3mo baby goes to sleep at 11pm/midnight - how to introduce proper bedtime?

[ridingsixwhitehorses]

3mo baby is a brilliant sleeper. I am not complaining - my first two dc didn't give me more than 90 mins in a row for the first 18 months whereas dc3 goes for 8 hours with none or one feed. It is AMAZING.

But he is awake all evening until about 11pm. He does fall sleep late afternoon - around 3pm-4pm but I can't really stop that as is when I do the school run so he is in buggy or sling.

Also he is a real cluster feeder (mix fed) and gets most of his milk in the evening - I have tried to change this but he is not really interested in milk in the first half of the day.

Any ideas how I can start introducing a normal bedtime? And getting him to eat more in the first half of the day?

thank you

Baby is awake solidly for the 5 hours between 4pm and 11pm?

Or does he have little cat naps but no big sleep?

7 hours between 4pm and 11pm actually.

7 hours awake? Blimey.

Mine had an 11pm bedtime until about 12/13 weeks, no matter what I tried. Then the 4-month sleep regression hit and she switched to going to sleep at 7.30. So in some cases, I think it's just a developmental thing that will sort itself out.

Mine did it by herself. At 12 weeks she was sleeping about 12-6. By 6 months she was reliably doing 7-6, she just brought her last feed forward bit by bit. She didn't really do any of the sleep regressions either. Nothing I did, just luck, I fed her to sleep and put her down asleep every night until she stopped breastfeeding at 12 months.

FATEdestiny - he has catnaps on y shoulder but cries if I put him down (he is so chilled except between those times) and likes to feed loads. I am putting the other kids to bed at that time so rather than him scream at me I do a lot of breast feeding (and he d®its off a nit) and a lot of holding him on my shoulder while putting them to bed and he drifts off a bit then, but wakes as soon as he is put down or position adjusted.

53rdAndBird - Oh, he is 13 weeks now. Maybe it'll just happen... Until now I have felt I wanted him with me all the time but I now feel ready to put him in his crib in our room for a couple of hours with monitor on while I am downstairs so maybe we'll try a proper bedtime soon.

Well, I'm no sleep guru and still learning, but ds was having an 11pm bedtime for the first couple of months. We'd just keep him with us, he'd nap when he wanted and we'd all go up to bed together.

I noticed he was really tired about 8pm so we put a bedtime routine (bath, pjs, milk, bed) at the 11pm time, then I just moved it to 8pm then 7pm over a couple of weeks. Ds is definitely a lark like me! He doesn't sleep as long as yours though (lucky you!)

Good to know it is normal baby behaviour SkiptonLass2.
Yes - I am so relieved re sleep - honestly the other two were so bad that this is a total phenomenon. I would have conquered the world if I had had this much sleep with the other two. tbh the other two still not great and 3yo ds comes into my bed most nights.
And I am def not being smug about it because I know it could all change at any point (though I will be forever grateful for not being the walking dead for the first few months as I was the last two times))

No advice here OP but mine (four months) is very similar. We've been trying to bring the midnight bedtime back for weeks but he just spends longer fussing if we try to put him down for the night earlier. I would say he naps more easily in the late evening these days though (is currently asleep on me).

he has catnaps on y shoulder but cries if I put him down (he is so chilled except between those times) and likes to feed loads

Ah yes, in that case this is absolutely normal.

As baby stablishes his feeding needs and reduces the evening cluster feeding, the shorter catnaps will start merging together. You'll then move to more established 'naps' during the evening - like 45 minute naps or similar. Then in time the evening nap will merge with the nights sleep and that's when a proper bedtime develops naturally.

FATEdestiny - when will that be? Roughly I mean. Unless as your name suggests you are truly psychic (please let it be so)

I'm not psychic (FATE are the first letters of my four children's names and destiny is just a word that went with FATE).

Proper bedtimes have developed with my four around 5 months old, but all children are different. It might be up to 7 months old.

Dummy and foot bouncing a bouncy chair are very useful for downstairs naps with a baby who isn't keen on being put down.

He rejects dummy (unlike son number 1 who loves it and still does) but is a thumb sucker. Bouncey chair good for five mins at a time then he gets cross. Unless he is pooing. Then he'll happily sit in it and shit for twenty minutes.