Bedtime for a STTNer

[HonkyTonka]

My DD started STTN at 2 weeks and has gradually increased the amount she'll stay asleep. She now sleeps from 11pm until 8am, with a few 6am-nurse-sleep-till-8am and the odd 9am wakeup. 11pm has always been DDs self appointed 'bedtime', she just naturally wants to sleep then.

I've read that at this age, babies should sleep 10-11 hours at night, then another 5 hours in naps during the day.

I'd love to have a real bedtime for DD, say 7 or 8pm, so that DH and I can have some time together at night. DD is pretty cranky at this time of day anyways and probably wants to sleep, but can't get soundly asleep until 11pm.

So. Question:

Since DD is already sleeping her 9 hours (and often 10) at night, dare I try instituting an earlier bedtime or should I not mess with the situation (awesome as it is)?

Anyone else give a great night sleeper a bedtime? Can you please tell me about it?

Many thanks

[alegna]

My dd STTN from early on but had a late bedtime and didn't really nap. Nothing I did really changed it. You can try... but it may not work.

-Angela

[Knitting Mama]

I'm thinking that the longer night sleep is going to come later. Cecilia's a STTNer too, and generally sleeps from 9p-5-6a, with a nursy session in there around 2-3a. We cosleep and neither she nor I really wake up for the nursing. I'm pretty happy with our amount of sleep!

[redvlagrl]

DD's bedtime has been 7pm since she was 6 weeks old (she's almost 2). At about 2 mths she began doing 2 wakes during the night, midnight then 4am. She wakes for the day at 7am. She began truely STTN at 8 mths - 12 hrs straight and still does.

DS also goes to bed at 7pm and wakes at 7am. He is 3 mths. He wakes once during the night normally (though the last few nights he's woken twice and a few times he has gone 12 hrs straight).

DD still naps about 3 hours during the day. DS still cat naps through the day.

[P.J.]

DS has STTN since day one!!!! We are so lucky with that! At first we brought him to bed with us around 11pm, and he'd sleep through (with one night nursing, barely conscious as we co-sleep) until around 7 or 8am. But then I realized, wait a minute, why can't we put him to bed earlier so we get some time off at night? So we moved his bedtime to 10pm, and sometimes it's earlier, like 9:30 or 9. But so far never earlier than that although I wouldn't mind. I did notice, however, that the earlier he goes to bed, the earlier he gets up....sometimes as early as 5am!!!! They say "sleep begets sleep" and that shouldn't happen, but it does.

Our trade-off is that DS is not much of a napper. He may have 1 or occasionally 2 hours in the morning, and a couple more shorter naps, but there are many days when he does not sleep during the day or only gets in a couple 20 min naps. He has never slept 5 hours during the day except right after he was born. I can't really complain though because we are not overtired and we get to sleep a good solid chunk at night, so I'm just going to leave well enough alone in this case. Eventually getting him to bed earlier might be a good idea, but for now this works for us.

[1blueheron]

DD did 10pm-6 am until about 3.5 months, then shifted in fits and starts to 7/8 pm to 6 am. I didn't do anything to cause it, just encouraged it & shifted bedtime routine earlier to accommodate. good luck

[Lauren31]

DD goes to bed around 8:30pm and wakes around 7 or 8:30 am... depends on if I catch the sun before she wakes up. I have to block out the sun and since we have no AC I can't keep the blinds down all night long!

[tzs]

10 or 11 was our normal bedtime as a newborn and the 8 or 9:00 bedtime came around 3 or 4 months. we've been there ever since although i could easily do 7:00 but the thought of getting up even earlier is not appealing to me. she sleeps 11-12 hours at night and probably 3 at naps.

i honestly liked the later bedtime because it allowed me to sleep in later. but as far as the earlier bedtime we didn't have to "do" anything. at a certain point she just couldn't stay up later than 8 or 9.

it's weird but every schedule the sleep books recommend, she just did on her own. strange, those babies. they must know what they need.

[tzs]

oh...and the two really good naps didn't really happen for us until maybe 5 or 6 months? i think before that there were three or more and usually no more than 45 minutes.

[snoopy5386]

With us, I've found the earlier bedtime kicks in around 3 months of age.

[jennybear]

In my experience, sleep changed a ton around 3 months. That's when DD wanted to go to bed at 7-ish and started getting up earlier.

Of course, it also changed in that the 4 month wakeful was a nightmare and the teething began. I wish someone had told me that sleep doesn't necessarily get better as the babe gets older!

[Quinalla]

My baby doesn't STTN, but she didn't start doing an earlier bedtime sometime during her 3rd month. Before that, yeah she wouldn't go to be until 10 or 11, but then she started getting really tired earlier so I just started putting her to bed earlier by her signs and now she goes to bed around 7.

[BathrobeGoddess]

Moved to nightime parenting...

[busymama77]

DS starts getting cranky, ready for bed, around 7pm. He's usually asleep by 7:30pm and he's 5months old. He wakes 4 to 5 hours later - eats - goes back to sleep and then wakes again in another 4 to 5 hours - eats again and sleeps for 2. So, all in all, it's roughly 7pm to 6:30am. He's clinically STTN several times and has done the 8pm to 6am before, too, but he's just been back and forth since we brought him home. His naps even vary, too. Some days, he'll do 2 hour naps and a one hour nap. Other days, he'll a few 45 min naps and a 2 hour nap. It's crazy.