Bedtime?

piedpiper07

So I have put DS to bed at 7pm for months now.  Before that, if we kept him up later he would scream and get much less sleep.  Up until this week he has slept 2.5 hours at the most for the past 4.5 months. Well the past 2 days we have been out and havent gotten home until 9 and put him to sleep then. (Although he was sleeping off and on since 7 in his car seat and stroller) Both nights he slept 4.5 hours during a stretch! I am desperate to keep this pattern lol. After 4.5 months of waking every 2 hours, The past 2 nights have been awesome!!

Do you think I should put him to bed later tonight? Or is it just a coincidence and he is FINALLY getting a bit more sleep? LOL I am scared to change anything because sleep is so precious!!! 

What time do you put LO to sleep? 

nawlinsgrl

I can't speak to your specific situation other than to say that I started off repeating what worked for us the first night she STTN (a blissful 6 hours!).  I forget now exactly what that was, since it wasn't intentional, and was when she was 6w2d old (believe me, I KNOW how incredibly lucky we were).

Once we realized it was a pattern and not a fluke occurrence, we started to slowly push up her bedtime, which went from 11pm all the way to 7pm, and most recently (just in the past 2-3 weeks) down to 6:30pm most nights.

I was terrified to put her down early, like everyone says to do, which is why we did it gradually.  She continued to sleep until around 6am each time, and sometimes will go until 6:30-6:45 if I don't wake her first (I usually wake/feed her between 6:15-6:30 so I can be at work for 7).

acbfreire

My LO is a night owl. Usually she goes at 10 pm (give or take 30min), but now she is pushing it to 11:30

She wakes up for the day between 9:30-10 am.

drbethc

I noticed something similar. My LO's bedtime was at 7:30pm on days I'm not working. He sleeps until midnight and gets up every 2 hours after that. On the days, that I have to work til 8:30, he goes down at about 9pm when I get home. He will sleep until about 2am and then get up every 2 hours after that. 

So far, putting him to bed later has been better except for during WW or during that wakeful period when putting him down later actually caused him to stay up longer and became a nightmare for me. 

khill86

I used to try for 7:30 so I started bedtime around 6. That was around 5 weeks because LO slept from 7:15pm-12am one night. The longer we pursued 7:30, the more I noticed DS would be down for good around 8pm or 8:30. DS had a wakeful period where he wasn't down for the night until 11pm. I decided to moved the start of bedtime to 7pm and DS has been asleep in his crib by 8:15pm every night. I only put him down once, no waking after 15minutes, no crying, just sleep. He sleeps 10 hours straight until 6:30am. Sometimes he'll even go back down for another hour or two after that.

beck8008

anywhere between 6 and 7:30 depending on what time his last nap ends... he'll usually sleep until somewhere around 3:00 to eat, then back to sleep until 6 or 7

 

kk2bkd

DD used to go down around 11pm but we've now eliminated that feed and she goes down for the night between 8pm - 9pm.

 For your little one, could it be that you've been out the last few nights and so not only is he not getting the same sleep before 'bed' but that he's got added stimulation and activity? Maybe he's just been more physically tired due to the outings? I know if I keep DD out all day she crashes for sometimes an extra 2 hours that night vs. having a home day where we just hang out. Just a thought. Maybe an evening walk or trip to the store can be part of a routine for you to tucker him out?

GL - I can't imagine how you've done it for this long. Good on you!!

GeekFantasy

We try to get her down at about 7-8ish and she'll usually be down until maybe 12-1.  Then she's up every 3-3.5 hours.  Wish I could move her long stretch a bit later... if only I could crash at 7! But she does right back to sleep after each feed so I won't complain.  She's usually up for the day around 8.  Sometimes I can stretch it another hour or two more but not always.

mkflower3000

Maybe he's finally adjusting his sleep schedule? You can always experiment with the earlier bedtime for a few days and see if there's a repeat in the pattern!
DD also goes to bed anywhere from 7-8, and usually gives us a good 5-6 hour stretch in the beginning, but occasionally this varies. I'm not sure what causes the variation, though. Probably just random!