Is 8-8:30 too early a bedtime for a 2.5 month old?

We've been starting our bedtime routine at 7:30, with a bedtime of 8:30. Last week he finally gave us anywhere from a 5 to an 8 hour stretch of sleep (yay!), but then did not want to go back to sleep after he got up to eat (anywhere from 1-4am!) (he's breastfed). So we decided to try to move his bedtime later by half an hour - he proceeded to go back to waking up every 2-3 hours to eat.

So for the past few nights we have been putting him to bed 1/2 hour earlier at 8pm and the same thing - he wakes up every 2-3 hours to eat.

What should we do?? Thanks for reading!

Re: Is 8-8:30 too early a bedtime for a 2.5 month old?

DS liked to go to bed the latest 7 pm when he was that age....it is true "sleep begets sleep"

Re: Is 8-8:30 too early a bedtime for a 2.5 month old?

My dd is 2ms and she has been going down herself around 8pm and has been sleeping through night pretty much, She stirs at like 2-3am, eats (bf also) for 5mins and then passes out again. Today she woke up at like 7:45am.

I dont wake my DD up for feedings and now i dont change her, unless its bad. I found if i change her at night she'll stay up for 2-3 hours after.

ETA: sleep begets sleep... not sure what this means, but everyone else wrote it , i dont want to jinx my childs sleeping habits.

Message edited 11/29/2007 9:42:37 AM.

Re: Is 8-8:30 too early a bedtime for a 2.5 month old?

My DD has been sleeping by 8-8:30 since 6 weeks & sleeps 10-11 hours a night. So true - sleep begets sleep! That works for our schedule & if it works for yours, keep it.

Re: Is 8-8:30 too early a bedtime for a 2.5 month old?

Our DD has finally started going down at this time, 8 or 8:30 (was 10:30 ). She will either sleep straight through until 5am or wake up at 3 or so to nurse and then sleep through until 6 or 6:30. Do what gets you and the baby the most sleep.

Re: Is 8-8:30 too early a bedtime for a 2.5 month old?

At that age DD was always in her crib by 8pm. I've never been able to get her down earlier.

Re: Is 8-8:30 too early a bedtime for a 2.5 month old?

For the past couple of weeks this is when my son has been going down too. We stretch him as much as we can to 9pm, but he is just so tired and ready for bed. He gets up around 3 for a feed, then right back to bed. Can't wait for him to sleep through the night, although he is a BIG eater at that 3am feed, so I don't see it going away anytime soon, HA!

Re: Is 8-8:30 too early a bedtime for a 2.5 month old?

8/8:30 actually sounds late to me, but i know that is a common bedtime. My son has been in bed by 7pm since he's 6 weeks old. Just the way he's been, and he sleeps till 6:30/7am.

Whenever we tried to keep him up later it backfired on us bigtime. I don't think 8 is too early at all, I think its better than later!

Re: Is 8-8:30 too early a bedtime for a 2.5 month old?

The numbers on the clock are irrelevant to DC. It's really only important about how MUCH sleep they get, not when they start and stop. If you live right on a time zone line, and your mom lives a mile away in the next time zone, will you change DC's sleep by an hour each time they stay over mom's house because it's 8:30 on her clock, even though it's 7:30 on your clock?

Whatever time works for you and DC is a good time to go to sleep. Both of our DC used to go to bed around 10-11pm, but that's because it worked good for us. After they started going to classes, we shifted them to an earlier bedtime, since earlier worked for everyone.

Re: Is 8-8:30 too early a bedtime for a 2.5 month old?

Thanks ladies. When he was going bed at 8:30 he was falling asleep during nursing.

BUMPing for more help!