Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Parenting

For free parenting resources please check out the Early Years Alliance's Family Corner.

Flip

Original poster

Newborn sleep times?

17 replies

Kirst84 · 01/10/2022 21:07

Hello! I’m probably being premature with this question as I’m not even due until Feb 2023…

I keep reading that newborns should not be left to sleep alone and I fully intend to have he or she in a bedside cot in our room. However, I also keep reading that an ideal bedtime is 7pm.

This might be a daft question but does that mean I go to bed at 7pm too?! If I can’t leave them alone when asleep? Or is it ok to leave them for an hour or two alone (with baby monitor?) at that early stage?

Thanks from a nervous first time mum to be x

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Angelik · 01/10/2022 21:10

There's no bedtime for a newborn really. They wake frequently to feed and it takes time before you can establish day/night routines. But in evenings, if you can stay awake, keep baby on room with you in a 2nd moses basket. It's as simple as that. Having said that it's a good idea to sleep when they do as you will be up several times a night.

Birdie135 · 01/10/2022 21:11

No you can’t leave them with a monitor at that age. Have you considered getting a Moses basket for downstairs?

Birdie135 · 01/10/2022 21:11

Though saying that you may well want to go to bed at 7pm!

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

Babies & sleep Children's sleep Families General parenting

bakewellbride · 01/10/2022 21:13

A newborn doesn't have a bedtime. They're on a 24/7 feed, sleep, wake a poo / wee cycle all the time. It's relentless but doesn't last forever. I put our 6 month old in her next to me crib at 7pm tonight and have just been merrily doing jobs / relaxing downstairs with the baby monitor on.

downwiththebees · 01/10/2022 21:13

It's safest for them to be sleeping in the same room as you. You may well be sat cluster feeding all evening when a new newborn. When they reach a few weeks old, some people put them to sleep downstairs in a Moses basket. Some go up early to bed. I put mine to bed for an hour or two with a monitor before I joined them.

Original poster

Kirst84 · 01/10/2022 21:14

@Angelik @Birdie135 thank you! I did intend to get a Moses basket so of course I can have that down stairs, I’d not even thought of that…! 😫but yes I am almost in my bed at 7pm already and that’s just from being pregnant so maybe I’ll be happy with that too esp if I’ll be up loads anyway! X

OP posts:

Amoozbooze · 01/10/2022 21:16

Don't worry, you will be fine! In the first weeks they won't have a bed time like that, they just wake and sleep in roughly 4 hour cycles if I remember well. You just have to go with it and sleep when you can as well. Hopefully you will have some support, that will make it much easier. I never used a sleep monitor but I live in an apartment, so she was never really far away. Now my daughter is 3 and sleeps in her own room, your ears really finely tune into any noise from them! You will be surprised, even when you are asleep! I still wake up when she does and before she yells for me.

wibblewobbleball · 01/10/2022 21:19

For most babies (there are exceptions of course) it takes a long time for them to get to a point where their longest period of sleep is from early evening. For most newborns it's from around 10pm or later, and it slowly works itself backwards in that first year.

addler · 01/10/2022 22:16

I have very happy memories of cozy dark evenings in those first few months with DS either curled up on one of us or asleep next to us while we watched TV. Then his sleep turned to crap and I was more than happy for both of us to go to the bedroom to sleep early

Original poster

Kirst84 · 02/10/2022 06:54

Thank you so much everyone! I think moral of story is I shouldn’t believe everything I read and expect any form of routine 😂appreciate all the responses xx

OP posts:

Original poster

Kirst84 · 02/10/2022 06:55

Love this 😍

OP posts:

Iheartmykyndle · 02/10/2022 07:33

Both of my two cried a lot every late afternoon/evening so no relaxing evening on the couch for me. I would always try to go bed about 9/9.30 ready for the all night party and DH would stay up to do the last bottle at about midnight.

I'd leave mine to get a quick shower, go to the toilet or to grab laundry while they were asleep but I wouldn't leave them for long especially as newborns

wishuponastar1988 · 02/10/2022 07:35

No you can't leave them alone even with a baby monitor. There isn't a set bedtime either. My baby is 8 weeks today and sleeps downstairs with us until we go up to bed. We had a Moses basket down there when she was tiny and she would go down to sleep in there and then I'd carry her up. She now sleeps from around 8pm and is downstairs on a pod with us on the sofa until we go up at around 10pm and then we transfer to her crib. Works for us at the moment.

ChildWontStopGrowing · 02/10/2022 08:03

Moses basket. However you'll probably find that you'll be up to 11 or later initially with cluster feeding. Newborn bedtime is a myth, routine is non-existent

trrk · 02/10/2022 11:02

We also used a Moses basket and just kept it in the same room as one of us. She would also sleep on one of us between feeds and initially was able to sleep through us chatting and watching TV. We didn’t manage to establish breastfeeding but that did mean we could do shifts. I could go to bed at 8 or 9pm and DH would have her in the living room while he watched TV until a feed between 12 and 2am. Super easy to transfer between rooms without them waking up if they will sleep in the Moses basket although sone babies only sleep while being held.

This all changed around 8 weeks when she started being much more awake and getting overstimulated in the evenings and also outgrew the Moses basket and we are still trying to find a new evening routine and don’t yet have a set bedtime at 12 weeks.

Merryclaire · 02/10/2022 11:17

I have a 4 week old. We have a Moses basket in the living room and a next2me crib upstairs but she also spends a lot of time sleeping on or next to me.

We tend to go up to bed between 10-11pm but it takes a bit of time for her to settle and get off to sleep - probably closer to midnight. She then wakes up sometime between 2-4am for a feed. It takes 1-2 hours to feed and get her sleeping in the crib again. I often eventually give in and co sleep. She then wakes up again about 6-7 for another feed. After that DH often cuddles her for a while and I get an extra hour’s sleep or so.

Elerandooo · 02/10/2022 23:14

We had a Moses basket downstairs as well as a pod on the sofa, he’d sleep very happily in either of those while we watched tv. And then in his next to me crib until around 3 months, when for whatever reason he decided he’d only sleep in the bed with me. We followed the safe co-sleeping guidelines and have been co-sleeping with him for 12 months now. He’s never had a routine bed time and in the first 6 months or so definitely went down a lot later, maybe between 10-11. But slowly he started falling asleep earlier and now he can be sound asleep by 7pm, which is bliss as you start to feel like you’re getting your evenings back. We will eventually start getting him used to his own crib/nursery but honestly, you just do what you can to survive and ensure everyone gets the best sleep they can.

Also, don’t let others shame you for your choice of how baby sleeps, as long as you’re doing it safely, you do what works for you and your family.

Flip