Bedtimes?

jedimindtrick · August 2013

So I started reading "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" at the recommendation of a friend, and he recommends a bedtime of around 6:00, sometimes earlier. This triggered an emotional meltdown on my part (poor DH) because once I go back to work, I would have very little time with LO with that early of a bedtime. DH, who works afternoons and evenings, and my MIL would spend more time with him than me. I lost it. I always assumed bedtime was more like 8:00.
What time do you put your LO's down to sleep, especially those of you with older kids?
I will obviously do what my kid needs for sleep, not my own desires, but it just made me really sad.

CNJ4EVA · August 2013

I think I'm in the minority here, but LO doesn't go to bed until 10:30-11.

jedimindtrick · August 2013

My guy used to go to bed that late but has started getting fussy. We've moved it up and he's sleeping well. He goes down between 8-9 now. It's nice because we get some down time. But I don't want to have to move it earlier.

TrulyBlessed22 · August 2013

I agree that seems too early, especially for a working Mom. Once babies drop their MOTN feed and late night feed they should sleep anywhere from 10-12 consecutive hours. That being said you should work backwards from that based on what time you need them to wake up every morning. Right now DD sleeps from 8:30 or 9 until about 3:30 or 4. Once she drops that MOTN feed then my hope is to slowly move her to a 8pm sleep time so that she wakes up around 7. That will give me at least 3 hours with her after work. Truth is even that makes me really sad but its not right to try to keep her up for my benefit either.

RoxZ32 · August 2013

My LO was going to bed at 11 or so but recently started getting fussy so for the past week she's been going to bed between 8:30-9:30. When I go back to work I may need to move it up to 7-7:30 so she can still get her 12 hours in before I need to get her ready to leave for work. Its definitely a bummer to think I'll only have a couple hours with her in the evenings. I have to remind myself that is my job as her mommy to make sure she's healthy and happy and that means getting a good nights sleep.

helenkayj · August 2013

J goes to bed between 8 & 9. This skipping MOTN feeding then getting 11-12 hours sleep just doesn't work for me... Is it okay to count getting him drsssed and putting him back to sleep in the car in the am as part of that 11-12 cuz otherwise I am going to have to put him to bed at 6!!!! And that thought makes me cry too!!!

capstone52501 · August 2013

Our LO is just about 4 months and he has been on the same sleep schedule since he was just a week old. He goes to bed at 10 PM and (since July 4) sleeps till about 5:30 or 6 AM

I am sorry but I do NOT read all these books, I go by my babies cues. He will sleep when he needs it, play when he wants, I will fuss over him when he needs one on one time and I will feed him when he shows signs of being ready.

Books tend to just frustrate and confuse people.

TundraGirl · August 2013

We give W a bath between 7:30 and 8:00, get him ready for bed, and then I nurse him. He goes to sleep around 8:30 or 9:00 most nights. If we followed the 6:00 bedtime, I would have to go through his nighttime routine by myself and my hubby wouldn't see him before bed. I would hate that.

JulieK79 · August 2013

DS falls asleep between 8:30 and 9:00. Once I go back to work I hope this stays the same. Ill be in the same panic as you if I only get to see him for a couple hours each day!

bumpuser8130818 · August 2013

DS has a bath at 8:30, nurses, then falls asleep around 9. Since I stay home with him and we don't usually ever have any place to be, I don't have to get him up at any certain time. Going to bed at 6pm would be ridiculous, as he would be up for the day around 6am and what in the heck would we do all day until DH comes home from work? I preer for his awake time to extend to when DH is home from work so that we can spend time together. But if I was teaching this year and had to get up before 6 as I used to, then a 6pm bed time would make sense. Otherwise he wouldn't get his full night's sleep in.

Lolalipsy · August 2013

I start the process at around 6pm but she doesn't sleep until 9pm. She used to sleep from 6pm when she was younger but not now.

brandi3207 · August 2013

CNJ4EVA said:
I think I'm in the minority here, but LO doesn't go to bed until 10:30-11.

