Baby's bedtime after 3 months?

Question

I've read after the 3 month mark a baby should be going to bed around 7-8pm. At this point our son still does to bed anywhere from 8-10, it really just varies depending on when his last nap ends and I go to bed when he does. Should we be more consistent with bedtime or just go with the flow? I also don't know how I feel about him going to bed around 7 when he's already awake by 5-6am every day and I would say sleeps poorly after 4am. If he has an earlier bedtime doesn't that make for an earlier wake time as well? I would looooove for him to be in bed by 7 and to have a few hours with my hubby, give him a dream feed at 10 and then have him sleep until 7am but that's just not my reality. I get so sad over my night routine sometimes. I never get a moment alone with hubby because when baby sleeps, I sleep. He doesnt nap more than 30 mins at a time during the day so I absolutely need to sleep at night. I thought things would get easier after the newborn stage but it's not!

Answer

Ok couple things!  First, usually earlier bedtime actually means later wake up.  This is still true with my toddler.  The later she goes to bed, the earlier she wakes up.   Also, have you tried the Merlin sleepsuit?  I couldn’t get more than a half-hour nap from my 2.5 month old until we started using the Merlin.  Now she takes up to 2 hour naps!  And she goes down at 7pm and wakes up at 7am with one feed between 4 and 5am.

Answer

I know others have said an earlier bedtime means longer sleep but that hasn’t been the case for my baby yet. He consistently has a 6-8 hour stretch no matter when I put him to bed. So goes down at 9 and wakes up at 4, or goes down at 11 and wakes up around 6, etc. I keep trying to move it up but so far having a later bedtime has worked best for us.

Answer

Mine is usually 8-9pm. The closer to 8pm the longer she sleeps. She’ll wake up once to nurse usually around 4-5am. Then again at 7am, then up for the day 8:30am. If she goes to sleep past 9pm she’s up before 7am. I’m trying to get her to wake up for the day at 8am. Gives me the best time to get up and ready for the morning and work.

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I don’t worry too much about it. My baby won’t go to sleep for the night before midnight but he has been sleeping 6-10 hours a night.

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She naps from 530-6, we play a bit , we do bedtime routine beginning at 645ish, she’s in bed at 730, and sleeps until 5(occasionally wakes at 1/2 for some food, and right back to sleep). She’ll then eat and play til 545, then sleep until about 745.

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I usually take her a bath at 8 than feed her while being swaddled afterwards. She usually is asleep by 9 and will wake up like at 7 to eat than goes right back to sleep and will wake up again around 10:30 for the day.

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Start bedtime routine at 6 with a bath, story time (read till she gets crabby) then swaddle and set her in bed. If we leave the lights on cause we want to read or something shell stay up till 8:30-9. If we shut off the lights she usually falls alseep right away so 7:00-7:30

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Yeah I notice it doesn’t really matter when I put my son down... 7:00 or 9:00. He still wakes up between 6-8a. I would say just try a 7:00 bedtime and see what happens?? I like putting mine down around 7 so I can do a couple things around the house, get myself ready for work the next day, hang with hubby, and get asleep by 9:30/10:00!

Answer

We were putting our 3-month-old down at 8 pm, and he’d wake at 1 for food, then 3, then 5. The last few nights we rolled it back to 6:30 pm, and now he’s waking only at 1 and 7. Earlier bedtime does not mean earlier/more frequent wake up time. :)