Extending 4.5mth old bedtime.

[KLT001]

I would like to extend my 4.5mth old daughters bedtime to 7pm as she is currently going to bed at 6;00/6:30pm. I would prefer her to go down at 7pm because daylight savings is coming at the end of this month and it will be slightly darker at 7pm. She also wakes at 5:30am/6am and Im wondering whether this is because she goes to bed too early???

Her naps have been 45min lately, however we aim to follow the following routine.
6:00am - Wake
6:30am-Feed
8:00am- 1St Sleep
10:00/10:30am - Feed
11:30/12:00am - 2nd Sleep
2:00/2:30pm - Feed
3:30pm - Nap
5:30pm - Bath
6:00pm/6:30pm- Bedtime

As you can see she wont sleep long enough to make it to 7pm?? Any suggestions on how I can extend her bedtime or even naps to get to 7pm? Its almost as if every night we struggle to get her to 6pm without her being overtired.

I have found that I cant put her in for another nap as she thinks this is her true bedtime and if I wake her she screams as she is so tired and her night sleep has been disrupted???

[debo620]

this is tricky, and I am still struggling to do the same thing and I am dreading daylight savings.

I would only suggest to do it slowly, maybe push nap times, meal times, eveything forward by 15min every few days. however I would only do this if she is napping well. the 45min naps in and of themselves may indicate she needs a tweak in rouinte.

anyway, bumping you along, perhaps othere will have had some success.

[andibig]

i agree with you Debs .to get the later bedtime you'll have to shift your whole routine forward.
DD used to have that bedtime (6-6.30) as she was an early riser when she was small.i just adjusted my routine to suit it and eventually by the time she was 11 months she was sleeping a little later.

[KLT001]

I think im going to need to get some good blockout blinds and curtains as this later bedtime is not working and Daylight Savings will be a nightmare!! She has been waking at 5:30am and talking in her cot until 6:30am because that is her usual waketime. I have left her in there as she seems quite happy and feedtime is not until 6:30am also. This however knocks the whole day out as I needed to put her in for her first nap at 7:30am to avoid overtiredness, which we had yesterday.

Im really hoping that it is simply the light waking her in the morning because it is very bright, even I am waking. I guess when Daylight savings comes she can actually get up at this time to start her day.

The catnapping is driving me nuts, but I guess I need to tweak her routine as we seem to have gone off track somewhere. Just when yo uthink you have everything right you need to change again!

[andibig]

I LOVE blackout blinds!!!!Sasha still has them in her bedroom.Light has always woken her not noise.she slept through a fireworks display once

[KLT001]

Good news. I ended up putting a thick sheet up at the window temporarily until we get some blinds and it made the room quite dark. Nat didnt wake in the early morning and we had to wake her at 6:30am, which is our wake-up time because she only gets that time to see Daddy. She doesnt see him of a night as she is going to bed too early? He gets home at 7:20pm, which is a litttle late for her and she cant get past 6:30p.m these days. It works for me but Im just concerned about the daylight savings period as it will feel strang putting her to bed when it is light outside.

I put her down for her first nap at around 8:10am this morning after waking at 6:30am. She cried for a short time but im hoping she will get a decent sleep and not a catnap because we have been having catnaps all week. I was going to put her in at 8:30am and trial the two hour wake period but she was getting cranky everywhere I put her in the house and rubbing her ear so I didnt want to miss the window. Im not sure whether she can handle 2hrs in the morning just yet. I guess time will tell.

As for extending her bedtime, im not sure whether I can adjust her feed times slightly as she currently screams right on time if not before her feeding time as she is super hungry. Im wondering whether she has only just adapted to the 4hrly feeding as sometimes it can be 3.5hrly?

[andibig]

or could possibly be a growth spurt which can throw a curve ball into the routine!!!
you could just move her routine by 5-10mins rather than 15 and see if that helps.