5.5 month old bedtime routine too early?? thoughts and experiences please

[mummy2pickle]

For about a month now I've established a nice bedtime routine with my dd which means she's in bed by 7 asleep. But all through the evening/night she is very unsettled and wakes regularly which means we get very little sleep. Many mums have mentioned putting her down later, we trialled this and allowed her to have a later nap to wake up at 5 and put her down at 8.30 she slept until 6.30 with 15 minute wake up. Is 7pm too early for a nearly 6 month old? We've stopped the late afternoon nap to allow this so do I put a small nap back in and put her down later. She has never been a good sleeper and doesn't tend to need much sleep.

At this age we decided to persevere with an earlier bedtime. It could be hard work til DS had more milk at sometime between 11-1, but at around 8months that dropped and I was glad we'd stuck to the earlier time. Most of our NCT group had their babies up later (til 9/10) but DS really needed his sleep and was very resistant to it generally so we felt it was good to keep trying with the 7-7 bed.

I went for approx 12 hrs after getting up at that age. With a night bottle which he normally woke for around 5 hrs after going up to bed.

I have found that as my dd is getting older she wants an earlier bedtime. When she was only week old she would go at 11pm, them when she was about 2 months old she was going at 8pm. Then at 3 months she was going at 7pm but now at 6 months she wants to go at 6.30. I reckon it's cos she is using up more energy. My friends 5.5 month old has always gone to be at 6.30 but my other friends always goes at 9pm. I would say do whatever seems best for you & your lo- don't think that there is a right or wrong time in the same way that before my lo I would go to bed at 9pm but one of my friends wouldn't dream of going to bed before midnight!! x

If you put her down later and she slept through, do that! Are you desperate to have her in bed by 7pm for a particular reason?

It's sort of up to you but no it's not early, my two and a half year old still goes to bed at 6:30pm and always has. What time and how long does she usually nap for?

Put her down later if that means she sleeps better. Her and your quality of sleep is the most important thing.

To add, my friends' babies who had later bedtimes at this age now all go to bed 6.30/7, so don't worry too much about getting 'stuck' with a late bedtime. Their babies tended to be a little easier-going than DS though..!

Thanks guys we like the 7am bedtime cos we get the evening but think I'd prefer her being up later and getting sleep.
She naps well but used to go for about 2 hours into late afternoon but we cut it short so she goes to bed at 7 but quite possibly backfired!
I'll try a late one again today and see if we get the same good results

My DD has always gone to bed at 7 since we got her into a bedtime routine when she was a few months old (she's 3 now).
I would say that if she is waking in the night it probably is because she is overtired. Maybe because you have cut her afternoon nap. My DD used to sleep 2 hours in the afternoon from around 1-3pm and she was normally in bed asleep at 7pm sleeping through til 7am. Like you i wanted my evenings so worked her routine round an early bedtime. Good luck!