My lo goes to bed late too. Usually between 10:30 and 11:30.

Kashy · August 2013

brandi3207 said:

CNJ4EVA said:
I think I'm in the minority here, but LO doesn't go to bed until 10:30-11.
My lo goes to bed late too. Usually between 10:30 and 11:30.

My guy too. He is always in bed and asleep by 10-10:30.

Lolalipsy · August 2013

Personally I would start with the 8 o'clock bedtime. Not every child will even cooperate with going to bed at 6pm. It's much more important that you get some time with your little one. As long as he's getting a good 10 hour stretch. Just let him take the lead. He'll get fussy if it's too late for him.

snowgirl427 · August 2013

We start our routine at 7 and he is asleep by 8:30. We still do 2 MOTN feedings though.

Angela183 · August 2013

6 wouldn't work for us with our work schedules. So far LO has been going to bed late, because she refuses to fall asleep earlier. It'll be interesting to see what happens next week, as I will be returning to work and our schedules will be different. The way I see it now, I will put LO to bed when she is appearing sleepy (I'm imagining around 8:30), and I will get her up before going to daycare. Then she can nap the rest of the time at daycare!

Oohgurl · August 2013

All the way until 3 months it was 10-1030. Almost exactly at 3 months, he decided himself to push it up to 830-9. He still sleeps until 5 and then back down to 815ish. I imagine when I go back it will have to be earlier like 7 so he can get his whole night in. Sucks.

AllieAGame · August 2013

I could never get LO to sleep by 6. First of all, she's only had about half her bottles by then- we need more waking hours just to get at least 25 oz in her! In fact, she puts herself to sleep around 9 pm, but we wake her up again before we go to bed around 11 pm or midnight just so she can get enough food in for the day.

I know, I know.

TrulyBlessed22 · August 2013

AllieAGame said:
I could never get LO to sleep by 6. First of all, she's only had about half her bottles by then- we need more waking hours just to get at least 25 oz in her! In fact, she puts herself to sleep around 9 pm, but we wake her up again before we go to bed around 11 pm or midnight just so she can get enough food in for the day.

I know, I know.

We were still waking DD up for her 10:30 feed until recently. She just wouldn't drink more than 1oz when we did so we realized she was ready to drop that feed. It's been a week and she's been fine dropping it, she just drinks new during the other feeds now. We are now at 6 feeds totaling about 25oz every 24 hours.

jedimindtrick · August 2013

AllieAGame said:
I could never get LO to sleep by 6. First of all, she's only had about half her bottles by then- we need more waking hours just to get at least 25 oz in her! In fact, she puts herself to sleep around 9 pm, but we wake her up again before we go to bed around 11 pm or midnight just so she can get enough food in for the day.

I know, I know.

That's a really good point about the feedings. Thanks for the support and feedback. I am still reading it, but will take it with a grain of salt. My guy wakes up happy and rested. We just need to work on naps. After this, I'm not reading anymore books. As @capstone suggested. lol

jesselayne8 · August 2013

I put my 20 month old to bed between 7-730pm and my 2.5 month old to bed between 730-8pm.

TradeMama · August 2013

My three (3 months, 7 and 15) go to bed between 830-9.

wjv · August 2013

That book was a godsend with my older son. He really was one of those babies that needed an earlier bedtime. Desperately! I know it seems so early, that is what he needed. After we started doing this he was much less cranky, and he actually started sleeping better and longer at night! No lie! I realize this is just not something everyone can do, but he needed it so we did it.

I think it all depends on what your baby is like. With this LO I start feeding him anywhere between 7 and 7:30 so he is down to sleep around 8. This works for him and he is a much better sleeper than my son from the get go. But I am actually seeing some signs that he may need an earlier bedtime. He went to sleep at 7 last night and had a pretty good night sleep. Like you said, read the book, figure out what will work for you and your baby and forget the rest!

