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Original poster

What time do you put your baby to sleep?

14 replies

JanuaryMoans · 09/09/2021 09:19

Got an 8 month old baby. My Mum has told me that putting him down for the night at 7.30 is ‘an English thing’. That she didn’t put me to sleep until it was her bedtime.

She says eating dinner after he’s gone to bed and watching some telly in peace would only happen in England.

So do youse keep your babies up later? Am I cruel parent for watching Netflix from 8 til 9.30?

Thanks!

OP posts:

UtterlyUnimaginativeUsername · 09/09/2021 09:22

Mine went to bed at 7 at that age (DS sometimes earlier!). They got overtired and terribly unhappy if kept up later. Everyone I know would have done the same, and we're all Irish.

Have your sanity Netflix time without guilt. Your mum is mad

Original poster

JanuaryMoans · 09/09/2021 09:31

Haha thank you, I had my suspicions that she was incorrect but it’s lovely to have it independently verified!

Come to think of it - a lot of the stuff I do that she dislikes is labelled as ‘English’!

OP posts:

elvis4nuts · 09/09/2021 09:33

Mine went down at 7 at that age!

But I am English 🤣

HappyAsASandboy · 09/09/2021 10:47

My first babies were twins. I let them go to sleep whenever and wherever they went to sleep each night (or wherever I was) until they were well over one, and then started to introduce "bedtime". They have always been good sleepers, but took hours to fall asleep from about age two to age five. Endless evenings "doing bedtime" sat on a kids bedroom floor or folding washing on the landing so they could hear me and I could stop them getting back out of bed.

DC3 and DC4 both had a "bedtime" as soon as they came home from the hospital, because they joined in with family life and by then we had a 7.30 ish bedtime going. Obviously as babies they would then wake up fairly frequently, but they went to bed in the bedroom from birth. I stayed with them in the bedroom watching Netflix on the iPad until around 6 months and then started to leave them asleep and come downstairs for more of an evening. Both of these children go to sleep a lot easier than the first two.

Ultimately, you do you. Your mum is being judgemental and unhelpful. Do what suits you and your baby and it will all work out in the end

Original poster

JanuaryMoans · 09/09/2021 11:07

Thank you!

Yes when he was younger he definitely stayed up later - sometimes til 11pm! - but in the last couple of months we’ve tried to introduce a kind of routine for some consistency. Not that it’s made a blind bit of difference! He falls asleep great but he’s not too great at the staying asleep part. Good job he’s cute!

OP posts:

Blogdog · 09/09/2021 12:02

Irish person here. 3 kids, all went to bed around 7pm at that age. I couldn’t have coped otherwise!!! Needed that hour or two to myself. Your mum is mad

Stef92 · 09/09/2021 12:05

Mine is 2 months younger than yours OP and we bath him after 7 and he then has his bottle and then is asleep for 8

MindyStClaire · 09/09/2021 12:11

I'm Irish and our kids have gone up at 7-8 from around 3 months, and our parents did similar with us. I would have thought that was the norm in Ireland and the UK.

miltonj · 09/09/2021 13:17

I put mine to bed at 6 I need my evening. And we're both more than ready for it by that time!

ilovethecold · 09/09/2021 13:19

My 10 month old and 3 year old go down at 6.30pm and they wake up at 7am

10 month old has 3 hour nap a x

MovingSchmoving · 09/09/2021 13:22

I have two friends who are polish and they both let their young kids stay up until around 9-10 and then they don’t wake up until around 9ish in the mornings (not yet at school). I also lived in south east Asia for a while and often kids would still be up and about at restaurants, out with family etc at 9 or 10 at night. It’s common in lots of cultures for children to stay up with the rest of the family. I think they just then sleep in later or have more/longer naps in the day.

MarDhea · 09/09/2021 21:33

I think in the mystical olden days when primary school started at 9:20 (still does in some places) and everyone lived 5 mins away and it was assumed mammy had no job to go to... then you could probably roll the kids out of bed at 8:45. If they're not getting up til then, well of course they can stay up until 9-10pm.

But when you have to get the kids out of bed at 7:15 to get them out of the house on time for crèche, school breakfast club, etc. so you can get to work yourself... then of course they have to go to bed earlier. Different life now, isn't it?

NavigatingAdolescence · 09/09/2021 21:39

Mine slept midnight till noon. Has been asleep at 7pm maybe 5 (?) times in her nearly 11 years. (Chicken pox, scarlet fever and hand foot and mouth, from memory.)

I slept midnight till noon as a baby - my mum would go to bed before me!

Never struggled getting her to school etc. And lovely to be able to visit people/go out to eat of an evening without stressing about it.

Needthesun · 09/09/2021 21:42

I think it’s a generational thing… my mam and her friends are all about ‘stretching’ them out - keeping them up so they’re not up at the crack of dawn.

Everyone I know with very young kids they’re in bed by 7.30-8

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