What time does your 4-5 mo.old babe go to bed?

[Avena]

Hey Mamas,
Wondering what time other 4-5 mo.babes go to bed?

DD (almost 5 mo.) used to go to bed @ 10-10:30 then I got her to go to bed by 9! But now
Gosh, it's gotten even later! Last night 12, night before 12:30! UUGH!
We co-sleep and CIO is NOT an option. When I try to lay her down she starts to cry.....I know she's teething... HELP I NEED ADVICE!
Thank goodness for coffee right now or I'd be an ugly bear!

Any other mamas know this? :love

[dillonandmarasmom]

I guess my first question is how you get her to sleep? My DD is 5 months and I lay down and nurse her to sleep alongside my DS (2.5 yrs) whose bedtime is usually between 8-9pm depending on how tired he is. She will lay and nurse for as long as it takes for DS to fall asleep, usually 5-15 minutes. If she doesn't fall asleep by that time, I either switch sides and continue to nurse, or we get up and try again later. But, when we get up, i keep it calm and quiet, dark even, to let her know it's still night time. I actually enjoy the alone time with her, so it works well when she stays up.

Is your DD crying because she's just really awake? It might help to start a wind-down routine. A warm soak, some quiet songs, books or dancing always worked for my son. Is she taking a lot of daytime naps? Eating a lot during the day, or less during the day and more at night? How late does she sleep? If ashe sleeps in and doesn't seem tired, she may just need a slight tweek in routine to back up her bedtime. It was a bout 2 weeks ago when DS started to sleep a lot less during the day and more at night.

Good luck to you. I know what it's like to need and crave sleep! It will come eventually!
:Hug

[sarathan]

Oh my, I really feel for you, that's late! :LOL I agree it might help to start some kind of bedtime routine. This will eventually start to signal her it's time for sleep, at least that's the plan. :)

BTW, when my 2-year old was that age, he was going to bed between 8:30 and 9:00. My now 5.5 month-old goes to bed at 6:30!!! If I try to keep him up any later, he just goes ballistic! :nut

[alamama]

My 5.5 month old goes to bed 6:45-7:15 every night and usually sleeps until 6:30 the next morning, waking up a few times to nurse in the night (we cosleep). When I decided a month or two ago to try to help him go to sleep earlier, I had a bedtime routine all planned out to help him wind down -- bath, massage, books, nurse to sleep. What I found is that after a couple of days, all he needs is bath + nursing and he goes out. When he's really tired, we skip the bath. He seems to be one of the "by the books" babies that does best with the 7:00 bedtime. Generally he wakes up one or two times before I go to bed between 10 and 11 -- I go back in and lay down with him, nurse if wants. Usually he quiets back down and goes to sleep.

The teething is tough! For us it seems to affect daytime sleep more -- naps have been a bear lately. I just tried the washcloth dipped in chammomile tea (one frozen, one not) and he loved that. I know others who have had great success with the hylands teething tablets.

Good luck!

[Naiad]

DD is still sleeping quite a bit, day and night, so she sleeps in the early evening and then is up for a bit. She'll usually fall asleep again around 9 or 10pm and then sleep through until 3am or 4 if I'm lucky!

[Avena]

Thanks mamas!
WOW I can't believe some of your babes sleep at 6 0r 7 PM! NOT THE CASE HERE!
We usually do have a routine of reading some books,getting into her pj's then nursing and then going to sleep. BUT lately the last 4 days she's been up to midnight! I'm pooped! She wakes around 4 or 5 am to nurse and will go back to bed until 8 ish.
I guess I'll start a bath earlier and try that! I really think she does need more sleep. Wish us luck! We'll give it a shot!

Thanks! :love :goorg:

[MeghansDad]

DD tends to start to crash out between 7-8pm. But she does have her later nights which are ok too. But 7-8 is our normal time

[Ravenmoon]

No later then 8:30

[alegna]

My dd has always gone to sleep when we do- usually around midnight.

