Late bedtime?

[Snacks]

I have spoken to two friends this week about Natalie going to sleep between 9:30 and 10:30pm and they have been really surprised at how late this is. (She is 2 months old) I guess my reasoning is that I put her to bed about an hour and a half before I want to go to bed (in case she takes some settling down) for selfish reasons - I want to get as much sleep at the same time as I can . So far it works ok for us because she wakes after about 5 hours, then feeds and goes back to sleep for another 2-3 hours, which I understand is 'normal' for her age.
What time do you put your babies to sleep? Is it healthier to put them to bed earlier at a certain age?

[*Shazlee*]

I think this is quite normal. And not selfish at all. You do what you have to, to get through.
I implimented the 7pm to 7am routine from early on and we got lots of sleep then till i had to move out for renovations.

Maybe try moving her bedtime to a little earlier so you get some more 'you' time...

[visitor1]

Chelsea is 3 months old and she is never in bed much before 10-11pm everynight. Thats because of her bottle, bath bed routine...and if she goes to bed earlier its a screaming match.

Do what works for u....my health nurse said what im doing is fine.

[mummy2Kaitlyn]

Hi Amy , I think it totally depends on what works for you , DH and Natalie.

Kaitlyn was a terrible sleeper at Natalies age - she used to have 3 x 45mins sleeps during the day , then go down at about 730pm - feed at 11pm - wake between 230am and 5am feed and then sleep again until between 7-9am. But this was because she really did not get enough sleep during the day so made up for it at night.

I think the main thing is you are all well slept ..not so much the times you get the sleep IYKWIM.

[Tobily]

I guess as with all things baby related it really depends on what works for your family.
Little bubs don't really have any concept of time as such so I wouldn't really stress about it at this point - but perhaps your friends are thinking you might run into problems a little further down the line. At around 6-9 months babies start to realise they're missing out on things when they're asleep and that's when things get interesting

I've always preferred to have my babies go to bed earlier, I've always found it helps to have a good bedtime routine happening from very early on. It's paid off in spades with DD who is now 2.5 - she goes to bed at 7pm and it's VERY rare that she will not want to go, even rarer that we need to sit with her or settle her. Only when she is sick really.
We've found with our second baby that he has just fallen into her routine, so he also goes to bed at 7pm-ish.
A close friend of mine has a son who's a year older than DD - he's never had an early bed time since he was a tiny bub and now at 3.5 years old she just lets him pass out on a mattress in the living room when he gets tired - usually about midnight - and then carries him into bed. I just don't see how this can be good for a little kid.

[*Shazlee*]

she just lets him pass out on a mattress in the living room when he gets tired

That poor kid.

[shellbell3]

I think you need to do what works for you. My DD was going to bed late for first 6 weeks cause we just used to wait til she fell asleep but i found I really needed me time, so we started the whole bedtime routine and get her in by 7:30-8:00. I find the nights she doesn't settle til later tiring cause i really need the time to wind down put my feet up, watch TV etc. Our prob is she does wake up bout midnight when I've only been asleep an hour or so!

[EllyBoo72]

I think do what works for you for the moment...I think it is hard when they are so young...We didnt have DS into an early bed time routine until he was 3 Months old... Only when he first started sleeping thru...This is when his routine started, and it worked for us, before he was sleeping thru, we were doing what you are doing, if he happened to fall asleep in our arms after his bath and bottle at 7.00pm, we would just hold him until he woke for his next bottle at 11.oopm, then feed and put him down in his cot, for as long as he would sleep. Hope this makes sense!

[Liz]

DS goes to bed between 9.30 & 10.30 every night. I have no problem with it. In fact if he went to bed at 7 or 8, he'd never see his father. We also go out 2 nights a week, where we don't get home until 9pm, so it actually works out really well. He gets up around 9am most mornings, and early morning is the best time for me to get stuff done.

Just do whatever works. If they're going to bed at 10pm and getting up at 6am, then I'd probably not be happy with that, but so long as they're getting sufficient sleep, I wouldn't worry at all.

[MantaRay]

Honestly I would go with the flow. Both my boys have settled into their own routines. Jack used to go to bed quite late when he was that age. Now at 2 he goes down at 7pm with no fuss. Ever. I believe they settle into what they need so watch the sleep cues. Tom on the other hand has been going down for the night around 5pm. This is when he is ready to go down and trying to keep him up only causes problems so again, I go with the flow. I am sure he too will adjust over time as he grows up (too quickly LOL!).

[{sarah}]

Amy we had the same sort of bedtime for Alexzander for a long time. He was quite unsettled with reflux & it was just very difficult to get him settled in bed any earlier. Somehow he managed to change his routine on his own & instead of sleeping 11pm-10am (getting up several times a night too), he now sleeps from 7.30-7.30 each night. Sometimes we have odd late nights & he's fine with it.

Do what works for YOUR family, no two families are the same.

[ShootingStar]

At that age i honestly dont think it matters. Jesse was went to be that late until around 4 months then i just started getting him in the habbit of going around 8pm.. i also cut down a feed at that time too. Now at nearly 6 months hes in bed by 7.30pm but he's established that bit earlier time himself.
Just do what works for you.. dont listen to what other people are telling you to do as they know nothing.. every baby is different.

[C~Q]

DD2 usually falls asleep at around 6.30 and we put her in the porta cot downstairs. Then j ust before I go to bed (whatever time) I feed her and put her down in the cot next to me.

Even if doing what your doing now is getting her into a bad routine you can always change it later. In my experience it only takes a few nights of being firm and not giving in and you've got a new routine. I think go with what works now and worry about later, later.

BTW I know this rule doesn't apply to alot of things but I have found for sleeping it does as they're generally tired anyway.

[Fee]

We've always just followed Cooper's lead and he's shown us that around 6.00 pm is his bed time. He's always tired by this time and once he's asleep he doesn't wake until the next morning.

It's nice to have the evening to ourselves! The only thing is that Cooper is an early riser - around 5.00 am. I've tried putting his bed time back a bit later but it doesn't make a difference.

I don't think you need to worry about routines too much with a 2 month old.

[SSmiles]

Hi! What an interesting thread! I've wondered the same thing as we also get comments when I tell friends what time Riley goes to bed...

Riley usually goes to sleep around 10:30 - 11:30 pm at night for his 'big sleep'...and he usually sleeps to about 6:30 - 7:30 am. We've tried putting him to bed earlier but then he wakes up earlier (ie he only seems to sleep for a certain amount of time no matter what time he goes to bed)... And me being 'selfish', I prefer to get sleep while he sleeps...I'd much rather him go to bed late and wake up at a reasonable hour than go to bed early and wake up half way through the night. Riley doesn't sleep much during the day (usually 3 or 4 sleeps of 20-40 minutes) so my night sleep is the only sleep I get.

DH & I would love more time to ourselves but it just isn't going to happen yet...we're just glad to get some sleep...hehe...

[Snacks]

Thanks for sharing your experiences. I suppose I had in my head that at six months she'd be going to bed earlier, but didn't know if it was a problem waiting that long... I guess we'll see if it becomes a problem for DH and I.