is 5.30pm too early for my 5mo to go to bed?

[1happymummy]

we used to put her to bed at around 9 but she was so over tired she'd take forever to go to sleep, then i saw that after about 5 she would start to get grizzly and rub her eyes so i decided to start her bedtime routine at 5, night time clothes, nappy change, sleeping bag on and finally, cuddles and a breastfeed. i put her down sleepy but awake and after a couple of minutes of soft noises she was fast asleep. 3 feeds in the night and up at 6. she has continued in this trend for the past 2 months and it seems to work fine, especially as she absolutely refuses to nap in the daytime, perhaps she associates night time with sleep a bit too much...

i cant complain because shes a great sleeper at night but everyone i speak to seems surprised when i say she's in bed by half 5 every night. she's such a happy contented baby though. im just after some reassrance

If it works for you great. My son would nap an hour in the am , two hours in the pm and be in bed for 6.30pm until 6.30 am. They are all different.

1happymummy don't worry about whether it's right -if it suits you and your daughter, it's right. And bloody hell, I'm jealous.

I was just wondering the same thing about my little one, 8:30pm tonight and she is asleep probably until 7am.

Not sure if its an easier option for me to let her sleep rather than me desparately trying to entertain her for a bit longer. But the way I see it is when I go back to work I won't want to be up all hours trying to get her to sleep so if i can start a vague routine that is a step in the right direction. She is only 15wks so the teeth haven't come through yet,and I haven't got her to sleep on her own accord so I go to bed each night thinking the pattern is bound to change soon.

Enjoy it while it lasts, perhaps its a growth spurt and your little one needs rest.

redcardinal and 1happymummy how do you do it, seiously???! You are both extremely lucky and if I were either of you, I wouldn't be cahnging a thing. My LO is 16 weeks and won't go down till 11pm, is typically up once in the night for a (long) feed, starts his day at 7 and barely naps.

Yes RC and hppy mummy - HOW??

i cant really explain it, she just sleeps early. she doesnt nap at all in the day so i just assume she makes up for it at night. all the baby websites keep telling me a "healthy" bedtime is between 7pm and 8.30pm but she seems so happy and wakes up in such a lovely mood everyday.

sounds great for now but if/when you return to work you will never see your child! - mine are settled on a 7.30 -7am routine (aged 5 and 3) and have been since babies and this fits our family routine perfectly. They were both unsettled after birth for the first couple of months and like most mothers we did anything for sleep but eventually you have to think of long term and whether early sleeping will soon disrupt your own social and family life?

i imagine she will go to bed a bit later as she gets older but she's ready to sleepby 5.30 so i let her.

actually have her napping this morning though, which she never does. i put her down to get some breakfast and came back and she was asleep.

last night i pushed her bedtime up to 7, she fell asleep straight away without grizzling and stayed asleep till 3 for a quick breastfeed then slept till 6.30. one feed is very unusual but nice so im trying it again tonight

Like you my DD gets tired and a bit grizzly about 5/5:30, I find that taking her to her room and letting her have some nappy free time helps, we then have a bath about 6, feed about 6:20, asleep for 6:45/7pm and it really works. A number of my friends also find that letting them have a wriggle with fewer layers on and without a nap helps push bedtime back 30 mins or so, so might be worth a try.