-Angela

[ladybugchild77]

My dd goes to sleep between 8-10pm every night (unless she's teething and then sleep becomes a figment of my imagination!!!) I tried to get her to go to sleep earlier (routine, 15 minutes earlier every night) but it just wasn't for her. She just doesn't seem to require as much sleep as other kids! She sleeps about 10 hours at night with frequent nursing (every few hours) and takes one nap in the day time (aboutr an hour if I'm lucky!) and that's it! I always say she's too smart to sleep! (ha ha...) :throb

[kate~mom]

it *really* varies. sometimes he doesn't do a late afternoon nap, and is done for at 6:30 - but then he needs a snack sometime between 11 and 3 to make it through the rest of the night. if he's not ready for bed until later - which is more typical - sometime between 7:30 and 9, he's good until 5 or 6 am. i have been blessed this time around!

[turtlemama77]

Avena, does your little one have a late nap? From birth on (pretty consistently), my dd took a nap from about 7-8pm each evening, then was awake for 2+ hours. When she was about 4.5 months old, dh and I decided to just start a bedtime routine with her and treat that "nap" as her bedtime. When she woke up, we made it a point to keep things dark and quiet like night time and after a couple of weeks, she "got it" and has gone to bed between 7-8pm ever since.

She did wake about 45 minutes after being put down for one more snuggle/nurse but is starting to outgrow that now at 9 months.

Hope that helps!

Sheri
Reese (12-22-04)

[Avena]

Yes, most (now watch I say this and she won't !) days DD naps around 6 :30 0r 7! Thanks for the tip!!! I'll try to keep things quite when she wakes up from her "evening nap" and see if that helps!

Thanks mamas!
:love :goorg:

[proudmamanow]

just to support you Avena, I was in exactly the same situation as turtlemama and now dd goes to bed by 7:30 at the latest (often 6:45). We just watch for her to be tired and down she goes-she used to be up until 9 or 10. I usually go in 4-5 times between 7 and 9 :flipped but she settles & sleeps very well the rest of the night. we also cosleep. She wakes up between 6-7.
:hug to you & good luck

[jerawo]

Usually around 8pm, though tonight he's been asleep since 6pm so I'm hoping that was bedtime. We're on the 3 naps a day schedule most days, though if he gets up late and takes 2 long naps he'll go to bed instead of a 3rd nap.

[the2amigos]

Well, DS is 8 months now and we finally figured out that the late evening "nap" wasn't really a nap, he was ready for bed at around 7pm. Now right after supper we start the night routine and he goes down easily around 7ish and sleeps until almost 7ish the next morning (nursing 3-4x during the night of course!). If we miss the 7 o'clock bedtime he's up until 10ish and is difficult to get to sleep and then is often up at 5ish...which totally doesn't make sense to me, but that's the way it is!!

[massagemom]

our son goes down to sleep by 8. i have found that if i keep him up past that point it will be 10 or 10:30 before he goes down for the night.

we have started our "wind down" routine at 6:30 lately instead of 7:00 and it has helped tremendously. we do the same things every night: a walk with daddy around the neighborhood, then a bath, then a massage/quiet time with dad, then a few pages from a book, then nursing, then a few songs. i take him to the cosleeper when he is starting to nod off and usually have to lay next to him for a few minutes and pat his back for him to nod off.

[spirit4ever]

oh wow..never thought of the evening nap being bed time!! ds 8 months has just started to sleep around 8..if i'm lucky, often between 8-10 I have to go in 4-5x's too to resettle him back to sleep (nurse back to sleep!) although its not so easy to do that when you have a 3 year old running around!

[JustVanessa]

My little guy goes down between 7:45 and 8:30 every night and will sleep until 7:00 - 9:00am. But he is up frequently to nurse at night...sometimes up to 7 times. I tried to keep him up later so he would sleep later but he would have none of it. He falls asleep nursing after bathtime