Bedtimes for the under 6 month set?

Just wondering when most of you put your little ones down for the night. We used to have an easy infant, but now things are a mess. Maybe I was just lucky before (and I know I was lucky with how well he used to sleep), but I'm afraid we caused the problem by messing with his bedtime.

Here's my story -- DS is 4.5 months and we've been having fussiness issues during the day (he's teething and he basically alternates between screaming and being completely angelic, but the screaming is killing me -- I just want to help my little guy).

So DH got a book about sleep (Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child) and decided that DS was actually sleep deprived. So we started putting him to bed about an hour to two hours earlier than usual. It works great from 7pm (bedtime) to about 1am -- gives me a chance to relax a little, but I don't usually go to sleep (DH works until 9 or 10pm). But starting at 1am he's up every hour on the hour (at least). Usually he just needs his binky put back in his mouth and some shhhhh-ing, but I feel like we may have made a mistake. DS used to sleep from about 8:30 or 9pm straight through until his middle of the night feeding (around 4am) and then sleep well until about 7am.

Maybe its just the age. Maybe its the teething (we're going to try Tylenol when he wakes up tonight and see if that helps). But I'm just wondering when most people put 4--6 month-olds to bed. The book stressed that at this age they need to go to bed at around 7 or 8 and that they should be able to sleep until 7am with only minor waking. (Maybe that doesn't apply when they are teething???)

Any advice appreciated
TIA

Re: Bedtimes for the under 6 month set?

Both girls at that age went to bed 7-8pm

Do you have a bedtime routine?
Are you putting him down awake but drowsy?

We do, pj's, books, bottle then bed. If we fray from that routine, they yell at us

I also got rid of the paci when my oldest started to wake up looking for it and would go back to sleep when we popped it back in. That's what worked for us though, we didn't want to get up to plug her back in.

GL

Just when you think you've got it down, they throw a monkey wrench in

Re: Bedtimes for the under 6 month set?

I am having some issues right now with DS also. He slept from 8 - 7 every night for a month and a half, and all of a sudden he is getting up betweeen 4 and 5 again for a bottle.

I think my problem though is his crib vibrator, it has not been working properly at all. It's supposed to come on when he cries or makes a little noise at night, and it always put him back to sleep, but the darn thing is not working, so he is having a hard time getting himself back to sleep. Hopefully I can resole this issue soon, but also as advice, maybe try the crib soother for you DC??

Re: Bedtimes for the under 6 month set?

DS is 5 months old and he usually goes to bed around 9:30. I feed him at 9ish and then down he goes.

Some nights he sleeps through until 5 or 6, other nights he is up around 2-3 for a feeding. I haven't been able to pinpoint what it is that makes him sleep better some nights.

I am finding that he is starting to get fussy between 8-8:30 lately. We may start moving his bedtime up a bit.

Re: Bedtimes for the under 6 month set?

We do have a bedtime routine and it works great -- massage, pjs, book or singing (basically cuddling), and finally nursing. He usually falls asleep as we nurse and wakes up a bit between burping and getting to his crib.

I always try to put him down awake but drowsy and he's usually fine.

Naps are a different story -- he sometimes can go into the swing drowsy, but I often have to rock him until he's almost asleep. And, yes, we need the swing in the daytime -- wish we didn't, but right now it (or the car) is the only way to get him to sleep while its daylight.

Re: Bedtimes for the under 6 month set?

DD goes to bed around 7:30, pretty much sleeps through the night and wakes up for the day around 6:30. We just kind of went with her signs of sleepiness in establishing a bedtime (rubbing eyes and head, getting a little fussy).

Re: Bedtimes for the under 6 month set?

Re: Bedtimes for the under 6 month set?

I haven't read this particular book but my son is a very bad sleeper. If we put him down that early it makes for a horrible night for us. The only way for us to get a good stretch of sleep is to put him down much later. He will wake up later as well but does not get that 12hrs ever. But, I really believe that while books work for many, every baby is different. I have done the exact same things to the letter that my friends have done and had very different responses from DS. Just wanted to say - go with what works, not with what the book says.

