Changing Bedtime Success Stories?

unaveragejane

Has anyone had success moving their LO's bedtime to be a little bit later to get a later wake-up time? Right now DS goes to bed around 7:00, which means he gets up around 6:00 sometimes. I hate to mess with a good thing since he is finally STTN, but it would be nice to be able to sleep in a tad. (My going to bed earlier is futile b/c DH is a night owl and wakes me up with a loud TV, crunching on almonds in bed, etc.) How did you stretch that last evening awake time without making them completely miserable? Did you space your naps out farther? TIA

kpearse99

I've read that just spacing it slowing helps.... like in 10 minute incraments each night.

Night 1 - 7:10

Night 2 - 7:20

Night 3 - 7:30

I haven't needed to try this, but I would imagine it would/could work and that it wouldn't be too hard?

When is his last nap?  Maybe try pushing that back a little bit later too and that would subsiquently push his bedtime back....

LO usually gets his bath at 7:30 and then eats and goes to bed, but lately he hasn't been napping passed 3:30 and so by 7:00 he is sooooo ready for bed.  Like barely hanging on.  I'm working with my mom and MIL (who watch him during the week) to try and push his last nap back to where he would wake up around 4 again.

GL

unaveragejane

That's the crazy thing...yesterday he napped from 4:30 to 5:30 or so. He was still just about to fall over by 7:00. But since he fought that nap so hard, maybe I need to lay him down closer to 5:00. I've read not to let them nap that late, but I guess it couldn't hurt too much to try it.

vrj0522

I had to do this recently with the change of daylight savings time ending. Two suggestions I have is first, don't go in right away to see baby when he wakes up. Let him stir a bit and wait until he begins to fuss to go in. Second, don't feed him right away. Try to wait as long as you can and move the time slowly to the 7 am mark. So for example, give him time to stir and then when you go in, wait as long as he lets you before you feed him. Then as he begins to wake up later and later, continue to do this until you reach the desired schedule. It took a couple of weeks for us but my LO was able to move the waketime accordingly. Babies wake up to eat so as you teach him to sleep longer and wait longer to eat, his body will adjust.

One thing to keep in mind though is that an hour more at nighttime will probably mean an hour less of napping during the day, which might make you need to move around naps a bit.