Is 8Pm Too Late a Bedtime for 14Week Old

my son napped until 5... and then went to bed at 10 and slept till 9.... it was wonderful. he slept that way for the first year.. then gradually I put him to bed about 15 min. earlier until I got him down at 8:30 and then he would sleep till 8 a.m. Try earlier once and see what happens... good luck

6 or 6:30 is just fine to put him to sleep. Both of my boys went to bed at 6ish for the first year and now at 7 pm.

It seems weird, but it's true! We had issues with my son at that age. We would try to keep him up til 830 or 9 so he would sleep later in the morning...he was waking at around 430. Well, the more we tried that, the more he kept waking during the night and longer he slept during nap time. It was so frusterating! The ped. told us to look for clues that he's tired...really fussy, rubbing eyes, etc...he did all of those and we noticed it was right around 7pm. He suggested that we start the bedtime routine about a half hour before, so se did bath and etc. around 630 and bed at 7...and it worked! After the frist 2 days (transition), he started waking up between 6 and 630am and slept throught he night! And his naps were better too, one from 9am-10 or 1030 and 1pm to 3 or 330.

R.,
I can't see the benefit of your baby sleeping from 6:30 to 4:30. Also, most of these books are talking about older babies, not a 3 month old. You're very fortunate to have a 3 month old who sleeps through the night, but at this age, their sleep patterns still change often enough that you can't consider his bedtime to be permanent. Please know that infants do not test you. They do not manipulate you. They wake up when they are hungry or when their body rhythms wake them. Babies do know their own body best, they know when they are hungry, when they are tired, when they have had enough sleep. They are following their body's cues, and when my kids were babies, I followed their cues as well.
Good luck.

My kids went to bed around 6:30 or 7 and slept until 6:30 or 7. Of course there were nights when they were really young that they still wanted nighttime feedings, but that is to be expected. I am a believer in letting them cry and that worked for us, but not everyone can do that. Follow your gut - what works for one doesn't work for all!

Good luck

You have a great sleeper! Thank God and enjoy it. If he wants to go down at 6:30pm try it and see what happens. My daughter (now 7yo) would sleep from 7pm to 7am every night starting about 14 months old or so. From 6 weeks old she would sleep 8 hours get up, nurse and go back to bed. That one early morning feeding was a great time for us and she went back to bed and then I could too. My 2yo will often sleep from about 6:30 -7 pm until 6:30 -7 am now too. She doesn't nap and makes up for it at night. He may need more sleep at night and give up or cut back on the nap during the day. Let him tell you what he wants to do a few nights and see what happens. A.

No, 8 isn't too late. I would let him nap at 6, but wouldn't let him sleep for the night because I wouldn't want him to be up for the day at 4am. (We have friends whose baby does that and it sounds awful. It's 10 hrs of sleep, 6pm-4am, but that's not the 10hr block I would want to encourage.)
I would keep doing what you're doing.

My 8 month old goes to bed between 6 & 7. She sleeps through the night most nights. It's teething time, so she does get up quite frequently. My 2 yr old when she was an infant, went to be around 7 pm. Now it's been pushed to 8pm. My infant goes to bed that early because she wants to go, she will scream, be all fussy till she is in her bed.
My neiphew on the other hand doesn't go to bed till 10 or so. But that is their lifestyle.
I think that it's what is comfortable for you and your child.

Hi R.
Figuring out a baby schedule is difficult and in my experience the minute I did their schedule changed. I can tell you I would be thankful for what I had. Not one of my 4 kids ever slept 10 1/2 hours ever. I would put him to bed at 6:30 and see what happened the next day. What if he woke up at 4-5AM and naps messed up so he slept in the day at different times so you were back to bed the next night at 7-8PM. The times would then straighten out wouldn't they.
Since I had one child who slept 2 hours in 24, another who slept 4 hours in 24. The other two might have slept more but they were afraid they were missing something. It is hard for me to sympathize perhaps but at 14 weeks mine were sleep when you can children.
Today, the one who slept 2 hours is a lawyer with a new baby, but his wife says our son sleeps little more than 2 hours, our daughter who slept 4 hours is in college and glad she doesn't require more because the dorm is alive all night. The oldest sleeps 10 or so hours now and the youngest sleeps about 7 hours.
Don't worry about it at 14 weeks, there are many changes to come. I say let them sleep when they will, and be thankful, if it only is because my story about my children amazes you and gives you peace that every kid is different but they all grow up.
God bless you with his peace as you make decisions
K. SAHM married 38 years, oldest son 37, lawyer son 32, twin daughters are both in college. One commutes about an hour away, and one chose to live in the dorm about 3 hours from home.