BTW, my DS is 5mo and his last feeding is at 10:30 then we put him to sleep and he wakes up around 8am. I know this is much later than the norm but it is the only thing that works...in fact, we are doing much better than at 3mos when he last nursed at 12:30 am

Re: Bedtimes for the under 6 month set?

My dd will be 5m on the 22. and we haven't implemented a sleep schedule yet. I don't know if were going to regret this one day, but we let her do her own thing. Seems to be working since she was born. The last 4 days she's slept through the night for first time. Usually she's passed out about 7:30-8:30pm (depends on what we did during day) and sleeps until 6-7am.

Lately she's been doing cat naps during day and then 4:30ish shell pass out for a longer nap.

I guess well see if what I'm doing is going to bite me in the butt.

Re: Bedtimes for the under 6 month set?

Well I never read your book. But DD is the same age. She eats her last bottle between 9-10 at night. Then she falls asleep by 10:30 the latest. She then sleeps until 7:30-8:00 am eats again and goes back to sleep for another 2 hours. She then naps every 2-3 hours for a little bit. Yes, it would be nice if she went down earlier, but she sleeps late in the morning and seems happiest this way.

Re: Bedtimes for the under 6 month set?

Yeah, the sleeping later in the am is what I think we've lost since implimenting this method. Sometimes he wants to get up before 6am -- he's never horrible about staying in his crib until we "get him up" (ie will usually stay in his crib and "talk") but its hard for DH and I to actually rest once we know he's up.

Re: Bedtimes for the under 6 month set?

Well we did just go thru something very similar. My Ds is 5 months about 2 weeks ago he kept getting up at 2am when he wouls sleep from 8pm-4am take a bottle then up again at 7am... Just keep doing what your doing - trying to get him back to bed ( don't put the light on or talk with him so he knows its still bed time) he will eventually go back on his scedual.

Re: Bedtimes for the under 6 month set?

DD goes to bed everynight at 7. Gets up every morning at 5:30. I could set my watch to her!

ETA: She is 5 months.

Message edited 2/8/2008 5:53:19 PM.

Re: Bedtimes for the under 6 month set?

my DD is 5 months ,she has been having the same problem past 2 days, she is teething too, so I know that is the reason she wakes up and has a hard time falling asleep. I started giving her tylenol after talking to a doc yesterday and she went to sleep without a problem tonight at 8:30 and is sleeping fine so far. she goes to sleep between8:30 and 9 every night , sleeps through the night and wakes up between 6-8, one thing I figured out is that I can't let her nap later than 5.
here is our nightime routine:
I feed her around 8pm , put her in her pjs , read to her , after that we hold her and walk around the house singing to her just for a minute or two, after that we put her in the crib give her a binky and she falls asleep. once in a while she'll wake up crying , but I'll give hera binky and she goes back to sleep. (she only uses a pacifier when she sleeps)

Message edited 2/8/2008 10:33:10 PM.

Re: Bedtimes for the under 6 month set?

DD is almost 4 months. She generally goes to sleep at 10pm and sleeps until 8am. We are trying to make it earlier, but so far have not been that successfu.

Re: Bedtimes for the under 6 month set?

up till 6 months, DS would go to bed b/t 8:30-9 and when he turned 6 months, he just suddenly started going to bed at 7-7:30 on his own (we increased the time b/t his bottles from 3 hours to 4 hours so he ate at around 7 AM, 11AM, 3PM, and then the last bottle became around 7PM and then he goes to sleep right after). However he has always gotten up b/t 6-7AM no matter what time he goes to bed

Re: Bedtimes for the under 6 month set?

DD is almost 4 months. She goes to bed anywhere between 8:30 - 9:45 (after her last feeding) and then most of the time I wake her up in the morning around 6 so I can feed her and change her b4 I take her to daycare. When she gets there, she either goes back to sleep or she stays up for an hour and then goes back to sleep.

If I put her to bed at 7pm sometimes she'll wake up at around 1-2 bc she's hungry, so I try not to do that unless she's exhausted and super cranky.

Message edited 2/9/2008 6:53:04 AM.

Re: Bedtimes for the under 6 month set?

Message edited 2/9/2008 8:56:50 AM.