nap/bedtime Q

hi, I have been a lurker for some time but I have a some questions now so I figured I would ask the experts.

I do not understand how people have bed times that are the same everynight. My DC gets up between 7-8 usually everyday. He usually only stays up about an hour and a half and then wants a nap again. So his bedtime seems to be directly related to the time he gets up in the morning. Or if he stays up a little longer, wakes up from a nap a little earlier, then his bedtime will reflect from that as well. I really like that my DC goes to bed at 8-8:30 but I am often fearful of messing with his naps that it will change his bedtime.

How does everyone arrainge the same bedtime for their DC at night? I just do not get it.

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Nobody????

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well, for my DD there is just no going past 7pm even though we often do (like when we go out) anyway, it doesn't matter if she gets up at 7 am or 10am she STILL want to go to bed at 7pm! she just gets miserable and there is no stopping it til she is in her crib.

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We just decided on a bedtime that was appropriate for my son at whatever age he was (he is 2, so bedtime starts at 7 on the dot) and we just are consistant with it. We both work so we need to have some consistancy in the mornings. You will be the one to set these timelines for your child. Ask some of your friends what time their similar aged child goes down. Also, bedtime routine is really important for small children, so we do bath, bottle, story, bed everynight, wherever we are, we try to stay true to our routine. Sometimes we might go out and the routine mght start at 8 or 9, but its always the same.

You are the boss. Remember that!

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how old is your DC?

I've just been putting both kids to bed at the same time every night for as long as I can remember...

My older one naps at the same time everyday(more or less) no matter what time she wakes in the AM... even if she takes a later nap she still goes in her crib at 7:15...

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DC is 5 mos. He doesn't nap at the same times each day. It is when he wakes up, a hour and a half later he wants to nap. So if he wakes up at 7 he is napping at 8:30. If he wakes up at 5 he is napping at 6:30. So his schedule is totally random. I feel like I have no control over it at all. I would love for him to have a 8 pm bedtime but that requires a lot of effort to make sure he wakes up at a certain time and keeping on a napping schedule. It gets to be tooo much, god forbid I actually have an errand to run and then forget it.

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How old is your child?

My son let me know from the start that 6:30ish would be his bedtime. We had no say in the matter.

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Are you clear about what his tired signals are? That was hard for me in the beginning.

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DD is almost 4 months old and we start her bedtime routine at the same time every night, regardless of when she naps. She generally sleeps from 9pm-8am, although lately she has been sleeping a tad later.

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Yes! he does the whining and eye rubbing for both naps and bedtime. Sometimes he does start falling asleep in the middle of his last bottle though.

I would even like to make his bedtime a little earlier but with the rest of his day I don't see how that is possible. He wakes at 7-7:30, naps about every hour and a half so he is usually waking from his last nap at 7. He will not go to bed at the bottle before. I have tried, he wakes up everytime

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Posted by jules

DC is 5 mos. He doesn't nap at the same times each day. It is when he wakes up, a hour and a half later he wants to nap. So if he wakes up at 7 he is napping at 8:30. If he wakes up at 5 he is napping at 6:30. So his schedule is totally random. I feel like I have no control over it at all. I would love for him to have a 8 pm bedtime but that requires a lot of effort to make sure he wakes up at a certain time and keeping on a napping schedule. It gets to be tooo much, god forbid I actually have an errand to run and then forget it.

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Posted by jules

Posted by Karen

DD is almost 4 months old and we start her bedtime routine at the same time every night, regardless of when she naps. She generally sleeps from 9pm-8am, although lately she has been sleeping a tad later.

Is your DD nap regularly throughout the day?
I guess i don't get how someone could start the bedtime routine, which we have, without fitting it into his last nap.

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They get in more of a pattern IMO after 4 months cased on what I have seen.

If A baby is waking at 4-6 am, I would try a bottle and put them BACK down right away. Try anyway and see if it works.

Keep in mind with any routine it takes time and patience. It could work great for a week and then anything could blow it, being sick, being constipated, bored, a milestone, etc.

Key is to not give up.

I likes Health sleep habits book too. It took me a few times to get through it, I thought it was kinda dry but i did and it made sense.

My son sleeps longer , till 7:30-8 am...and then within 2 hours needs his am nap and its SOOO obvious, he cranks, rubs eyes and as soon as I pick him up hes ready to go down.

I make sure to keep him busy and burning energy in the am.

Then he will nap about an hour.

Then he has brunch I call it, plays for a bit and gets tired again around 1:00 -3:30 ish ( varies based on morning nap)...He naps again for 1-2 hours and I make sure ( I will wake him up) that he is up by 4:45-5:00.

He eats dinner, he plays..then bath , and a bottle and quiet time and hes down by 7:00 pm.

Most ( "most) babies at 5 months can do with 2 naps.

If DH watches my son, he will sleep every hour and a half, b/c he will hold and rock him. If Im there and he is playing and engaged he doesnt.

Babies will nap even when they are not that tired if introduced to it, ( being rocked, held etc) and that will result in a shorter 15-30 min nap from what I have seen.

Hope some of that helps.

Definatly get Healthy sleep habits, happy child and also....I really liked " Touchpoints" by T Berry Brazelton...it explains in easy language soooo much about babies at certain ages.

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Thanks everyone


So I guess naps and the times of naps really do directly effect bedtime

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