Is his bedtime way too early??

DS is 3 months old. He's just not a good sleeper (or napper for that matter). He still wakes every 4 hours at night to take a bottle. And during the day, he wont nap for any longer than 20 minutes IF that.

By the time 5:30pm rolls around the kid is wiped. He's super cranky, fussy, and you can tell he needs sleep. I try holding him off a bit but by 6pm he's down for the count. He'll sleep from 6 - 10 and then up for a bottle. Back down for another 4 hours, up for a bottle, etc. The onyl problem is, by 4am he's done sleeping and wants to be up for good.

I'm thinking his bedtime is just too early, but the problem is, I cant get him to stay up any later than 6pm. If I do, he's an absolute nightmare

Any advice or do I need to just go with the flow and deal with it?

Re: Is his bedtime way too early??

No real advice, but my DS is 3 months and does the same thing. Generally he is extremely cranky from 4-6 p, and then he falls asleep usually no later than 6:30. Sometimes he gets up at midnight for a bottle, but he is always up by 4 am, and generally wants to stay up. My DH leaves for work at 4, so i am usually up anyway. I think I have just programmed myself to be up at this horrible hour. I think the only thing that gets me through it is the fact that DS is always in SUCH a great mood when he first gets up. You can't help but smile .... even if it's 4 am. LOL

Re: Is his bedtime way too early??

I have no advice b/c I'm pretty much in the same boat as you! DS is 4 months and gets really tired so early. He falls asleep by 6:30/6:45 every night and gets up for the day at 4 something (doesn't help that DH started putting him to bed so early in the beginning. He thinks it's great, but guess which one of us is getting up with the baby at 4 am?? ). Every morning when DS starts crying before the crack of dawn, I swear that I need to do something about it.

I'd also love to hear any suggestions from BTDT mommies!

Re: Is his bedtime way too early??

DD used to take a catnap at that age from abour 5:00-5:30 everyday and that helped push back her bedtime and wake times more..GL!

Re: Is his bedtime way too early??

I HIGHLY recommend the healthy sleep habits happy baby book.

I have it right in front of me and in the section from 1-4 months it says there is really not set schedule at this point. He shouldnt be awake for more than 2 hours at a time. Sometimes Katie would take a nap after being awake an hour or hour and a half.

If he is sleeping enough during the day, he will sleep more at night. I know it sounds funny, but the more they sleep - the more they will sleep!

HTH but I highly recommend this book. Without it, i never could have guessed how much sleep and how often she should nap.

Re: Is his bedtime way too early??

DD naps well, but by 6pm I can see she gets tired. I don't put her down in her crib though, I either hold her or put her in the swing and she usually sleeps for about 1/2 hour. Then she stays up another hour or so and we do the bedtime routine, she's usually sleeping by 7:30pm and doesn't wake up until 6am-ish.

Are you putting him in the crib at 6pm?

Where are you putting him to nap during the day? I find DD doesn't nap well in her crib, but can sleep 2+ hours in the swing or bouncy seat.


ETA: DD is 3 months.

Message edited 11/10/2009 8:27:07 AM.

Re: Is his bedtime way too early??

My DS didn't get on a sleep schedule until 5 months. I wouldn't worry aobut it. If he is tired, put him to bed. My DS goes to bed by 6pm almost everynight, because I can't keep him up anymore. He sleeps through the night and usually wakes up around 6am. He is 8 momths though. At 3 months they still need to eat at night.

Re: Is his bedtime way too early??

Do you ever try feeding when he wakes up that early? My kids have always gone to sleep early-6:30-6:45. When they were that age-if they woke up at 4-5 I would feed them(right in their cribs on their boppies, stick their binkies back in and leave. They would always fall back asleep.

Re: Is his bedtime way too early??

Posted by dawnygirl25

DD used to take a catnap at that age from abour 5:00-5:30 everyday and that helped push back her bedtime and wake times more..GL!

Re: Is his bedtime way too early??

Also, I posted this in another thread on naps yesterday


I wouldn't keep him up longer than 90mins after he gets up...put him down for a nap again....and I don't mean he'll just fall asleep or you just put him down, I mean do what you do at bedtime normally (for us, DD has a CD playing and we rock her a bit and pat her back, then put her down in crib)....so we do this for naps too....she's up at 7, I just put her down to nap at 8:30

Re: Is his bedtime way too early??

I usually put DS to bed between 7 and 7:30. He still wakes for feedings several times throughout the night. He seems more awake when he gets up for his 5:00 feeding but with some effort I can get him to go back to sleep until 6:45/7:00.

Re: Is his bedtime way too early??

Get the book "Healthy Sleep Habits, happy child"

At 4 months, my DS was still waking every four hours as well. It's not something to be concerned about. I think I bought the book around this time(4 months) and really started using the napping strategies. They totally work!

Re: Is his bedtime way too early??

My 4 month old DD is completely wiped out by 6pm too and we start out bedtime routine around then and she is out by 630. She then usually wakes up around 3 or 4 for a bottle and I give it to her with no lights on, still swaddlled(after I change her diaper) and rocking her. She usually falls asleep again then until about 7. Except last night when she slept straight through yay!

ETA: she is a catnapper too during the day and I put her down for a nap whenever she seems tired which is about every 2-3 hours.

Message edited 11/10/2009 9:26:27 AM.

Re: Is his bedtime way too early??

My DD ( a little over 3 months) gets super tired around 5:30ish... She usually takes a "nap" at that time. Sometimes the nap is an hour sometimes it almost lasts until her bedtime at 8:00. It seems a little silly that we wake her up just to do her bedtime routine, but depending on how her nap schedule has gone that day, she needs that late afternoon/ early evening nap. But I would still say her bedtime is 8pm not 5:30pm. She *usually* sleeps through the night till about 7am

Re: Is his bedtime way too early??

Posted by dawnygirl25

DD used to take a catnap at that age from abour 5:00-5:30 everyday and that helped push back her bedtime and wake times more..GL!

Re: Is his bedtime way too early??

Try the book "The Baby Sleep Solution" by Suzy Giordano. I read that and followed the book and it helped me to establish a bedtime for DS and now he usually sleeps 9-11 hours at night. He would get cranky at that time too. (still does!)

Re: Is his bedtime way too early??

try pushing it back slowly, at like 10-15 minute increments for a few days at a time. 15 minutes later for 3 days, then a few minutes later than that for another.

Def try a catnap around 4ish, that what we used to do with DS too and he would then go to bed around 7ish.

Re: Is his bedtime way too early??

Thanks everyone! I ordered Healthy Sleep Habits on Amazon today and I started doing the 90 minute thing today too. He's napped a lot better already today.

Hopefully I can get him napping better all the time. He's so cranky when he doesnt nap or sleep well.

Just a quick question - when your DC wakes from a nap, are they happy or do they wake crying? DS wakes hysterically crying a lot of times. Not sure if he's scared or if maybe he didnt get a good enough nap?? When he wakes at 4am from his night time sleep he's always in a good mood.

Re: Is his bedtime way too early??

Re: Is his bedtime way too early??

You have gotten some really good advice so I will only tell you what has worked for us
Since he started sleeping through the night (at 9 months old ), DS gets super cranky around 5:30 too. I followed his cues and started putting him to bed by 6:00 PM (starting the night-night routine around 5:30). Let me tell you, when he goes to bed at that time, he sleeps 13 - 14 hours! Whenever I put him to bed any later (by an hour or more), he is up through the night and is up super early in the morning.

Re: Is his bedtime way too early??

in answer to you added question...DD wakes up and always has very happy. Rested. Im assuming because he isnt napping long enough to feel rested that might be the reason for the crying.