Scheduled Nap-time and Bed-time for a 4-Month Old?

I think 4 months is a little early for a formal schedule, but I do think 11 pm is too late for a little baby to go to bed. A 7-8 o'clock bedtime would be more appropriate, and maybe she would wake up before you go to bed, you can feed her, and then she could go back down for the night. We started putting our kids on a schedule around 6 months or so, but not for naps as much as for bedtime, since we are also never home (especially my youngest, who is almost 2, with big brothers who are 4 and 6 and don't nap anymore we didn't have the time to go home and do naptime with her. At 6 months we kicked everyone out of our room into their own room and kind of following the sleep training method of no longer going in if they woke. They stopped waking in the middle of the night after 2 nights and have all slept through the night since. That method isn't for everyone, but it really worked for us. Our kids are the best sleepers, they can sleep anywhere on vacation, at grandmas, and never wake up at night. As the baby gets older, she will stop sleeping so often. Around 6-8 months they start only doing two naps a day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon (this seemed pretty natural) and then around 1 or so my kids gave up their morning nap and just took a 2 hour nap from about 12-2 every day. Good luck!

Both my children established their own schedule over time -- I had very little to do with it! Their napping and bedtime routines just sort of settled into a pattern at around 6 months old. I'm glad you're getting out for your sanity. At four months, our kids were still in what we called "the cone of silence" where they could (and did) sleep through sirens, four-year-old birthday parties and other loud things. Savor this time because again around 6 months, your child will likely have more trouble just falling asleep wherever she is and you'll have to make trade-offs between her nap schedule and your sanity!

Hi there,
My son Luke was born in La Jolla!! He was pretty much the same way. He would nap in his stroller or carseat. Never in his crib. We started putting him down for his nap in his crib at about 6 months and it was tough!! You might want to consider starting now. It is tough at first but you will both get used to it.

H.,

I am a mother of a 35 month old. I have a child development degree and an infant/toddler teacher in the past. From my experience and education you should have a sleep schedual as soon as possible(with flexability) Establishing a sleep schedule is very important for your daughter. It will give her confort to have a schedule and to know what is next. A type schedule for a lot of children is:
Bed time 7:30 pm - 9 pm
Wake up: 6 am - 8:30 am
Nap 10 am ish (depending when they woke up)
Nap 2 pm ish (depending when they woke up)

When I had a baby I had no idean when my daughter should be napping. I did a lot of research and I found that babies usually need to take a nap 2 hours after they last woke up. Reading this helped me set a schedule that worked for my daugher.

When they get older and depending on the child they will take one nap after lunch.
Babycenter.com is a get place to get more information. I love that website.
Children also need a schedule when it comes to their meals.
Schedules are great for children. It keeps their moods regulated, tummy's happy and dependablity on what to expect.
Schedules are great and flexability is even better.
Gave my daughter the tools to be a well rested happy little girl. When she was a little baby I to was able to run errons and she could sleep in her car seat but as she got older I ran my errors around her schedule and still do. Hope this helps.

Hi H.,
We co-sleeped with our daughter for several months and we would put her to bed then come to bed when we were ready. Now she is in her own bed. I wanted to protect my daughters sleep time and ensure that she was receiving the necessary amount for her to develop. So starting around 5 months we decided that we needed to have more of a routine going. It took a while to get it established but in the end it worked out for all of us. Now, my daughter is 17 months and thrives on her schedule(sure there is some tweaking every now and again, but on the whole we have a pretty solid schedule).
I recommend you check out Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Mark Weissbluth. It is very insightful and gives tips for every stage.
HTH!

I tried giving my daughter some sort of schedule but she had her own ideas. Now, at a year, I'm glad that she doesn't have a strict schedule because I don't have to be so regimented about when and how I do things. I do respect her tired signals and give her a semblance of a predictable routine, esp at night time but the girl loves to change it up so I don't count on anything.

We co-sleep and what we do is put her down around 7:30pm and are able to view her on the monitor. Then we can have our own time before we join her around 10:30/11pm. My daughter has never slept through the night, though some nights have been better than others (IE) when she is going through a growth spurt, teething, sick, etc. I don't have a problem with her not sleeping through night because she is right there with us, easily soothed and I barely wake up now when she needs/wants to feed.

Naps depend on where we are and what we're doing. I'm an out and about mom too so I try to have nap times coincide with driving, walking, or if we are at home I bf and/or rock her down.

You may want to check out Moxie.com as she describes "sleep regression" which may be something your daughter is going through right now as she has always been a "good" sleeper.

Just one mom's limited experience...

Jen