How did your baby go about bringing their bedtime forward?

[mrsmugoo]

Probably not worded that title very well. Basically what I'd like to hear are your experiences of are how you went from your baby being awake and feeding all evening to eventually settling on an early evening bedtime?

DD is my second (she's 7 weeks) but I have hardly any memory of what we did with our DS two years ago - funny how your memory of these things goes!

With my DS I think I persistently tried to get him to go down to bed early and sat in a darkened room feeding in the evening for months which was a pretty futile exercise.

This time I've been more chilled and I've just made myself comfortable for the cluster feeding in the living room and gone to bed with her when she's eventually passed out. But sometimes it's not been until after midnight and by this time I'm basically falling asleep. My toddler is up at 7am so it cuts my sleep short. I have to get up with him and leave the baby sleeping.

Also she's been getting overstimulated with the TV and the lights so I've been taking her through to the bedroom for some calmness when she starts showing signs of being wired, which has helped her to settle a little earlier (11ish). No matter what her day sleep has been like she doesn't seem to want to settle earlier than 11pm though.

Also I find she's super sleepy all morning and just wants to nap until about midday on and off - if I could bring her sleepy period forward to 8-8 or even 9-9 I'd be winning!

I know the answer is "she'll do it in her own time" but would love to hear others' experiences.

Thank you :)

[mrsmugoo]

Bumping

[Coconut0il]

DS2 just did it himself at about 3 months. He stopped settling downstairs so took him up to bed at 7. We had 5 months of 7pm bedtimes, then the clocks changed and DS2 got all muddled up and we've had 8pm, 9pm, 11pm
He's 11 months now and he consistently has 10 hours but they are normally 10-8 or 11-9. I would love him to do 9-7 now I'm back at work so watching for any tips! I've woken him at 7 the last 2 days but haven't been able to keep him awake and he's napped at 430.

[puglife15]

Yep ours just happened gradually and naturally. Some nights it was 1-2am! By 4 months it was 8-8.30. I started feeding him upstairs where he sleeps having done nappy change, into PJs and a baby book, he then feeds to sleep and I hold him for 20 mins then put him down.

[puglife15]

If it makes you feel any better our toddler is usually up between 5.30 and 6.30. 7am wake ups are high-fiving territory!

[MrsMillions]

I remember this worry.

DD2 settled from the late late nights to 10/10:30 some time between 8 and 12 weeks. I then tried shifting it earlier, the plan was 30 minutes per week ish, but sleep regression hit and I gave in. Then just over 4 months she seemed really tired after bath time with her big sister so put her down at 7 thinking it would just be a late nap, but she just stayed asleep (until night feed time). And that was pretty much it. So watch their cues, and work with them.

[mrsmugoo]

Puglife - I've always been strict about my 7am starts! Shifting routines to ensure no earlier than 7am wake ups and being consistent about never "getting up for the day" if he ever woke up pre 7am and treating it as a night wakeup. I'm just not one of those people that would accept starting my day at 5:30am!!

My point about being up with my toddler is that if I've not gone to sleep til gone midnight then up feeding the baby all night and have to get up at 7am with toddler regardless of if baby is still sleeping it's a bit annoying. Would prefer to go to bed earlier to get more sleep before 7am. I would go to bed at 8pm!

[Maybebabybee]

My DS just chose his own bedtime tbh at about 2.5 months. It was 6pm. I'd rather it was 7 so he gets up a bit later but what can you do - he starts getting cranky and sleepy by 5.30 no matter what time his last nap ended.

I don't mind being up early though, I like having my evenings free in exchange. Though he's teething atm so all this is out the window!!

[Loulou2kent]

I remember wondering what I did with ds1, when ds2 was born. So this time I remember! Basically up until 10-12 weeks he would doze in his Moses basket waking every couple of hours for feeding. By 3 months he started not waking for hours. For example be in Moses from 7-10.30/11 so I took him up & put him in his big cot. I would then go up at 10.30/11. Preempt the waking & dream feed him. Place him back in cot. To be honest he seemed so much more settled upstairs in a quiet dark room rather than in the living room with us with tv on etc. We were too distracting!

[mrsmugoo]

If she did a long sleep in the evening I would sleep with her! I'm not so bothered about "having an evening" as I am about trying to eek out more than 4/5 hours sleep a night.

[puglife15]

I get your point, I feel your pain - baby was going to sleep around midnight - 1am, up for feed at 3 and 5, then toddler up at 6, equals no sleep for me!

[YorkieDorkie]

DD (6months) just started to do it naturally, at 2-3 months I noticed her falling asleep earlier and then at 3 months I started with a slightly more rigid bedtime routine with darkened rooms upstairs like you described. Worked just about seamlessly with the 4 month regression lasting around 2-3 weeks and now all fine. The challenge now is keeping upstairs cool!

[mrsmugoo]

Thanks everyone! I know my DS was going to bed by 8:30ish by about 3 months, I just have no recollection of how we got there!

Guess I will continue to hang on in there and be thankful that at least DD is actually a much better sleeper than her brother so I'm thankful I had them this way round!

[Tumtitum]

We started doing a rough bedtime routine (bath/feed/bed) whenever she started seeming sleepy at around 12 weeks. It started around 9pm and gradually worked its way earlier, back to 7.

[farkoffee]

Up until around 10 weeks: cluster fed on sofa until around 11pm when we all went up to bed together

From around 10 to 15 weeks: cluster fed on our bed for around two hours from 7 - 9pm. Put DS in cot after feeding to sleep.

From 15 weeks to 24 weeks (ish...can't quite remember exactly):
Fed for 40 mins from 6:30pm. In cot asleep by 7:30pm.

[Ifiwasabadger]

We always bed and bath at 7 from very very early on. DD was a dreadful sleeper but she would usually crack out a short stretch 7-10.

She would then feed all night, but that's another story! What happens if you try to put them down earlier...do they not settle at all?

Light at the end of the tunnel: she's now an amazing sleeper thank God.

[mrsmugoo]

No she's on and off the boob and grizzly all evening until she passes out at 11pm.

There's no "putting down" at this age really is there? They either settle off on the boob or in your arms or not.