Need a new bed time!

Our boys are going into their fifth month and our bedtime is still 11pm... I have tried to do 10pm but they are then wide awake after that feed. I try to keep them awake longer during the day but then they get cranky and overtired, and sometimes they just drop off and there is nothing I can do to get them to wake back up!!! Anyone else have babies this age and have some solutions?
Thanks!

 

Our boys are going into their fifth month and our bedtime is still 11pm... I have tried to do 10pm but they are then wide awake after that feed. I try to keep them awake longer during the day but then they get cranky and overtired, and sometimes they just drop off and there is nothing I can do to get them to wake back up!!! Anyone else have babies this age and have some solutions?
Thanks!

 

My first suggestion would be to not try and keep them awake during the day. The more well-rested they are the better and longer they will sleep at night. My girls started sleeping through the night at 4 and 4 1/2 months, and I think their bedtime was around 8:30 or 9. It didn't take long, for sure by 6 months, before it moved all the way up to 6 p.m. And now, at almost 11 months, they are still sleeping 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.

I would set a bedtime routine and start it around 7:30 or 8. Do a bath, a story, pajamas, bottle, etc. And put them down around 8:30 or 9. And then go from there. Eventually they'll get used to the routine and bedtime will become easier.

 

That's late!!! They should be in "bed" for "the night" around 7:00 or earlier!!!

They must be napping during the evening, so THAT should be BED.

The best advice I can give you is that SLEEP BEGETS SLEEP! The more they sleep, the better their sleep habits will be.

Give us your whole schedule, that might make it easier....

 

At that age ours went to bed around 6:30, sometimes 6:00. I would give them a dream feed at 11:00. DD slept through the night and DS would still wake at night but he no longer ate. I'd say you need start establishing a bedtime routine much earlier. Not sure what your day looks like, but I'd bet your giving them an evening nap and that should really be their bedtime.

 

That is pretty late... Have you tried waking them earlier in the morning, as opposed to letting them sleep in until their usual time? Since I put my girls to bed no later than 7:30 PM, I wake them if they're still asleep by 7:30 AM. That gives them a 12 hour "day" and a 12 hour "night", although with naps, they're never awake for more than 9.5 hours total during the day. My thoughts are that if you determine what PM bedtime you want for your babies, wake them 12 hours later in the AM to start their "day", and after a few days, they should adjust their bedtime little by little. Good luck!

 

First rule...SLEEP MAKES SLEEP! It's very true and it will help. Let them sleep during the day when they need to and put them to bed early. We looked for their sleepy time cues in early evening and played it by that. Back then, our girls would really go to sleep between 5:30 and 6:30 pm. I was really nervous about it but after I read one of those sleeping strategy books, it worked and is true! Even now at almost two, my girls go to bed at 7 pm sharp! Good luck!

 

quote:
That's late!!! They should be in "bed" for "the night" around 7:00 or earlier!!!


thats kind of a harsh statement don't you think? I agree that 11 pm may be too late but my kids are 8 months old and go to bed by 8 pm - if I tried to get them down earlier than 7:30 they are up for the day at 5 am!!! (and mom certainly isn't ready for bed at 7:30 and to start my day at 5)

sleep may beget sleep but not all kids need 12 hours at night - mine do 10 at night, an hour to hour and a half nap during the morning and *maybe* a half hour to an hour in the afternoon - and thats it! this has been the same routine for months...

the older my kids got the earlier their bedtime got - and the easier it got to get them to sleep...

 

HI there,

From what I read, and what the pp say, good naps and an early bedtime net the largest amount of daily sleep. I started an early bedtime iwth my kiddos around 2.5 months -- and we've been tweaking it ever since.

We artificially started with a bedtime routine at 7p and tried to work on naps at 10 weeks.. 7pm worked for a while as they boys were still young. then around 3.5 months I got more serious about naps -- getting them to nap in their cribs and realized that they really couldn't make it that long to a 7p bedtime... so we started moving the bedtime up.

We've found that if the boys have a bad napping day, then they are ready for bed between 5-6 and if they nap well, they are ready for bed between 6 and 7p. I am now working on getting the 4p quick nap into the mix, but it's a hard one cause the boys are so close to sleeping for the night anyway at this time.

Oh well, you gotta figure out what works for you. My husband hangs wit hthe boys in the morning before work and sometimes works from hom in the afternoon so he doesn't miss out on them later in the day.

Good luck, I know for me, I need a break from my boys late in the day, so an early bedtime really allows me to recharge for the night and the next day... If mine were up past 7p I'd be a very unhappy mommy.

Teri D