doesn't go to bed until 12-1?

JLK483 · November 2008

I have a six week old and no matter what I try, he's not out until 12-1 a.m. If I'm lucky, he may fall asleep at 11:30. This is even w/ the new time change. I read so much on here that your babies fall asleep at 8-9. I'd be thrilled with 10:30! I go back to work in a couple of weeks and I don't mind if I had to get up an extra time for feeding if that meant I could go to bed earlier. I have tried putting him in bed but he'll start crying or he drops his pacifier every minute and needs me to put it back in. He is so wide awake at night. He will take one long nap during the day- about 3-4 hours and that's it. However, I'm assuming he's still too young to try to get on a routine and just need to follow his lead, right?

TIA

Lisichka · November 2008

My 2-month-old DD does almost the same thing: she does not go to bed earlier than 11pm. Then she sleeps (with a few waking to feed) until 10am, takes really good naps all day long and then is wide awake from 7pm (or sometimes 8pm) until 11pm. Now I'm a SAHM, so it's so much easier for me to sleep in, but my DH still does have to go to work, so it sucks. She started doing this maybe 3 weeks ago, and nothing we do gets her to sleep earlier than 11pm.I'm sorry, I have no advice for you really, I guess some babies are like that.

regenab · November 2008

How long is he awake between naps during the day? Babies cannot be awake longer than 2 hours at a time during the day or they become overtired. If your baby is overtired and does not nap enough during the day, he will become overtire and cannot sleep at night. It doesn't sound like it makes much sense, but an overtired baby does not sleep well. I would try as soon as he wakes in the morning, look at the clock and try to have him back down for a nap within 2 hours. Keep doing this 2 hour interval throughout the day and then hopefully you will be able to put him down at like 8-9 at night for his first long stretch of sleep at night. Sounds like he may still have his days and nights mixed up a bit, since he is doing a long stretch for you during the day like 3-4 hours. If you work on getting him down for naps more often during the day, he will start to take shorter naps during the day and figure out he should be doing that long stretch of sleep at night instead.

Lastly start making your house darker and quieter (dim the lights and turn down the volume on tv or stereo) at around 6:30 - 7:00 at night so he gets the idea that it is time for the day to end and go to sleep at night, this will also help him to figure out days from night.

I would pick up the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child if you can, it is a great reference for dealing with sleep issues and developing good sleep patterns for all children from ages birth to 6 years old. I use it as a reference often when I am having an issue with my girls, ususally when they reach a new stage in their lives and I need to know what is going on.

Good luck