What time should bedtime be?

[Lucysmom]

Hi -

I have an 11.5 week old dd and I am curious as to when her bedtime should be.  I know that the book says 7pm but I don't understand why  considering a 3 month old needs about 10 hours of sleep at night.  So I am thinking that if I put her to bed at 7 she would be up at 5.  Is this right?  I am just concerned as when she naps during the day I have to wake her up from each nap.  This makes me think that she is not getting enough sleep at night.  She has 2 naps of 1.5 hours, one of 1.75 and a catnap of .75 and goes to bed around 8:30/9.  She starts grunting, groaning, just generally making lots of noise when the sun starts coming up (5 am) but I am going to try to put her in a darker room and see if that helps.  She is not totally awake from 5 am on but only in a light sleep.  Would an earlier bedtime help with any of this?  Also, she was sleeping through the night but has started waking up erratically and draining a 6 ounce bottle.  Any insight would be much appreciated!

Thanks!

[Gigismom]

when our dd was that old, she was going to bed at 7 or 8 pm.  but all kids are different.  does your lo seem tired and ready to go to bed at that time?  sometimes at that age, they are still up a little later, like 8:30 or 9:00 and then gradually as they lose naps, you bring the bedtime foward.  (her naps sound good to me!) 
as for the light sleep in the early am...gianna has always done that too.  at about 5 am, she would start fighting her swaddle and moving about, although not fully awake.  now that she is older, she is generally awake at 6am.  sometimes, she wakes at 5 am though!! 
i think that you should definitely try making her room darker for naps and nighttime.  this really seems to help our dd sleep better and longer.  let me know if you have anymore questions...although i am a first timer, so i don't always know what i am talking about!!

[Lucysmom]

Hi Lindsey -

Thanks for your reply!  I hope you and your lo are having a nice weekend!  Lucy slept in her nursery last night for the first time as it has window treatments (she naps in her nursery).  She started her morning noise at about 5:30 and it was still quite dark in her room so I guess it is just her biorhythm.  Yikes!  I have an early riser like her father!  It is good to know that other babies do this and that she is not unusual.

She was finally asleep last night at 9:15 (was difficult to settle), dh did a dreamfeed at 11:30 and she was totally awake at 6.  No night feed last night so we were all thrilled!!!  I told dh to do the dreamfeed no later than 11 (that is what the book says) but doing it a bit later did not seem to cause any problems.

I think I will keep bedtime at about 8:30 for the time being.  Hard to know what to do but as long as she is sleeping through the night and not cranky during the day we are all happy.   

Need to get Lucy up but thanks so much for taking the time to reply!  I love this website!!!

[Leann]

My son has always been an 8:00 pm guy.  Sometimes if he doesn't sleep well during the day he is tired and in bed at 7:30, and sometimes he will lie awake until 8:30 after he's in bed, but it averages out.  And then he has his dream feed and is up for the day anywhere between 6:30 and 7:00.

I'm not sure if he would wake a lot earlier if I put him to bed at 7:00.  I have a feeling he might wake around the same time no matter when he went to bed, but I haven't done any wild experiments or anything!

[madelines mom]

Hi,
Even though it is said that babies should go to bed early, our 6 mth dd has never gone to bed before 9 or sometimes later. Her father is not home from work until around seven and he leaves around 5:30 am in the morning. If we put her to bed at 7 or even 8 he would never have a chance to spend time with her. The up side to her going to bed later is that she doesn't get up in the morning until 8:30-9:00. Plenty of time for me to have my time before she wakes. I personally think that  sleep time depends on your individual situation. Good luck.
Heather