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Pushing baby's bedtime later?

CrazyMary77CrazyMary77 member
in Babies: 3 - 6 Months
Has anyone had any success pushing your baby's bedtime later and can share any tips? LO has been going to sleep for the night by 6:15-6:30pm. We usually start her bedtime routine by 5:30-5:45 when she first starts showing signs of tiredness. I'd like to push it back maybe an hour because of activities I want us to participate in a couple days a week that start around 4:30 or 5:00 would make us get home around 6:30. Of course I could just take her out and end up with a sleeping baby, or a grumpy one! Or bypass bedtime routine and put her straight to bed when we get home. She would probably fall asleep without going through the routine. Thoughts? Suggestions?
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Re: Pushing baby's bedtime later?

  • kelly422kelly422 member
    Just do it gradually - move it by like 15-30 minutes and give it a few days until you get to the time you want. 
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  • mrs.mastromrs.mastro member
    But don't count on your LO to sleep any longer in the morning.  DS has gradually been moving his bedtime up from 7ish to 6:30 or earlier, and he still sleeps until the same time in the morning.  I think the wake-up time is pretty set in babies no matter what else changes.

    I know it's annoying that you can't do anything past that time.  But the good thing is you can get a babysitter after LO is asleep and still have plenty of time to go out to dinner.  It does seem like a waste to pay a sitter for that, so if you have friends in the same boat, do a babysitting swap.  (Going off on a tangent, sorry!)
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  • BeriblueBeriblue member
    If I were you, I'd skip the routine. I mean it's only 2 days a week. Pushing bedtime later would just cause more trouble than what it's worth, in my experience.
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  • Pearls+OystersPearls+Oysters member
    We have been victims to DS switching his routine on us. It's been hard! He used to fall asleep around 9:30pm, and wake up at 6:00am every. single. morning. Suddenly, he wouldn't sleep until 10 or 11pm, and would wake up around 7 or 8am. He still slept the same amount of time, just different hours. It was hard sometimes.

    I really needed him to go back to his old routine, and we've been doing it gradually like @kelly422 said. 15 minutes earlier every day, and so far so good. Maybe 15 minutes later every night could work for you?
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  • lana22lana22 member
    i'd see how she does and try skipping the routine, or doing a very abbreviated version.i might also try to extend her daytime wakeups by 5-10 min gradually so she's taking a later nap, and maybe not as tired by 6. we usually have bedtime about 1.5-3 hours after my son's last nap, though it can change if we're out later and then we just change/feed him when we get home and put him down for bed.

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