How long does your LO take to fall asleep?

AimeeL85 · December 2012

We start our bedtime routine at 7:15 or 7:30 and DS is in bed every night right around 8pm. He used to fall asleep quickly, but lately he's been taking close to an hour.

He talks and sings to himself and is generally content until he falls asleep, but I'm wondering if it means he's not tired yet and I should change something, like making naptime earlier. I really think 8pm is plenty late enough for a bedtime and would rather not push that any later, but I feel bad if I'm putting him to bed when he's truly not tired yet.

He naps at 1:30 and will sleep until anywhere between 3pm and 4pm.

Would you adjust his nap or just leave things alone since he's content until he falls asleep?

MisN · December 2012

It takes DD less than 5 minutes to fall asleep between 7 and 7:30. In your case I might be inclined to wake him by 3pm if he is not falling asleep until 9pm.

fancynewbeesly · December 2012

Reese usually tries to go into her crib between 6:45/7. However in her crib she just winds down and relaxes and many times doesn't fall asleep until 7:30-7:45. I personally think she just likes that down time. She plays with her lamb and her dream light. Sometimes she babbles, but she never cries or complains about being in her crib--so I just leave her.

kxp004 · December 2012

We moved DS's naptime up to at the latest noon... then he only sleeps about 1.5 hours but he's in bed asleep after approximately 10 minutes of rocking...

This is with a wake up time of 7:30ish am, nap 11:30 to 1:00 pm, bed time 7:30ish pm...

ErinDarryl · December 2012

Mine started doing this as well. I moved her nap to 1230/1 (from 130/2) and it seems to be helping.

ladybugpjb · December 2012

Most of the time DS falls asleep quickly, but he occasionally talks to himself for 30 min or so.

I try not to let him sleep past 4:00 if he has a late nap, and he really prefers an earlier nap (like, 11-2 instead of 1-4). I also try to make sure he has plenty of activity between naptime and bedtime to make sure that he's tired.

ilovemarfa · December 2012

My son is 22 months and I pushed back his bedtime to about 8:30 once he went to one nap. He used to be in bed by 7:30 but since he naps from 12 to 3 he won't go down that early anymore. I would try adjusting his bedtime for a few days and see what happens! Good luck.

Edited due to spelling and grammar errors

Augustmama1113 · December 2012

MRoss1982:
Less than 5 min. She rarely makes a peep.

Same here. DS takes about a 2 hour nap at about 1pm. We put him down at 9pm and it takes him about 5 to 10 minutes to fall asleep.

AsOctoberFalls · December 2012

Kimbus22:
DS usually goes to bed between 6:30 and 6:45. He used to be out like a light in 5 minutes. Lately it's been more like 20 - 45 minutes. But he's happy and playing so I let it go.

This is us, too. It's weird... I wake him at 6 AM most days for daycare, and he NEVER napped more than 30 minutes in the infant room, yet he's still been taking a while to fall asleep lately.

This week is his first week in the toddler room, and his naps have gotten MUCH better... he napped for 2.5 hours yesterday. But, he still was ready for bed at his usual time, and he rolled around for 15 or 20 minutes before falling asleep.

ally81698 · December 2012

We are going through this too. It's been taking about 45 minutes for DD to fall asleep. Worst part about it is that due to our schedules, it's really hard for us to start her bedtime routine before 9pm so she isn't sleeping until 9:45pm-10:00pm! I am going to try moving her to a full size mattress on the floor this weekend. We currently have a full size bed in her room and when she cries because she doesn't want to be in her crib, I take her out and she falls asleep on the bed within 5-10 minutes then I transfer into her into her crib. I think I'm just going to switch her to the bed (mattress on the floor) and see how she does. I don't have any advice on nap time since DD doesn't have a scheduled nap time. Good luck!

RayRay007 · December 2012

MRoss1982:
Honestly if he's content I'd leave it alone.

I think I agree with this. Unless he shows signs of needing to nap earlier, I wouldn't mess with that. I certainly wouldn't wake him up early from a nap.

DD takes 5-15 minutes to fall asleep and she's usually totally quiet.

SusieBW · December 2012

MRoss1982:
Honestly if he's content I'd leave it alone.

I completely agree with this!

I don't think there's ever a "normal" for my DD. Some nights she's asleep on DH's lap during story time, other nights I hear her singing, talking and rolling around for close to an hour after we put her down, and other nights there's everything in between. Then sometimes, it's completely quiet in there 30 minutes after we put her down, so I go in to throw something in her laundry or whatever, and she's wide awake. We put her down when she's acting like she's ready, which is always somewhere between 7:30 and 8:30. I have no idea what her nap schedule is like during the week, but on weekends when I'm with her all day, it varies depending on what she's up to that day - I can only assume it's the same with her babysitters.

If he's not fighting it and crying and yelling about being in bed, I'm sure he's fine with the current situation, and just likes taking the time to himself to unwind.

kimeetee · December 2012

It has definitely been taking longer for LO to fall asleep. I nurse to sleep (which is a whole matter in and of itself), but DD used to fall asleep in minutes. Now it takes about 25 minutes. She likes to get down, crawl around and walk around her room for a bit (all in the dark) - get some giggles out. She definitely needs more wind down time than before. Her bed time typically starts around 7-715. I usually hold her and cuddle a bit too after she falls asleep. I'm usually out of the room by 8 now, whereas before i would be out by 730. She had been cruising and taking a few steps ever since she was 11 months. In the past two weeks however, she has been walking around like a champ. I'm attributing the change mostly to this new development.

DawnJM25 · December 2012

I would leave him alone. If he's not crying, like other PPs said, maybe he needs the downtime. I definitely wouldn't wake him up from a nap early just so he'll go to sleep at bedtime. My DD talks/babbles about 50% of the time for about 10 minutes or so, the other nights she goes right to sleep without a peep.