Help me with a stupid question!

[jmscp2015]

FTM here feeling a bit silly for having to ask but here goes...

So obviously DD is in our room as she’s 6 weeks. She normally has a bottle at 8 then we stay downstairs because obviously we don’t want to go to bed at 8! She has another bottle at 11 and goes to sleep (normally very well)

Now here’s the stupid bit! When she’s older and going in her own room will we be able to put her down at 7/8 for bed and she’s going to go to sleep? As she’s in a routine of going up and having a bottle and bed at 11?

Does that sound really thick? --I’ll answer that myself, yes it does.

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It’s not a stupid question at all; I think how easy it is depends if your baby sleeps in the lounge with you in the evenings. If she’s awake until 11 some people say that to move her bedtime to earlier you should nearer the time start taking her up 15 minutes earlier gradually.
My DD was incredibly unsettled in the evenings in the lounge with us at around 4 months and we worked out it was because she was tired and couldn’t sleep with the noise and light so I bit the bullet and started a bedtime of 7.30. It took a week of me sitting with her most of the evening to get her used to it but it was one of the best things I did. I would then do a dream feed at 10.30 where I gave her the bottle while she was half asleep but she dropped that after about a month.

Ha ha, don’t worry, it’s not stupid! I’ve asked some stunning ones in my time :-)

I introduced a routine of 6:30 bath, 7pm feed, in bed by 7:30 at about 4 months old (he was in his own room by then). It took a while to begin with and there were a few evenings when I wasn’t back downstairs until 9ish, but it’s worth it!

In order to achieve it I had to introduce an approx nap routine in the day time so he didn’t sleep after 5pm but wasn’t over-tired by bed time.

Having a child who was sleeping from 7:30 reliably from about 5/6 months was amazing, freed up the evenings and meant babysitters could come in with relative ease.

Thank you so much for this!! So perhaps start more of a ‘routine’ around 4 months?

She’s currently WIDE awake on her playmat at 9.30 which is not what we want in a few months time which isn’t a problem at the moment as I know she goes down relatively well when we go to bed. But needs sorting in the long term.

Thank you again

It’s a difficult question to answer as every baby is different and you’ve really no way of knowing. However, as a general rule babies bed times get earlier as they get older. It’s totally normal for a newborns to have a later bedtime- 11/12 for example. As they get older and sleep less in the day and consolidate sleep it edges earlier. My DS was going to bed at 10/10.30 when a new born. About 8pm but 4months and now at 8 months hes reliably in bed between 7-7.30. I was totally led by him and he did this on his own, I never had to enforce i just went with the flow. But, it doesn’t always go to plan- there’s so many ups and downs in the first years- teething, regressions and milestones can all get in the way!

Congradulations and enjoy the new born snuggles x

Ah thank you so much @FortheloveofJames

That’s really put my mind at rest

I’m more of a go with the flow sort of person anyway. I know it’s not an exact science but I was just starting to worry. It’s all just worrying with your first I suppose! Lol

@jmscp2015 Your wee one is so new to the world just go with the flow and worry about routine and proper bedtimes later on! You’ll find your ways Trust me, if you don’t want (or find yourself HAVING) to go to bed early, like 8pm, with such a young baby I’d say your winning at the moment!

You’re winning*

We had exactly the same routine as you. I actually started putting her upstairs to sleep at 7pm at around 5 months old and then she slowly dropped the 11pm bottle herself. I used to give it to her when we went to bed but found I was having to wake her up to do it, so one night I just stopped.

She now regularly sleeps 7pm-7am.