Talk to me about early bedtimes for infants

preheatedoven

Right now we have the LOs on our schedule, meaning they get put in their cribs when we go upstairs to bed at night (about 9:30pm). We kinda got in the habit of having them downstairs with us so we could be close if they needed anything. I've heard from a few moms that they might sleep better if we 'put them to bed' much earlier, like 6 or 7pm. 

So, if we do this, do I need blackout shades? Should I expect that they will want to eat on their typical evening schedule (every 3 hrs till 12am, then every 4 hrs till 8am)? Will they end up getting up earlier in the am? 

Any advice?

LMK8605

I would put them in bed after their evening bottle around 7 or 8 (whatever time the bottle falls).  They will probably wake up to eat every 3-4 hours if they have been - but then again the may surprise you.. 

We started our bedtime routine (bath, book, bottle, bed) around 2-3 months old... before then they weren't into routine or predictable behavior at all. 

With us, we started based on their schedule (feeding wise) then we adjusted to a more structured routine as they got older.. for the past 2 months it has been:

Bath / nakey time (for the one that isn't getting a bath) @ 7:00

Downstairs for book @ 7:30

Bottle after book, followed by quiet lap/snuggle time

Bed @ 8:00 (if DD makes it that long... DS usually does)

Not sure if this helps.. GL

kimarino13

We put ours to bed between 730 and 8 usually.  After their last bottle of the night.  They usually sleep until 2 or 3 and then wake to eat and then go back down until 5 or 6 (or 7).

choco_lab

We started putting DS at 3 months to bed as part of his routine between 6 and 7.  He's got up at different times as he's gotten older but it's usually around 6 or 7.  When really little, he'd go down at 7, up at 12, 3 and 6.  We don't have any special kind of shades.. just the regular pull down ones.  Even with the time change and it's light out when he goes down.  Babies NEED sleep!

jlh123

I attribute my babies STTN at 3-4 months old (not just 8 hours, 11-12 hours) because from day one when they came home from the NICU we started a bedtime routine around their 7-8pm bottle and in the crib they went.  We did this because the NICU did it and their feedings were every 4 hours.  Slowly the midnight feeding was gone and then a few months later that 4am feeding was gone.  We've never had a bedtime problem. 

As pp stated, I'd put them to bed at the 7-8 bedtime bottle and they'll still continue with their feedings but will get trained that it's nightime and they'll actually want to keep sleeping.

muppet.fan

At your LOs' ages we were still keeping E downstairs with us too until we went up to bed, usually around 10. She would sleep in her swing from 8-10 p.m. and then we'd transfer her to the p-n-p in our room. At 2 months, she'd usually nurse one last time between 8-10 anyway. Around 3 months, she dropped that feeding and started going to bed at 8.

She didn't really start an early bedtime (7-7:30) until somewhere around 4-5 months. We just watched her cues and let her lead.

If it's working for all of you to have them downstairs, I don't see anything wrong with it. We had no problems making the transition to upstairs bedtime when we thought E was ready for it.

Temp848906437505510

Alana just will not go to bed that early.  Trust me, I've tried!  We usually begin her bedtime routine between 8 and 8:30 and she goes down around 9:30.  This is an improvement over the 10:30 or 11 she was going down before.

But, this timing works great for us.  She has her last bottle around 9:00 and sleeps through the night, not waking up until somewhere between 7 and 8am!