is bedtime the same time every night?

[rockinrobintweet]

My daughter is 9 months old and has never slept through the night without waking and calling me maybe 3-4 times a night.

Recently I have began noticing that if I put her to bed when it's 7pm her 'normal' bedtime and she's not necessarily exhausted she will take longer to go to sleep but generally stirs less in the night.

other nights when she drubbing her eyes and doesn't always enjoy her bath (she bathes every night before bed) she'll fall asleep as i feed her and usually wake around 3am for almost an hour.

Is your bedtime the same time for your children every night? and are they always 'ready' for bed?

I always vary mine slightly depending on the afternoon nap. I roughly followed the 2,3,4 rule and now it's only one nap a day bedtime is around 5 hours after last nap.

she generally only has one nap a day from 10-11:30/12ish so without knowing i follow these rules (almost 7 hours of pure 'awake' time.

tonight I put her to bed after her feed around 7:10 and as if a miracle just happened she's out herself to sleep already!

do you use a dummy? many moms from my NCT group use a dummy and their babys sleeps better.

Yep, always 7pm, tho have started to let the 4yo go a little later if he's not too tired or noisy.

My 14mo napped from 2pm-4pm today and was still in bed at 7pm. You're right tho; I think if they're overtired and just pass out at bedtime, they don't sleep as well as when they take a few minutes to settle in their cot and drift off.

I used to be rigid about bedtime - it paid off as kids got older. I think its not uncommon for a 9mo to wake a few times in the night though.

I've always found the trick is putting them down before they start showing really obvious signs of tiredness like the ones you describe, eye rubbing etc. If babies or children are left to get overtired then it has a knock on effect on the next sleep and they won't sleep as well as they could. DS is 12 weeks now and I always put him down when he starts to yawn, usually around 75 minutes after first waking and he will have a little fidget in his crib and then fall asleep about 15 minutes later. I did the same for DD and even now at 5.5 I make sure she is in bed before she starts looking tired but she always sleeps well and slept 8-8 from 11 weeks.

Healthy adults and children usually take around 20 minutes to fall asleep, if it is a lot quicker or they can't manage it at all then that's a sign that they're at the point of exhaustion.

It's like when you get your second wind as an adult, when you're that tired but you just can't sleep or keep on waking up and you're baffled as to why because you know how tired you are - it's because your brain has gone into second wind mode. It's pretty much the same for babies.

Definitely keep on putting her down before she starts showing the really obvious tiredness signs, may take longer for her to get to sleep but it'll be a better quality sleep once she does

I don't mind her waking in the night, generally it's teething pain or for a feed and she's back off. Thanks for advice about sticking to same bedtime

I used to be avert rigid about bedtimes with pfb. Then something happened and omg he was a grizzly, tired monster.
So I stopped being anal about bedtime. Several months later something happened and he coped better with the interruption in routine.
Then of course there was times when he could have done going earlier, but because I was so anal about the bedtime, I kept him awake.

So now I don't care as long as they are in bed by x time. The x time changes if it's a school nite or not.

I haven't used dummies for either of mine. First child I co-slept with and breast fed. Second child wasn't interested. Both have a sleep time teddy.

I think your little one sounds good for nine months. Though it's hard when they sleep well sometimes and not others. I don't vary timings much. No later than half 7 for bed. I think sleep is more often interrupted due to teething or whatever food they have had that day rather than just the bed time.

Btw, I stressed a lot about sleep with my first. Always comparing to the amazing sleepers in my nct group compared to my 'terrible' sleeper.

My dc is now 3 and goes to sleep himself after a story. Sleeps really well, occasionally still sneaks through to our bed. I recently found out by accident that the best sleeper from my nct group had (and still has) a bottle of milk to take to bed, a dummy, a blanket, a special teddy AND won't settle for anyone but mum and wakes numerous times a night.

Try not to compare

Well mine are 2 and 4 now but yes, bedtime has always been approximately the same time. Varies by about 30 minutes.
I think one wake up in the night at 9 months is fairly normal.
I am a big believer in routines and sleep promoting sleep.

I think they wake up how they went to sleep. So if they go to sleep crying then they wake up crying, ifthry go to sleep happily in their cot then they wake up happily in their cot, and if they go to sleep feeding then they wake up with an empty mouth and it properly wakes them up as they wonder what's going on.

It might not be scientific but I can see a pattern with my two.

Yes, my DS always went to bed at 7pm from 6 days old (when we got back from hospital) until he was about 8 (a late night allowed when he went to Beavers). It worked well for us, he was a brilliant sleeper and very quickly learned to self settle.

But do what works for you - personally I loved having a GF routine, I know not everyone wants to live like that.