What Is a Good Bedtime?

My mom put my sister and I to bed at 7:30pm every night until we were in 5th grade. then she said that we could stay up until 8:30pm or 9pm. So I say if he is tired put himto bed at 7:30pm.

My son is almost 4 months old. We give him his last bottle for the night between 8:30 and 9:00, and then put him down He sleeps until 6:30 or 7:00.

Hi J.! I have to agree with the advice so far. I had a similar issue with my daughter at 5 months (she is 7 months now). My mom told me to start putting her to bed around 6 so that she is asleep by 6:30 and now she sleeps usually till about 6am. Good luck!--A.

Great advice so far. I agree, put him down earlier and he will sleep better. Maybe even longer in the morning!

Hi send him to bed at 8:00 that is a good time for him.

My daughter had the same exact problem to the word and I had the same fears but I've found two things. 1. the earlier she went to bed, the better she slept through the night (not as restless, slept later in the morning) 2. pushing back her nap so that it's earlier in the afternoon.

Hi J.,

If the baby is sleepy at 7:15 p.m., put him to bed for the night.

Hope this helps. Good luck. D.

I say put him down when he's tired you can work to adjust the sleep on the other end if needed. He's telling you he's tired and ready it may take time but he'll grow into that sleep on both ends.

At 6 months old both of our boys had 3 naps, the 3rd one was from 5-6...6:30 and they went to bed at 8:30 till 7am(with one awakening at 3 am. At 17 months our yongest still takes a second nap at 5 pm and goes to bed 8:30-9 If I hold off on the second nap and put him to bed at 7, he is up at 11 pm and then watch out:)

Try earlier!! He is overtired. Sleep begets sleep. You might get 12 hours out of him. Really!

Alternatively, you could try to get him to nap later or take an extra afternoon nap. He should probably be up in no more than 2 hour stretches - so if you want him in bed at 8:30, he should nap until 6:30.

I think 7:30 is perfect bedtime for kids under 3. It is wha tmy kids do and they sleep until 6-7 am.

I'd be curious to hear what works.

J. -

For some reason, the later I put my children to bed, the earlier they seem to get up (I have a 6, 4, and 16 month old). When I make their bedtime earlier, they tend to sleep later in the morning. If your son is getting sleepy around 7:15, you may want to back his bedtime to around then. But I wouldn't wait until he's miserable to put him to sleep. Watch him and start bedtime routines right before he gets so sleepy. I know bedtimes are tricky. That's been one of the hardest things with all three of my children. Good luck!

A. T.

Try a later nap. pushing the nap closer to the end of the day will help him to be less cranky at bedtime

My two older kids (3 1/2 and almost 5 years old) go to bed around 8pm and wake up around 9am. They both started sleeping through the night (same hours as they do now) before they reached four weeks old.

My youngest one (15 months) goes to bed around 9pm and wakes up around 11am. She also has a two-hour nap around 3pm. She started sleeping through the night (same hours as she does now) at only two weeks old.

My point is that everyone has a different sleeping schedule. For instance, I'd HATE to wake up at 5:30am, Seeing as my husband and I go to bed around 1-2am (because of wanting alone time while being awake and his work schedule). We sorta lucked out with our kids- we didn't force a schedule, they just naturally adapted and we went by what worked for them.

Also, some kids sleep more -or less- than others (mine obviously sleep a lot). I do however completely agree with putting your baby to bed when the baby is sleepy like a lot of others have said. If your baby happens to wake up too early for you in the morning, try adjusting the nap schedule.

Rebecca

It's a misconception that early bedtime = early wake up time! Many experts say that the opposite is true, and I have found that to be the case with my 6 month old son. He goes to bed between 6:00-7:00 (depending on how long his last nap went), and wakes up at 6:30 every morning. If something keeps him up later, he often wakes up earlier the following morning!

I'm a big believer in early bedtimes. It gives the baby the sleep he or she needs, and you get to relax with your husband!