I do have to say that my older son is a wonderful sleeper now and I sort of feel like I owe it to that book and how I followed it. We started putting him down around 6:30 for a few months and then 7 for a few months and then he sort of fell into a 7:30 bedtime and he will be 3 in September and we have been there for a while. He says he is tired around 7:30 and wants to go to bed. After we followed the advice in this book, we have never had a stressful bedtime routine, like many of my other friends have. I am so thankful for this. He also takes a wonderful nap still and I followed the advice in that book. He wasn't always like that, but we worked on it and it is the same for his nap. I tell him it is nap time, he goes in his bed and takes a 2-3 hour nap!

gradmommy13 · August 2013

We start our bedtime routine at 8:30 and LJ is usually in her crib by 9:30. In the past week or so, though, she's been getting cranky at around 7:30 or 8, so we might have to start earlier. That also makes me sad because I go back to work on Monday and won't get home until 5:30 - 6:00

flyliceandcoffee · August 2013

For the last week or so S has been falling asleep in the car coming home from school and we don't want to wake her, so she's been sleeping in her carseat until she wakes up on her own, usually between 8 and 9. At that point it's time for bed so we usually just end up feeding her and putting her back to sleep. I do kind of miss the time with her after I get home from work since DH picks her up and she's been sleeping when I get home, but I'd rather let her sleep. I get to spend time with her in the mornings which makes up for the evenings when she's sleeping and it's kind of nice to be able to make dinner and eat without a fussy baby.

jedimindtrick · August 2013

Thanks for all the feedback, ladies!

anabana217 · August 2013

I'm a working mom too and we put our son down between 8-8:30. He sleeps soundly until about 2 or 3, gets a feeding, then sleeps until about 6:30. He didn't always though. We used to put him down at like 11 but for about the last 3 weeks it's been the 8pm bedtime. He fought me a little at first but he adjusted well. Good Luck!

Karicomo · August 2013

With both DS1 and this guy after the first two months we started putting them to bed about 7:30. They started to get a lil fussy then. The amazing thing is is that as soon as we started putting them to bed that early, they started to sleep through the night. Also that is when they went to the crib. DS1 slept through the night at 8 weeks and this guy at 12

emg2010 · August 2013

The book has helped us a lot but I feel that the 6 bedtime is too early especially when I go back to work. There has been a few times when my LO was tired around 6 but that doesn't work all the time. I've been trying for a 7-8pm bedtime. Last night I washed him up around 6:30, fed him and he went to sleep around 7pm.He woke up again at 8 then went back to sleep until 5am! That's our first long stretch. I hope it continues!

MOMama987 · August 2013

I don't pick up LO from daycare until 6pm... so no way he's going to bed for the night then. We start his bedtime routine between 8:30 and 9:00 and he's in his crib asleep by 9:30, typically. On a good night, he stays asleep until 5-6ish... last night, he woke once about 4am, had a bottle, and went back to sleep until 7:15. With our schedule, this is working well, at least for now.

LN1024 · August 2013

I agree with the others in regards to 6 pm being unrealistic. My husband isn't even home from work yet at that time. He would never see M and that's not an option. We usually start our bedtime routine around 8 and he's asleep by 830.

Mommy2CB · August 2013

6pm sounds ridiculously early, my husband would never see DS2! Not to mention I bet they would be up at like 5am! No thanks.

We start DS1's bedtime routine at 7:45p and he's in bed by 8:30p. We plan to do the same with DS2 once he gets a bit older, right now he is falling asleep for the night around 9:30/10:30p or so. He STTN so I'm not going to try moving it earlier yet, but like I said once he gets a bit older we will do the exact same bedtime routine as his brother. BTW DS1 sleeps til 8/830a every day.

coffeeandbooks · August 2013

I read the healthy sleep habit book too, and tried for the 6:30 bedtime. Here is what happened, he slept from 6:30 to 12:30 and then was up for two hours till 2:30 am.

He basically just has one long six hour stretch that he is capable of right now, and I definitely didn't like it being from 6:30 to 12:30, we are back to putting him to bed at 10.

It just works better for us. The only thing that really worked for me from the book was the 2 hour wakefulness guideline.

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