putting baby to bed for the night...

I am curious to see how many of you put your baby to bed for the night - meaning - you put them down at a certain time, in their crib, in their own room - until morning. Of course if they cry or something is going on you go in. I put my DS to bed normally around 8pm and he is usually up for the day between 6-7am. I do feel bad that I don't see him much when i get home from work and then only a short time in the morning before work. But the way my kid is, his eyes are closing at 730pm and he likes to be in his bed, in his room...there's no way I could ever hold him and then put him down later on...he is a creature of routine and habit. Sometimes I think..he is so little (5 months) and he is in there all night by himself - I mean I do go check on him once or 2x before I go to bed, and I have the video monitor in my room....but sometimes it just feels weird!

Re: putting baby to bed for the night...

Jen - You know Samantha is the same way. She's SO into routine and schedules, that even though she normally naps 2:30-5:00 (sometimes 5:30), if we don't start bedtime routine by 7:00 pm, she becomes a beast. I always know what time it is by how she is acting.

but then again, I have a kid that gets SO happy and excited when she sees her crib!

Re: putting baby to bed for the night...

I do. Never with Alex because she always needed to be held, and was always crying, and trust me, that's no fun either, particularly when you're working.

But Yael is a creature of habit, and she prefers to sleep in her crib over anything else, including me! She DEMANDS to be put down for the night by 8/8:30pm. She'll whine and kvetch until I do so, and the second I put her down with her lovey, she snuggles it up against her cheek, sighs a big sigh of relief, and goes right to sleep without a peep, and stays that way until about 7am.

She used to wake up once, around 3am, I think out of habit, because I would nurse her and she'd fall back asleep within a minute or two, and I'd put her back in her crib. But now that I'm going back to work soon, I decided to wean her of that, and now she's sleeping straight through to 6am or 7am.

And you know what? I don't feel bad at all - obviously she likes to sleep, and needs that sleep to be happy and productive throughout the day. I'd rather be apart from her to ensure a good night's rest so she's a happy and alert baby when she is with me...

Re: putting baby to bed for the night...

we get home at 6:15ish....I get miki's dinner ready and play with the kids until 7:30ish, by this time, KJ is usually crying out of sleepiness so I feed him and put them to bed ...I wish he would stay up a bit later so we have more time to spend but I know that he needs his sleep

Re: putting baby to bed for the night...

Re: putting baby to bed for the night...

Yup, we did that with DD as soon as she started falling into her own routine at around 10 weeks or so, and then especially once I went back to work when she was 12 weeks old. She'd nurse and then be put right into bed, usually by 7:30pm or so. We kept her on a very strict routine with bedtime b/c we needed to, she's a child that needs structure like that, esp. as a baby.

I hated how early she was in bed, but she NEEDED it!

Re: putting baby to bed for the night...

Posted by CaseyGirl

I am curious to see how many of you put your baby to bed for the night - meaning - you put them down at a certain time, in their crib, in their own room - until morning. Of course if they cry or something is going on you go in. I put my DS to bed normally around 8pm and he is usually up for the day between 6-7am. I do feel bad that I don't see him much when i get home from work and then only a short time in the morning before work. But the way my kid is, his eyes are closing at 730pm and he likes to be in his bed, in his room...there's no way I could ever hold him and then put him down later on...he is a creature of routine and habit. Sometimes I think..he is so little (5 months) and he is in there all night by himself - I mean I do go check on him once or 2x before I go to bed, and I have the video monitor in my room....but sometimes it just feels weird!

Re: putting baby to bed for the night...

Jackie is usually in bed around 7:30, and sleeps until 6 a.m. -ish. She needs it, and I don't feel bad at all about it.

Re: putting baby to bed for the night...

Its not weird at all

Both my babies slept at that age from 7 pm - 7 am

they need their sleep

Re: putting baby to bed for the night...

Once we moved Chloe to her crib at 3 1/2 months we noticed that she would get tired around 630-7. We head up to her room, get her changed, sometimes a story, nurse and she is rolling over trying to get off of me - she wants her crib. This wasn't always the case, I used to have to rock her to sleep. Around 8 months old she got restless and I put her down in her crib, she rolled over and went to bed on her own. It's been like that since (knock on wood).

Re: putting baby to bed for the night...

Both my kids are schedule babies and I love it. Jack is in bed by 7pm unless we are out and he thrives on this routine. The only time he wakes up now is if he is sick or teething.
Grace has gone to bed at 8-8:30 for as long as I can remember. She just moved into a twin bed and still loves going to bed. I was the same way as a kid according to my mom.

I would be happy that your son does so well at night. It makes for a happier child!

Re: putting baby to bed for the night...

DS goes down by 7. We are home by 6:15. He is usually asleep by the time I make it home. If he isn't he is the biggest crank pot. I wanted to try to extend his bedtime to 8pm, but right now he's so tired, he won't even stay up while I feed him.