Baby bedtime

[Lilfabet]

My DS is 6 months old. He refuses to go to sleep until 11-12 every night - sometimes he's still kicking in his crib at 1am. This hasn't been a problem as I've been on mat leave but am now going back to work.

If I try to move his bedtime he just refuses to sleep until he's ready. Once he's asleep he's brilliant and will happily go through the night without a feed and wakes at about 9.30am. Everyone else seems to get their lo to sleep at 7pm. He just doesn't want to sleep until he's ready. Getting him up earlier or stopping napping in the late afternoon just makes him really cranky but he'll refuse to sleep until very late.

We will be moving him to his own room. Would that be the best time to do a new bedtime?

Is he crying or just lying there awake OP?

Can you tell us what a typical day looks like in terms of naps?

Does the 9.30 am wake up suit you? If you not, you could try waking him up earlier by 10 minutes each day until you are getting him up each day at a time that suits you.

Cranky or not you first need to get him up at 7am even if he then morning naps (only let him nap for 1-1.5hrs). I would coincide the new routine with the new bedroom, making 2 transitions will be hassle!

Yes he needs to be up by 7.30. The 9.30 morning is allowing him to go to sleep late. Wake him up a bit earlier each day and put him to bed a bit earlier.

He gets up between 8.30 and 9.30 and has breakfast then a play and then more food at about 10.30 after which he has a nap (anywhere from 30 mins to 2 hours).
We then play some more and he has another nap sometime between 3 and 4 for half an hour or so. He's then up until he goes to sleep at midnight. He sometimes has a short nap at about 7.30pm but this never turns into more than 30 mins. I'd like this to be his bedtime.

I'd definitely start waking him earlier OP. If he's waking between 8.30 and 9.30 I'd start waking him at 8.20 for a couple of days, then 8.10 for a couple and then 8 am. So by this tome next week 8 am should be his regular get up time. You can keep moving it back to 7.30 or 7 if you wish to have an earlier bedtime.

If he's getting up at 7.30 I'd be tempted to put him down for a nap at nine and then give another nap straight after lunchtime, say around 12 or 1 and then try to keep him awake if you can after that.

The No Cry Sleep Solution book might help you out too as it covers naps and getting them sone good sleep associations

If you could get him up at 7/7.30....down to nap again c. 9.30/10am and then another nap after lunch, no sleep after 4pm, dinner at 5pm and bed by 6.30/7pm

Well he's going have have to get up earlier as I'll be leaving the house at 7.30am! Y mum is going to be looking after him so I can leave instructions on times for naps and just see how we go from there.

OP if it helps at all, my LO goes to sleep between 6:30-7pm.

She wakes between 5:30-6:30am.

She naps at around 9:30am-10:30/11 (whenever she wakes up herself) then tends to nap again at about 2:30pm.

We don't let her sleep after 4pm until bedtime (get her ready for a bath around 6pm). She also doesn't have any solids after 4:30pm (don't know if that's relevant for DS) as we found that makes her poop in the night which obviously wakes her up.

Obviously all children are different and it may not work to do it that way for your DS but those timings are what work for us so may help x

I'd keep going with the ten minutes earlier each day until you get it to 6.30 am then OP. It means getting up at the weekends earlier but you'll also get to bed earlier.

First nap at 9ish, second nap at 1 ish. No sleep after 3.30 pm. If he falls asleep in the way home wake him up again, unless it's after 6 when you can pop him into his cot.

Thanks everyone

He's just going to have to get used to a new routine (like me). I think we might have a lot of tired faces in our house for a little while (like mine isn't permanently like that now!!)

I wouldn't worry about it too much. My DD was exactly the same but slowly I moved the bedtime earlier over a few months and it got to 7pm eventually. I didn't mind the late bedtime initially as it meant we could still do things in the evening!