what is a good bedtime

Until now, the babis have been downstairs with us during the evenings until their last night feed around 10 or 11pm, and then we put them to sleep in thier cribs for the night. Some evenings, they are quiet and will rest, but others, they will be fussy and crying the whole time. Now that they are older, I know we need to start putting them down earlier..... What time did/do you start your bedtime routine and out them down for the night at this age? I am Bf them during the day, but giving each a bottle of formula before bed....

 

Great question! We are struggling with this now too. I am interested to see the replies.

 

Mine were on monitors at that point and it was just too much trouble to take them, the monitors, and 12 feet of wires up stairs then back down for feedings. So, mine slept in bassinets in the living room for about 4 months (I usually ended up on the couch most nights too). When they were taken off their monitors the day before Thanksgiving, we started putting them in their cribs. However, it usually wasn't until close to midnight because I was feeding them late and didn't want to take them up before that. We have just established a bedtime of 9 or 10 pm in the last few days and we're still seeing how that goes.

 

We didn't have a set bedtime until the girls were about four months old. Before then, they just weren't ready (or so it seemed to me). They certainly had a routine, and we'd spend awake time in the late evenings upstairs in their room rather than downstairs, but there was no official bedtime, it just depended on when they had last eaten and/or napped. At two months, they were still eating pretty much every three hours during the day and four hours at night.

 

Mine didn't have a set bedtime until about 4 months. Before that they just would not conform to an evening routine or schedule no matter what I tried. It'll happen before you know it. Good luck.

 

Like pp we didn't have a bedtime until about 3-4 months. At 2 months they would eat at 8 pm, then go to sleep in the pnp in the living room so DH could watch them while I went to bed. Then after their 11pm bottles he'd bring them into the pnp in our bedroom. Once we moved them into their cribs in the nursery we started a bedtime routine (at 8 pm), even though they were still getting up around midnight to eat. GL!

 

We have made the decision that "nighttime" goes from 7p-7a in our house. Meaning that before their 6:30 bottle they get in pajamas, then at 7 we turn the lights down and put the t.v. on low and don't interact much with the babies, just comfort them. Just this last week they started falling asleep around 7-7:30, we keep them in the darkened living room (in the pnp or on the couch) until they get up for their 9-9:30 bottle and then take them upstairs. At least on a "good" night that's how things work. I'm thinking once they get used to it we will start putting them upstairs at 7 and see what happens. And in the morning if they wake before 7a, it's nighttime and they comforted but not interacted with until at least 7a. Usually it's not an issue though as they are up at 4 to eat and then sleep until 7:15/7:30.

 

At 2 months mine were sleeping 12 hours from 8-8. To this day, that is still what we do. It seems to work well for us and our babies. Our PED said they should go down earlier, but we like the 8-8 thing. My DH has time with them in the evening and in the morning I have time to shower and eat before they wake.

 

Right around 8 weeks we started aiming for a 7pm bedtime, and now they are usually in bed by 6:15 most nights. It was a welcome reprieve for the entire family to have the evenings to unwind!!! They were still waking for overnight feedings for several more weeks (months?), but I wouldn't have traded that alone time with DH and my older DDD for anything!!

Good Luck!
Suzi

 

QUOTE(Tammy Fine @ Dec 6 2007, 11:19 AM) [snapback]523182[/snapback]
At 2 months mine were sleeping 12 hours from 8-8. To this day, that is still what we do. It seems to work well for us and our babies. Our PED said they should go down earlier, but we like the 8-8 thing. My DH has time with them in the evening and in the morning I have time to shower and eat before they wake.



soooo jealous!


We too are having trouble establishing any type of routine. They both have a lot of trouble falling asleep in the evenings. It's a struggle every night.

 

Many would say I did wrong, but we followed babywise from birth and it worked for us!

 

My boys are 2 months and they go to bed by 7 p.m. Most nights by 6:00 p.m. they are so fussy so I give them a bath and a warm bottle in their room. Most nights they go right out....Actually I should say my one boy always goes right out and my other one sometimes stuggles. It's really nice to have some time with Dh and be able to eat dinner without holding a baby!

 

We started a 7pm bedtime for the boys at around 9 weeks. Honestly, they really "picked" it -- as if it were up to us they would go to bed closer to 8Pm (as DH has a hard time getting home from work to spend time with the boys before we start our bedtime routien) -- I think that (at some point) - your babies develop an optimal "window" where going to sleep for the night is easiest. We started this after they had developed a regular 5-6 hour streach at night -- previously they had been going to bed anywhere between 10 and 1am - and it was MUCH harder to get them to sleep. We have found that on days that we don't get them to bed on time (like we went out to dinner with the boys) - that they just shorten their night sleep and want to get up at the same times (between 2-4 for feeding - and between 6/7am for "wakeup" time) -- so we stick with the 7pm time (honestly, they are pretty tired at 7pm - and I would guess that they would REALLY do better with a 6:30pm bedtime, but that's just not practical with our life (DH would never see them at all!)

 

10pm was when we did the bedtime routine, pj's/bottle in the dark/right into crib. We stuck with 10pm until they started sleeping later into the am then we gradually moved bedtime earlier. I was taking them to work with me so I needed them to be up in the morning but wanted them to wake naturally. The earliest we got to was 8 pm which happened at about 1 year. At 6 years old their bedtime is still 8 pm and I don't forsee it changing anytime soon.

Edited because I forgot about the 8 pm thing!