do you go to bed at the same time as your LO?

[mommy92109]

I am wondering if you put your LO to bed then go to bed yourself later, or if you go to sleep when your LO does?

My ds is 7 months and I have always just gone to sleep when he does for three main reasons: 1) I need to in order to get enough rest myself through all of the night nursing 2) because he is up until about 9:00 most nights because both my dh and I work so we want time with our LO in the evenings and 3) it was the only way I have ever been able to get him to go to sleep at night

However, I am finding that I am lacking any time to myself (and alone time with dh!) between working all day and going to bed with my ds. So, I am just wondering how all of you work your bedtime "schedules".

[HappilyEvrAfter]

I go to bed when mine goes....and he's 5.

I've always required alot of sleep though so going to be at 830pm during the week isn't early for me....though I do get up about 1 to 1.5 hours before he does.

[foodymama]

My DD is 23mo. and DH and I go to bed when she goes to bed. After almost two years I am definitly missing alone time with DH but DD doesn't sleep very long by herself. If I am not next her I can't get her to sleep more than 45 min. on her own.

[Honey693]

DD is 18 months and I'm 16 weeks pregnant so I typically at least lay down and read in bed when she goes to sleep. Sometimes I get up and stay up for another 2-3 hours, especially if it's a weekend and I know I can nap the next day.

[cytogal]

Both my husband and I lie down next to DS to help him go to sleep, and then we get up. DS wakes about every hour or so until I'm in bed with him, though, so I usually have to go help him back to sleep once or twice before DH and I go to bed. DH and I absolutely need a little time alone every day, and this is the only way we've found that works with any consistency.

[akind1]

I did go to bed when he did at first - but he was going around 10 or 11. now at 5 months old he is going around 9, so he sleeps in the co sleeper until he wakes to eat. this is at the earliest, 4 a.m. then he comes in bed to eat and go back to sleep. I am loving the "me" and "me and DH" time, but think I need some books to read!

[heatheresc]

Originally Posted by akind1

I did go to bed when he did at first - but he was going around 10 or 11. now at 5 months old he is going around 9, so he sleeps in the co sleeper until he wakes to eat. this is at the earliest, 4 a.m. then he comes in bed to eat and go back to sleep. I am loving the "me" and "me and DH" time, but think I need some books to read!

I would love to have that problem! My LO is only 10 weeks, but I'd really like to have a couple hours of adult time in the evening before joining him in bed. Was there any particular thing that seemed to help your son get to that point?

[beckyand3littlemonsters]

I tend to put cadet in his cot when i put his brother and sisters up to bed and then he comes in with me when he wakes for his first feed, whatever time that may be, but it's usually as soon as i fall asleep.

[zamia7]

I was, but now I stay up for just a half hour or 45 minutes so I can spend time on here or with my husband. it helps and i we moved his bedtime up to 730, so its still light out. I cant go to sleep when its still light out, even though we have black out curtains, i still know.

[One_Girl]

Until my dd stopped napping at three and a half I almost always slept when she did as long as I was with her. I would often wake up before she did though because she needed a lot more sleep than I did and I found that I got the sleep I needed that way and the time to myself that I wanted. Sometimes I would stay up to watch a movie after she was asleep or to do something else by myself, but for the most part I wanted my sleep first. She started daycare when she was 21 months, but I still slept when she did at night and on weekends.

[pianojazzgirl]

No, I go to bed later than my kids. For the first few months after ds was born I needed to go to sleep at the same time as him so that I'd get enough sleep. Since then if I've needed more sleep I've preferred to take a nap as opposed to going to bed early. I guess cause when ds was born dd had already given up her nap so evening has been the only possible kid-free time for a while now.

[wombato]

I'm with my babe during the day, so I don't try to keep him up at night Now he's 11 months.

For many months postpartum, I crashed with him. It was rare that I stayed up later. This was with him going to sleep around 8 pm. Then I read a certain e-book, realized I had a low metabolism due to postpartum underfeeding (which also explained my constipation). I only started taking my basal temperature and treating the problem (by stuffing myself with good food, sans sugar, polyunsaturated oils, and alcohol for the most part; I've been away from caffeine for years) recently, but it has already meant higher basal temps, less sleep needed, and great poops! So now I'm going to bed around 10:00-10:30 instead of 8-8:30, getting up with my son around 6:30-7 am, with numerous night wakings for nursing (we co-sleep so it's hardly an awakening most of the time, unless he's screaming or needs a diaper change). Every now and then I nap a little with him.

