How to move up their bedtime?

laurapaine2003@yahoo.com · October 2015

My six week old daughter doesn't seem to like to go to bed before midnight. Which means her and I are sleeping until about 930 to 10:00 AM every day. How can I slowly get her bedtime moved up? I tried to the past few nights and it doesn't seem to be working so I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong. I start her nighttime routine at 7 PM we do tummy time and then the play mat and then we switch over to the bathtub and get a nice long relaxing warm bath and then I do a really long feeding session for her and rock her to sleep and then put her in her crib which was warmed up by a heating pad. The whole process takes about two hours and I do that purposely to keep her awake and wear her out but yet slowly lure her into a nice relaxing sleep. So about 9 PM is when I lay her down and it only lasts for about 20 to 30 minutes and then she is up and wired and we continue this cycle until about midnight when she really wants to go to bed. Please tell me what I am doing wrong and what I can do to get her to go to bed by 9 PM, I understand this may take several weeks but I only have 5 1/2 weeks left of maternity leave before I have to go back to work and I really need her on a much better schedule because I start work at 6 AM and would need her up and fed and ready to go for the day by then. any input is appreciated!

jen83mn · October 2015

We will have to do the same with our little guy in a few weeks when I go back to work, but he's currently going to bed around 9:30/10 so we don't have to push it back too much at this point. I would suggest pushing it back gradually, 30 minutes at a time. So for the next few nights, start your 2-hour bedtime routine at 9:30 with the goal of putting her to bed at 11:30 p.m. Once she has that down, push it back another 30 minutes by doing the same, and wait until she has that down, then push it back another 30 minutes, and so forth until you're at the bedtime you'd like. Jumping from going to bed at midnight to 9 p.m. is probably too big of a change for her which is why she's fighting it.

Our little guy was going to bed closer to 11 p.m. three weeks ago. I gradually started his bedtime routine earlier by 30 minutes and it seemed to work for us!

laurapaine2003@yahoo.com · October 2015

I will totally try this tonight! Thank you!!

ElleMF728 · October 2015

jen83mn said:

We will have to do the same with our little guy in a few weeks when I go back to work, but he's currently going to bed around 9:30/10 so we don't have to push it back too much at this point. I would suggest pushing it back gradually, 30 minutes at a time. So for the next few nights, start your 2-hour bedtime routine at 9:30 with the goal of putting her to bed at 11:30 p.m. Once she has that down, push it back another 30 minutes by doing the same, and wait until she has that down, then push it back another 30 minutes, and so forth until you're at the bedtime you'd like. Jumping from going to bed at midnight to 9 p.m. is probably too big of a change for her which is why she's fighting it. Our little guy was going to bed closer to 11 p.m. three weeks ago. I gradually started his bedtime routine earlier by 30 minutes and it seemed to work for us!

PP is right, you're trying too much too soon. A change that big has to be gradual. In addition I'd add that morning is a good place to start. Wake LO 30 minute earlier during the day and then do bedtime 30 minutes earlier as well.

callistosmile · October 2015

Daylight savings this weekend might be your new best friend. LO will wake up at the normal time for them, which will be an hour earlier by the clock, and you can start bedtime an hour earlier. At least I think that's how it'll work...

dmland17 · October 2015

I've tried bumping up my daughter's routine by even 10 minutes a night and she won't budge from her 11pm bedtime. I am back to work as of yesterday and I have to wake at 5:30 to get us both ready for the day. I feel like a zombie.

jessbruxanovaa · October 2015

I made this mistake last night except that my little boy fights sleep until he no longer can at around 1-1:30 am. Last night I was actually able to put him to sleep at 11. It was amazing but it all backfired because he woke up at 1 am and stayed up fussing till 6 in the morning! It was too big of a change. I agree with the previous posters.

Jenten810 · October 2015

I would suggest elimiating some things from the routine, like tummy time and/or play mat. LO may be overstimulated from all the activity. From my experience bath, pjs, book and final feeding are enough to settle LO down for the night.

seamonkey4 · October 2015

Agree with pp, I think your bedtime routine is too much. They get overstimulated so easily and that really effects their ability to sleep. We do bath(every other night), if it's not a bath night I do a baby massage with coconut oil, book with light on, turn light off and start nursing while singing "our" song. This starts at 7:00. She's out by 8-8:30 at the absolute latest. I could put her down sooner but I let her comfort nurse for awhile to help build my supply

jwebbbber45678 · October 2015

I'd also suggest not doing tummy time and playing. Instead dim all the lights, turn off the TV, only talk in low voices, basically try to remove as much stimulus as possible. We do a bath before bed as well and we make sure most lights are dim and everything is quiet in the house.

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