How do you keep baby bedtime consistent?

[Threetwoone321]

My baby’s bedtime is normally dependent on last nap - 2-2.5 hours after last nap (6 months old) but some days it means bedtime is 7-7.30pm and others it can be 8-9pm if he’s had a bad nap day. E.g if 3rd nap finishes at 3.30pm, 3.5 hours until a 7pm bedtime would be a disaster so we squeeze in a 4th nap, which leads to a late bedtime.

Is this normal? How do people ensure a consistent bedtime? Do you just deal with the overtiredness and let them be awake for 3.5 hours?

We never had a fixed bedtime or fixed anything else. DCs now young adults!

Don't worry about it at 6 months old. It's still very early for a consistent bedtime. In even a couple of months you'll be much more flexible with awake windows

My baby is 5months old and we find this but personally would rather have her in her for 6pm then 8-9pm

We aim for 7pm but more often than not it depends on last nap

If it's been a bad nap day or she's grizzly or tired then she's just early to bed and we suck up the fact that she will be up earlier then next day ( as the evening is more chilled to spend more time with eldest and do a nice dinner / watch tv / relax

Like pp said it's too young to worry about set times too much so we just roll with it and hope that in a few months she will have longer wake windows and can do a 7pm bed

X

It's all over the place when they have so many naps still. Once they get down to 2 naps it's much easier to have a consistent daily routine.

Yes I think as others, we just tended to have a "bedtime window" rather than an actual bedtime - if there were fewer/earlier naps then we'd do bed at 6:30-7 and if there was a later nap we'd keep them up until about 8.

Honestly it's not something you even need to worry about at this age. 6 months is very young.

Going against the grain here are my first DS needed the same bedtime every night to sleep well.

I would just cut the nap off 2 -2.5h before bedtime.

See i would never wake from nap - kept this rule with my 1st and it seems to work but then I guess every baby is different

Remember once my first she slept 2-6pm ( normally it was 2-4 with bed at time at 7pm but I tried it to see what happened - had a wake window of bath, bottle/food and bed for 7pm and it worked - think the better they sleep day time the more rested they are

Mine still has so many naps as her wake windows aren't that long so it makes it harder I think

I think some sort of bedtime window is key here x

We introduced a timed bedtime recently at 10m. Up until then it had been more based on wake windows. However I would generally go earlier like a pp said- so 6pm rather than squeezing in another nap and going 8-9

I never had a consistent bedtime for baby, more hassle than it was worth for me. Like you say naps can change each day, and i didn't wabt to be trapped at home

@strawberrysummer19 @Cuwins I agree probably better to do the earlier bedtime but we cosleep and I have to go to bed with him and I refuse to go to bed at 6pm 😩

Have you tried sneaking off?

@WhatNoRaisins yeah he wakes within 20 minutes and then it takes ages to get him back to sleep again 😞

Mine was younger when we co-slept (moved her up her cot at 5m) but many nights I was in bed at 6:30/7 with her. Like you if I moved she woke up. I used to read or play on my iPad.

That brings back memories. They should hopefully start going longer periods eventually though.

@Threetwoone321 ah yeah a tad too early then.

Hopefully once they are a bit bigger, awake longer and needing less naps then you can have more of a set one

I'm sitting here trying to keep little one entertained until at least 6pm. She woke from
Nap 430 had a bottle - I bathed her at 5pm and
Now she's rubbing her eyes! So think a 6pm bedtime is on the cards tonight

What time do they wake ?

Mine wakes roughly 12 hrs from when she's put down so tomorrow probably a 6 o clocker ( she generally has a night feed still and even that changes anything from 2-4 am - still up for 6!) with a dreamfeed when we go up around 10pm still x

Same as some pp, we didn't have a fixed bedtime at the age just went from when he woke up.

If your wanting a fixed time you'd have to adjust naps/wake earlier.

I haven't found that daytime sleep effects nightime sleep at this age. 5 month old sleeps whenever she likes throughout the day and goes to bed no trouble at 8:30 every night since birth. Have you tried this to know that it doesn't work for you, or are you guessing that a late nap will end it chaos?
Fwiw I don't think a consistent bedtime is the be all and end all, although it's worked for my youngest. It didn't with my eldest.

3.5 hours isn’t a ludicrously long wake window for a 6MO before bed. Are you sure they’d be shattered? Mine did the 2,3,4 schedule which is a pretty well known thing for babies over 6 months. Wake at 7, awake for 2 hours, nap 9-10am, awake for 3 hours, nap 1-3pm, awake 4 hours, bed at 7. But if you’re cosleeping and have to go to bed when baby does then I don’t think that I’d actually be keen for an early bedtime or a set time!

@FlounderingFruitcake As he’s a bad napper (mostly 30 min cat naps with maybe one 1-1.5 hour one if I’m lucky) he’s normally shattered by bedtime!

They don't need a bedtime at six months old in my opinion, take each day as it comes until naps drop..

Start the day at the same time each day. Everything then flows from there

11 months and it’s still like this. Bedtime is 4hrs after the end of the last nap whether that was 2pm or 5pm. It’s the only way for us because night sleep and morning wake ups are so varied.