Try it! I realized my baby (and thus, I!) was happiest when I followed HER schedule. Honestly, when my baby was really small, I'd put her down at about 10:30, because she always woke up for a feeding around then, anyhow. Before that, she was cat-napping in the swing, on the couch, or in my lap.

Just follow your baby and see what HE wants to do. If he really does want to wake up at 4:30 in the morning...then you might need to put your foot down. ;-)

if your baby is sleeping through the night 8:30-7 , i think you ought to be extremely happy. i would. there is no issue.

R., I think 8 is perfect.

6 is just too early, but you could just try and make sure he has a longer nap during the day.
no one know your needs, your childs needs, better than you,

remember these books are ARE NOT NECESSARILY factS, ITS OPINION BASED.

And believe it or not facts change over time.
What was suggested 10 years ago is NOT true today,

i have a 12 year old and a 2 year old. and i can honestly tell you, i have read many books on parenting, and taken Cpr classes, first aid, and injectables course, it all changes.

when i had my first child my mother would make suggestions that i was certain were the wrong way to go, because in the book it said---eg that kids should sleep on their bellies to prevent sids.

Now believe it or not, they changed this to sleeping on their backs.

However my MOM suggested the side. and or back.

So oddly enough she was right, over all the scientists and experts-- MOM immigrant mom was right.

i THINK EVERY GOOD MOM pulls bits and pieces from every area in her life, that work best for her and her family.

so what works for me, may not work for you,

having a site like this , lets you ask questions , make choices and then allows you to move forward with out someone judging or looking over your shoulder.

you can easily filter

What i am getting at in case you haven't guessed it,

is that don't take what it says in the books, as the only way, or the best way, because over time the books change and the facts change.

You can only parent in the now , with what you have now,
and not everything will work for you.

there is no parenting manual.

In my opinion parenting is instinctual.

You feel it.

your doing great. keep up the good work.

M

I think you should put him to bed when he shows those signs at 6:30. My son is 9 months old, and still goes to bed between 6:30 and 7:00, and he sleeps 12-13 hours every night! Your son may wake a few times as he adjusts to the change in schedule, but he'll get the hang of it. Then he'll just wake up when teething, sick, learning to sit up, learning to stand and walk...sigh... :)

I do think an early bedtime is key to good sleep and naps. It sounds like you've done a fantastic job with his sleeping so far! Why not try out the 6:30 spot, and see how it goes?

Hello R.,

I didn't agree with everything in his book but the part about 'sleep begets sleep' couldn't be more true. I have twin girls, now 22 months, and was putting them to bed at 7:30. Bed time was a nightmare as they were (in hindsight) overtired! They woke up several times during the night and as early as 5 am in the morning. Day time naps were also really tough. After attending a seminar to hear Dr. W speak, I starting putting them down at 6:30. From the very first night they slept straight through and even their naps got better - solid 3-3 1/2 hours. I swear it was life changing! Best of luck.

R.

