5:30pm bedtime not moving...

Hi,

I am having a hard time keeping my babies awake past 5pm without them both having breakdowns...I just feel this bedtime is too early, but they are set on this time as of now. Is this ok? Should I be trying to change it? Will they naturally change it?
They sleep until about 12am, we feed them, then my DD sleeps until 5/6am, DS wakes up two times in the night. This just doesn't seem right. HELP!
thanks so much

jen

 

Hi,

I am having a hard time keeping my babies awake past 5pm without them both having breakdowns...I just feel this bedtime is too early, but they are set on this time as of now. Is this ok? Should I be trying to change it? Will they naturally change it?
They sleep until about 12am, we feed them, then my DD sleeps until 5/6am, DS wakes up two times in the night. This just doesn't seem right. HELP!
thanks so much

jen

 

Ours are very similar, although for them it's around 530pm. Well, what we've been doing is starting their bedtime around 545/600. I don't want them in bed too early, but pushing it does make them fussy. We try to entertain them keep them occupied, but they still fuss. They usually take a nap until 400ish sometimes 430, but still are tired around 530ish. So I guess we push them until 600 and have them in bed about 630/700. They are far from sleeping through the night so this time seems to be fine. They "usually" sleep until 1030 (ds) and 12-2am (dd). I'm not complaining, they're doing pretty fine in my book. It might be a good idea to push them a little, but I understand that you don't want them too fussy. It could be that having them in bed around 530/600 is what they need! Let us know what unfolds!!

 

I wish I had the answer. I know what you're going through though. My girls are STILL barely able to make it to 6:15. They CAN sleep all night and have, but lately since they have been sick they are back to waking up at 4...not to eat though so at least you know eventually, early bedtime or not, they will work out the night wakings.

 

Mine usually fall asleep at that time as well. It's their "catnap" in their swing or bouncy chair and then we give them their last bottle at 7pm and then they are in bed by 7:30. I personally think 5:30 is too early which is why I let them take a catnap at that time.

 

My kiddos go to bed btw 5-6 and it's been a godsend for them as they no longer are overstimulated and crying fo rmost of the night. We had set up an arbitrary 7p bedtime that we used from 2.5mo to 4 mo -- then I read Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child and decided to move their bedtime up earlier.

This was fabulous for my boys, they no longer were crappy at night or at least they went to bed as soon as the got crappy. They slept longer duration and they began napping better during the day. I started watching more closely for sleep cues (yawning, rubbing eyes, etc.) and it really helped iwth getting them down. I now can put my one son down drowsy but awake and son #2 is real easy to put down, although we still cuddle him to sleep (cause he's soooo busy)

You may not like that time for bedtime, but if your kids are telling you that they need the sleep, the only thing you can do is to start getting diligent about napping and try to get them on the 9a, 1p, 4p schedule for naps and you may be able to extend their evening a little.

I think that at 3mo my guys were not ready to do naps that well, so we were just glad to put them to sleep whenever they would go. I love the early bedtime cause it gives me the chance to make dinner after they go to bed.



Good Luck

Teri D

 

My 2 are the same from 5 pm onwards they are crabby and tired. I try to hold them off untill 6- 6.15 then feed bath and bed as they wouldnt go any longer than that. They kind of sleep through the night! They still wake up a few times for dummys and silly things but the tend not to get up untill 6 - 6.30 am x

 

Since your babies are so young and aren't sleeping through the night yet, I wouldn't worry about them falling asleep around 5 p.m. Once they're sleeping through the night they might push back their bedtime a little bit. That being said, my girls have been going to bed around 6 p.m. since they were about 6 months old. Some babies just need to go to bed early!

 

Looks like lots of good advice so far...

In my case, the boys would probably go to sleep at 5pm if I let them, but it's just not feasible for me (and dh would literally never see them awake). Our bedtime ritual is kind of elaborate, and I need the help!

When I notice that they're getting really fussy, I start some evening cluster feeding (don't know if you're bf or forumula?). This extra food takes the edge off and gives them something soothing to do rather than crying. Then we start bedtime. They get a bath every night, and it seems like no matter how crabby they are, the bath ALWAYS soothes them. Our routine of bath, bf, swaddle, rock and bed can take up to an hour so that really helps to stretch it out a little without major breakdown.

Oh, and a late afternoon nap (if you can get it) works wonders!

 

Thank you! thank you!! I love you guys!! OK, the late nap is tough - they do nap at around 3:30pm, but a 5pm sleeptime is early. Maybe they do just need to go to bed early.
My DD falls alseep instantly and my DS will go soon after that. We are waking them up at around 11pm or 12am (if they haven't woken up) to feed them. They are almost making it, but sometimes they are up 3 times a night.
So, I will try to push them back a few minutes, but maybe just accept that they like that time to sleep. I just pray they can sleep through soon...it just seems like so much sleep!?!?!

Thank you!

jen

ps - what is cluster feeding? I bottle feed.