Upping bed time

septemberdc

Hi Ladies,

I upped DD's bed time but she's 4 yo and I can't remember what I did. DS just started pulling 8-9 hours at night. I have to work and so 11:00/11:30 bed time is not cutting it. How do I bump him up to at least 9:30ish?

TIA

kacelle

DD adjusted really well to an earlier bedtime.  In the early weeks, she was going to bed around 10:30, but we decided we'd start putting her to bed around 7:30.  When she started looking drowsy around that time, instead of holding her for her nap, I started a new bedtime routine and put her down in her bassinet in a dark room (with her Sleep Sheep on).  I think the new routine helped her to understand that it was bedtime, and she's gone to bed easily around 7:30 or 8 almost every night!

This was at about 2 weeks, so I'm not sure how hard it would be to start this after a couple months of a later bedtime.  

larNal+?

We just did this with DS. We had the pretty much the same situation you described. He'd go to bed around 10:30 or 11 and sleep until about 8:30. With me going back to work in a couple of weeks 7 would be a much better wake time.

We really didn't have much of a routine previously other than he would feed around 9 and then around 10 or 10:30 I would give him 1 boob then DH would change him, swaddle him and then I would give him the other boob. He usually will fall asleep on the 2nd boob. We decided to move bathtime to the evening. So now our schedule starts at 8 feed, bathe, lotion/massage, dress, story, feed 1st boob change and swaddle, feed last boob. We've been done with this around 9:30/9:45.

We've only been doing this for a few days and the first day he woke up @ 5:30. The next @ 3:30. Last night he made it all the way until 7. All 3 nights he's been making a little more noise at night then usual. I'm hoping since he slept until 7 last night he's adjusting to the new schedule (knock on wood).

tokenhoser

DS just sort of moved himself. He was going to sleep at 10 or 11, now it's 8 or 9. If we're doing a bath, I try to hit an awake time around 7 pm, then put him in an overnight diaper and feed him so we're done by 8 or 8:30 at the latest. Once he's tired, he goes in the crib with his white noise and arms swaddled and soother.

This all just kind of evolved, but it seems to be working.