps a day. We'd usually then start bedtime about 8:30ish and she'd be alseep around 9. Even now she usually still has an early evening nap - we just aim to have her asleep about 2 hours after she wakes from that nap.

Everyone feels differently about bedtime. Some people swear by an early one, some prefer a later one. I think it just depends on what works best for your family. Try out a later bedtime and see what happens. If you like it, stick with it for a while. You'll know if/when you need to change it up again.

 

alina*marie

Your situation sounds very familiar. We are putting DS down at 7 these days. And he often does wake up 30 min later to eat more. Not much for advice, but you aren't alone!

WyoGal

M's started doing the same thing recently and I'm guessing it's overtired, either in general or because he fell asleep too early in his bedtime feeding.  He goes to bed around 7-7:30pm, and I think he might be ready to drop his early evening nap and/or do an earlier bedtime, but he doesn't really seem to be cueing either.  However, it sometimes takes me a week to catch onto a new cue, so we'll see.