Hi J., I'm D.. My lil girl's 15 mos now but wants a nap on the weekends sometimes 2 hours after waking. They keep her on a tight rein at daycare, nap at 12 - 2:30 - 3 everyday but on the weekend she may nap two times a day, one is 2 or 3 hrs after she wakes, she's still sleep from 8:30 - 6 smthg, w an occasional wake up for diaper change just the last 2 nights really, hope this helped some. HAVE A GREAT TIME W YOUR LIL ONES!!

I would not put him to bed any earlier. I would make 715 is morning nap then he will not fuss so much he is growing so he will want to sleep when he is growing.

remember that no one child is the same. my son (now 10 months) has only slept thru the night about 3 times. He always wakes up for a bottle and diaper change around 2, 3 or 4 am. people said oh feed him a heavy dinner and he'll sleep thru the night...not so. he has his routine and he may not even drink the whole bottle and he goes right back to sleep. i adapted to him. i have his bottle ready to go and it works for us. we get home around 6 pm, he takes a 30-60 minute nap, wakes up gets his bath, and dinner and then goes to bed around 8:30 - 9 pm. he wakes up at 7 am (with that "pit stop" wake up around 3 am). so try letting him go when he's tired and see what happens.

If he seems tired around 7:15 try making that his bedtime. Maybe he is going thru a growing spurt and just needs more sleep. Or maybe a later nap time if Mom and Dad want to spend some family time in the evening. My son at that age for about 2 months wouldn't go to sleep til 11 and still woke up at 8 am and then there were times when he'd be in bed by 6 and sleep til 8 for several weeks straight. But that stopped after about 2 months and he went back to his normal bedtime. I've noticed now even that he is older if he goes to bed late he still wakes up at the same time around 7am but he is just a lot crankier that next day. Usually he is in bed between 7:30 and 8pm. Good luck.

Why not try the earlier bedtime and see what happens? If your little guy has reached a milestone, like sitting up or crawling, he just may be more tired than usual. If he wakes up too early, than you know you need to keep his bedtime a little later. The last thing you want is a baby that doesn't get enough sleep because it can hinder brain development and overall growth!

Usuallly the later they go to bed the earlier they wake up. My girls are 3 and 17 months and go to bed at 7:30 every night and wake up between 6:30 and 7:30. The later I put them to bed the earlier they wake up.

Although it seems counterintuitive, usually early to bed is not early to rise. Also, you may be able to feed/nurse and then put your 6 month old back to bed at 5:30 so he gets up later. We also have a 6 month old, and while he isn't sleeping throught he night, have found that 7PM is the ideal bedtime, and he will get up to nurse usuallly a dream feed (around midnight) and then again around 5AM, but will sometimes sleep in until 9AM. I have found 7 to be a great bedtime. I have also heard that a 7-7 sleep is really ideal for babies this age. You may want to try to put your baby down at 7 (especially if he's tired) and see what happens. I have also heard to gradually move up his bedtime (in 15 min or 30 miun increments a day) and that should help. Be happy for the long sleeps though and don't be surprised if teething causes some of his early rises.

If he is tired earlier put him to bed earlier. If he wakes up earlier you should be able to nurse him back to sleep. My 6mo. goes to bed between 7 and 8:30 it depends on what we are doing each day. If she goes to bed earlier she will usually wake around 4 but will nurse right back to sleep for at least 2 more hours.

Try laying him down at 7:15 and see what happens. His wake up clock might be at 5:30. My son (now 7) has always waken up at 6am whether he goes to bed at 8:00 or 11:00. Good luck.

If he is tired put him down. Overtired babies sleep less, not more (according to the sleep books, and fits with my experience with my son). If you try this and for a few days, and he really does start waking up earlier (obviously not what you want) than you can try some of the other suggestions about moving the naps to later to move bedtime later if you don't want him up that early.

I did find with my son that he would get sleepier around growth spurts, so you may find that he goes down great at 715 now, but starts to fight it later. If so, then you can always move the bedtime back to 8 or 830.

Good luck.

Try to work in a nap right before dinner. I let my daughter play in the playpen while making dinner. Sometimes she falls asleep. I let her sleep for around an hour, no later than 6, then feed her dinner. She then goes to bed around 8:30.