I nurse my little one to sleep in the dark, so it's pretty amazing that I'm still awake after that.

But I often end up using this time to catch up on necessary stuff, including cleaning. We mess up the kitchen a lot during the day, eating 3 hot meals here.

[marinak1977]

I currently go to bed at the same time as the LO (9:30 - 10ish) for the same reasons as the OP. But I do get up a bit earlier than DS and DH and have some productive time to myself. I would like to get him to start the night off by himself though, and get some time with DH eventually but for now, we're both working a lot so I bring the laptop to bed and get something productive done.

[akind1]

Originally Posted by heatheresc

I would love to have that problem! My LO is only 10 weeks, but I'd really like to have a couple hours of adult time in the evening before joining him in bed. Was there any particular thing that seemed to help your son get to that point?

Well, it helped that he has always been a good sleeper - he was going 3-4 hours between feedings from around week 2 or 3 I think. by 1 month he did 2-3 four hour sleeps at night, waking to eat. Even though we co-slept, I nursed in a chair - in the dim - because we hadn't got the hang of side-lying yet. I think by 10 weeks he was doing a 5 hour stretch and it has just got longer as he aged. I think it probably helped that at first I always put him in the co-sleeper after he had nursed himself into what DH affectionately calls "milk-coma" so he is accustomed to going to sleep like that. Once in a while (like last night) I nursed him, laid him down (he was out like a light), but he woke up to eat one more time about an hour later. we were still awake so I nursed him again, and he went back in the co-sleeper and stayed asleep until 5:30 this morning. Then we nursed in bed and I dozed - he slept - until i had to get up and go to work

I haven't ever required a lot of sleep - really about 6-7 hours - and since he has always slept really well, with very few exceptions - once he started going to sleep earlier, there was no need for me to sleep earlier - I still got what sleep I really needed. DH OTOH needs way more sleep. (I think he'd sleep 12 hours out of every day if he could)

[mommy92109]

Originally Posted by foodymama

My DD is 23mo. and DH and I go to bed when she goes to bed. After almost two years I am definitly missing alone time with DH but DD doesn't sleep very long by herself. If I am not next her I can't get her to sleep more than 45 min. on her own.

My LO is only 7 months, but he also does not sleep very long unless I am next to him, ready for nursing! My little guy also doesn't sleep much longer than half an hour at a time during the day, so finding "me" or "me and DH" time is very, very difficult. How have you and your DH managed for 23 months?

[Katie T]

I put my kids to bed and then stay up a couple hours and get my chores done and get some uninterrupted computer time. I do feel the need to go to sleep with them because I am really tired. If I am that tired I will go to bed with them, but I really need the time to myself.

I don't work out of the home during the week, so I can (sometimes) take a nap with the kids if they both happen to nap. I would probably but baby to bed at 8 or 9 and go to bed myself at 10. That is what I used to do when I worked full time.

[To-Fu]

I mix it up. I try to make sure that a few nights a week I spend time with my partner, but if I'm tired? I fall asleep with my 27mo for sure.

[belltree]

My boy is 6 months and no. I go to bed around 9pm (or now), and wake up with him around 5.30-7am. He goes to bed between 4.30-8pm.

[dachshund mom]

We all usually go to bed around 9-10, same reasons as OP, and I sleep in with DD till 8-9am. I stay up and read in bed half the time depending on how tired I am and how good the book is. For alone time with DH, some nights she crashes earlier and we take advantage of it, and we stay up late Thur-Sat nights (DH is off Fridays). DH sleeps in the next day, but I'm well rested from the week and can get up with DD no problem. I feel that I get enough time to myself when DD plays by herself or when DH plays with her, like right now.

[LuluMama8]

DD goes to bed around 7:30 and I usually stay up until 9:30 or so to get some time either alone or with DH. I've tried going to sleep earlier but I just can't fall asleep and even if I do I really miss my time for relaxation and hanging out with DH. My DD still wakes up 1-2 times before I go to bed and requires snuggling for awhile, but it still feels worth it.