Put him down to bed earlier. He is obviously tired. He will sleep longer. Even though it doesn't make sense, it has always worked like that for my son. Don't keep him up just because you don't want to be up at 4 AM. If he wakes up at 4, he wakes up at 4. He needs the sleep and he is young enough that it is not abnormal if he does wake up at night for 2 or 3 feedings. He is too young for the Weisbluth method also. Your goal at this age is not to get him to sleep through the night. It is to make sure he is eating and sleeping enough. If he wakes up at night, he is not testing you. He is hungry. Just keep the lights off as much as possible and feed him without any stimulation- no talking, etc. Then put him back down to sleep. You can't spoil a child that young.
And just to let you know, babies who sleep through the night early usually start waking up again around 4 or 5 months when they become aware of their surroundings, so don't get too used to this routine and don't be upset if he does start waking up again. They wake up more during growth spurts, teething and for many other reasons. Just consider yourself lucky that you are getting this much sleep this early on. My son is almost 9 months old and he started sleeping through the night early too. He now goes to bed at 7 and usually wakes up at 4 or 5 for a feeding and then goes back down until 7 am. This is considered normal and acceptable for his age.
The added bonus of the early bedtime is that you and your husband get to have a nice quiet dinner and some time to just be a couple in the evenings. You can also get a babysitter sometimes and go out to dinner without worrying about someone else having to put the baby to bed. This makes for much happier parents.

No, I don't think so. Each child is different. Some are morning babies and some are evening babies (like mine!)

We put our daughter to bed at 8PM starting at 4 months because she was starting daycare and had to wake up earlier for us to get to work on time. Her bed time routine starts at 7:30. She likes to sleep to 7AM. She's a breastfed baby and still gets up at 3AM, and sometimes 1AM, for a feeding.

Before that her bed time routine started at 10:30PM. Only because she still wanted a feeding at 11PM. But, she had a pretty regular nap schedule and wasn't so exhausted or tired by 10:30PM.

I guess it all depends ... both me and my husband work, so if we started her bed time routine before 7:30PM we really wouldn't be spending any time with her. We each have our our time with her before the end of the day which is important for us.

Hi R., I've read the Weissbluth book and it's the first and only thing that helped me not only understand my kids' need for sleep, but to get them on a good schedule (I read 4 other books first and none of them helped us). Not everything works for every parent, and I like that he presents an array of techniques from let cry to no cry. We had to let both our kids cry in the end, but establishing a 6pm bedtime at 5 months or so, each of them was sleeping very well. My daughter is 8.5 months and still goes to bed by 6:15 most nights; my son is 22 months and he is asleep by 7pm in his toddler bed and is sleeping until 6:30 or later. Both my kids are early risers - by putting them to bed earlier, they sleep later. I know some parents find success with 8pm or even 10pm bedtimes for their babies and toddlers, because they tend to sleep later and adjust nap-wise, but mine do not, so putting them to bed late just makes them more and more overtired (and difficult to deal with).

One thing I've learned is that you really have to try a bedtime for 5 days or more to know if it's the right time. For months we were putting our son (as a toddler) to bed at 6:30 when he really needed to go to bed at 7pm. He was waking earlier and earlier (3:30 am!) because we hadn't adjusted his bedtime to be more age appropriate. When we tried later bedtimes, we would do it once or twice, have no luck and have an even more tired toddler on our hands, and then give up. When we gave the 7pm bedtime a week, we were suddenly sleeping a hundred times better. It's been 2 months of better sleep now, so I know it was the right thing for us. Good luck!

Don't fret the 6:30 bedtime, let him go down then. My daughter is going to be 4 and has gone down between 6pm and 6:30 pm for as long as I can remember. Keeping her up never worked for me, she'd still get up at 6:30 or 7:00, so she'd actually lose sleep. Having her go down that early has also been great for my husband and I. We did have to start eating dinner at 5:00 if we wanted to have a nice dinner together. If we're not ready to eat that early, we just sit with her at the dinner table. Let him go down and enjoy your evening together. Good luck.
B. C

For me, putting them to sleep earlier has always led to a later wakeup, though each kid had different nighttime needs. My son would never sleep more than 10 hours at night while my daughter always slept at least 12 hours. So if you move it a little earlier, the morning might get just a little bit earlier.

Caveat - I don't believe that any bedtime is wrong for kids - as long as they are getting enough sleep through the day and night, it doesn't really matter what time they go to sleep. I have friends whose kids go to bed at 10:00 and that works for them (they do get up later in the morning). Only thing that requires is some good black-out curtains and noise control :)

If you like the 7 am wakeup, one thing that you could do is just do 15 minutes earlier for a few days, then 15 minutes more, and see how far he can go without waking up earlier. Just an idea.

Good luck!