Start his bedtime routine at 6:45 pm and put him down at 7:15 pm assuming he will fall asleep around 7:30 pm and he will most likely still sleep till 5:30 am. Keep in mind that when we switch over to winter time, you will have to adjust his time by about 15 minutes every day a few days before the night of the switch and the same goes for switching back to Day Light Savings Time. That's how it worked with my son. He now sleeps from 7:30 pm till 6 am

You could also try letting him nap then and having a later bedtime, my son just wasn't ready to sleep that long at night at that age and so his "official" bedtime was 10pm at that age and as he needed less naps and could sleep longer at night he got to where he is now, sleeping for about 12 hours at night, from 8-8, and a two hour nap during the day.

Whatever you decide to do will be fine, you're the mom, do what you think is best.

Honestly he is going to bed too late. I read the best book and about so did 20 other people I know and it helped them a lot. Its called Healthy Sleep habits Happy Child by Marc Weisbluth. It is awesome. He explains that he doesn't believe going to be earlier will wake up earlier. Your baby at that age should be getting nearly 12 hours of sleep at night. He should probably be sleeping from 6:30 -6:30 or 7-7. I highly recommend the book and since he still so young you will benefit from it. The glory of this book is you don't hav to read it cover to cover but simply what ever sleep prob. you are having at that particular time.
Good Luck.
Jen

I recommend you put him to bed at 7:30. I strongly believe the more sleep a child gets, the more he needs. You will likely find he will sleep a little bit later in the morning! And, the bed time routine may be a little easier. Your child is only getting 9 hrs a sleep a night. Naps may be making up the difference but he certainly needs more. If he still eats during the night, you can try giving him a bottle or nursing him right before you go to bed. The other benefit is you get some time to yourself.

My suggestion is to read this book: Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Dr. Marc Weissbluth. My kids are almost 5 and 3 and sleep from about 8 pm to 7 or 7:30 am and rarely wake up during the night. That book is the reason they are such good sleepers. We've used it since my oldest was an infant. He explains brain and behavior development and takes those into account when explaining how you can work out a schedule that works for your children and you. Good luck!

When my daughter was that age, she was sleeping from 6:30p-7:30a. Sleep begets sleep. Try putting him down when he starts getting sleepy.

Yes, put him to bed when he's tired around 7:15. You'll both be happy you did. Most likely he'll still wake up at 5:30.

A great book to read about baby sleep is Healthy sleep habits, happy child by Marc Weissbluth. In the book he explains how much sleep your child needs at each stage in life, and why they need that much. At 6 months your little one is going to need 14-15 hours of sleep per day total, so it sounds like he's not getting enough sleep and that is probably why he's cranky. Also, at this age, the first nap of the day should occur about 2 hours, sometimes even less, after your baby wakes up in the morning. It sounds like your little one is right on cue with being tired again around 7:15 when he wakes up at 5:30. I would try putting him to bed a little earlier at night to see if you can get some more hours out of him that way. It's pretty cool... the more sleep they get, the more sleep they want. I have a 14 month old and I used this sleep book, and he's been self soothing to sleep since he was 4.5 months old, and he currently sleeps 12 hours at night, and naps for 2.5-3.5 hours a day. I will def. use this book again with our second baby.

Try the earlier bedtime. From all that I have read in about sleeping, getting him to sleep earlier will mean he will sleep longer and more soundly. At this age you should follow his cues and let that guide his nap times and bedtimes. You mostly likely see that there is a pattern that can be used as a consistent schedule.

Hi J.,
I would advise you to put him in bed when you see he is sleepy ad wait till the morning to see if he is going to wake up earlier...if he does, try to make him go to sleep later in between the naps.

And I want to check something with you: I am looking for a work from home - any suggestions..

A little about me:
Mom of a baby-boy, 8.5 months old.

"The more they sleep, the more they sleep." I really agree with this statement. We put our son down for bed around 8 and he didn't wake up until about 8 at around 6 months. And he took 2 naps a day which totaled about 3 hours. If your child is tired early (7:15), I'd try to put him to bed by 7:30. If you think that is too early, then try 8:15, then move it back to 8, 7:45, etc. When it seems like a good time, then keep it at whichever time is best. Going from 8:30 to 7:15 might be too drastic, so just do 15 minute increments at first.

Good luck!

By the way, I heard not letting babies take naps past 4pm (if you are going to put them down by 8 or so) is the way to get them to sleep better at night. I don't know the truth to it, but we don't put our son to sleep past then and he is a great sleeper now!

Hey J.,

I feel for ya. I won't put him down earlier, it's just a phase. See you can just cuddle with him in the morning in your room or on the couch the see if he will drift back to sleep for alittle while. Hopefully it will help him sleep longer down the road. Best of luck !!!

J. Z.
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Your children should be getting good naps!

I actually went through this as well. We have a decent sleeping 8 month old. She was going down about 9:30 and sleeping mostly through the night at about 4 months, but our doctor suggested she go to bed earlier, because babies' "natural" bedtime is around 7. So gradually it just sort of evolved into anywhere between 7 and 8pm bedtime, which we're still on, and it works great. It mostly depends on her napping schedule throughout the day and when she last woke up. But I was TERRIFIED if I put her down earlier she would no longer sleep as long, but the doc was right, they'll still sleep to around the same time in the morning, so if they need to go down earlier, put 'em down!

Beware, we did go through some early-rising days/weeks, but she's worked out the kinks on her own as our routine became very consistent. Good luck!

I have a 6 mo daughter. I put her down around 9pm and she wakes at 6. At 9:30ish she gets tired and goes down for her morning nap. Wakes by 12-12:30ish and goes down for her afternoon nap by 2-3. Works out good. Because they wak early, they need that am nap. Good luck!

Hmmm... he is still napping during the day? Probably still once at that age?

If he's tired, put him to bed earlier--as soon as you see a yawn. It is possible that he will actually wake up *later*--babies that get too tired produce stress chemicals that disrupt their sleep.

If he wakes up earlier: Go into his room and try to soothe him back to sleep (make sure the room is very dark); drop one nap in the daytime (if he has two) or shorten the daytime nap if he sleeps for more than two hours.

If he isn't napping during the day--YIKES--he should be! : )

This completely normal you would be amazed most children wake up at the same time no matter what time they go go sleep. If you son is tired earlier than put him to bed earlier. I do childcare and most of the children go to bed at about 7 or 7:30pm. 6am is when the sun comes up they get up because the sun comes up not because they have slept a certain amount of time. So putting him to bed earlier shouldn't get him up earlier. People get the mis assumption that if you put them to bed earlier or later they will get up earlier or later also. But it's not correct 90% of the time.

I absolutely agree with Kristy F. Sleep does beget sleep and you should put your baby in the crib before he is so sleepy as to be miserable. You will likely find that if he goes to bed earlier he will get up later in the morning. My twins now 14 months have been going to sleep at 6:30 since 5 months and they get up at around 7:00. I would make your bedtime 15 minutes earlier every night until your baby starts sleeping longer in the morning (this is the advise in "Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child" which is a wonderful book about sleep patterns and how to encourage healthy sleep in babies)

Nah, put him down earlier. He might sleep longer if anything. My 11 month old is a sound sleeper who takes a 2 hour nap (2-4PM) and sleeps at night from 6:30 to 5:30 and then from 5:30 to 7. Just keep your time and bedtime routine the same and you'll be fine.

I totally second the "sleep begets sleep" idea. My little one was the same way, and as soon as we started putting her to bed earlier, she slept better. We now put her to bed between 6:30 and 7:00, and she sleeps until 5:30 or 6:00 am, with usually just one wakening during the night. Your little one is overtired- don't fight what his cues are telling you! You sound like a great mom- good luck.

I say give it a try! My understanding is that babies need an early bedtime (around 7 pm) and should be sleeping around 12 hours! (Mine's not, but one can hope, right?) Especially if he's showing signs of tiredness, I'd go with it. Check out Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child for more info, but I think it can't hurt to try! Good luck!