https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Mon, 13 Apr 2026 05:14:27 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-week-old-ready-for-early-bedtime#post-2823452 Fri, 18 May 2018 12:03:32 +0000 HappyBaker 2823452@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@JJ2626: Ha this is my 3rd and I was definitely NOT this lucky the last two times :-) DD was up like every 2 hours for most of her first year! I'm pretty much waiting for the other shoe to drop with this guy because I can't believe it's real life that he is sleeping like this! What would happen if you didn't wake your DD from that last nap? Clearly I am no expert since I started this thread but maybe waking her up when she isn't ready / hungry yet is making it harder to get her back down for real bedtime? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-week-old-ready-for-early-bedtime#post-2823450 Fri, 18 May 2018 11:54:18 +0000 JJ2626 2823450@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@SweetiePie: So we don’t have a bedtime routine (I was told by a sleep trainer friend that it’s not necessary yet) but we do make sure it’s dark and are quiet at Bedtime. Could start a routine I guess? That’s interesting that 1.5 hrs could be too much. It’s possible but she’s 3 months so I thought she should be stretching now but I’ll watch it. The same thing happened last night though-we woke her from her nap at 5:30, had her swaddle by 6:50 and she was falling asleep and then at 7:20 she wanted to eat again. She hadn’t finished her bottle at 5:30 so we gave her another couple ounces. She then fell asleep and slept until 2:30 which is great and then until 7. So I’m wondering if this is just what she needs in the evenings right now? It sucks bc we spend all night getting her down but then she sleeps well. Or should we try for earlier? I feel like maybe she needs those extra couple of ounces to sleep well! </p> <p>And I seriously can’t believe you guys have 6 week olds that sleep for 6 hours. You are so lucky! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-week-old-ready-for-early-bedtime#post-2823401 Fri, 18 May 2018 08:34:30 +0000 Littlebit7 2823401@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@HappyBaker: I had bookmarked it with my first and then dug it back up for my second. I find that if I stick with it, it rings pretty true to keeping my kiddos happy with sleep even during the rough bits (we just came out the other side of the 4 month regression which was very real in our house for both kids). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-week-old-ready-for-early-bedtime#post-2823400 Fri, 18 May 2018 08:32:49 +0000 HappyBaker 2823400@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Littlebit7: Oh wow that is a super helpful post, thanks for sharing! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-week-old-ready-for-early-bedtime#post-2823389 Fri, 18 May 2018 08:03:04 +0000 Littlebit7 2823389@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@HappyBaker: great to hear</p> <p>For anyone else looking at this...I follow this loosely. Same guidelines as a loose<br /> routine vs a strict schedule</p> <p><a href="https://community.babycenter.com/post/a51116617/sample_sleep_schedules_faq" rel="nofollow">https://community.babycenter.com/post/a51116617/sample_sleep_schedules_faq</a> </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-week-old-ready-for-early-bedtime#post-2823375 Fri, 18 May 2018 07:27:05 +0000 HappyBaker 2823375@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@SweetiePie: I was just going to post an update! It's going GREAT and it's so nice to have our nights back again! He is also stretching out his first stretch of sleep like crazy, hope that is also a new trend. </p> <p>Last night I fed him at 5:30/6pm and put him to bed at 7, he slept until 1:30am! Then woke up at 4:30am and was up for the day around 7:30. We've been putting him in the pack in play in our living room for his first stretch of sleep but now that it is getting so long will start putting him upstairs in the bassinet. DH is a little sad because he gets home around 6/6:30 so he doesn't get much time with him on week nights but it is so worth it to not have a screaming baby for hours after the big kids go to bed. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-week-old-ready-for-early-bedtime#post-2823372 Fri, 18 May 2018 07:19:41 +0000 SweetiePie 2823372@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@HappyBaker: how’s it going for you??? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-week-old-ready-for-early-bedtime#post-2823371 Fri, 18 May 2018 07:19:32 +0000 SweetiePie 2823371@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@JJ2626: it’s possible that 1.5 hours is too much wake time. I would toy around with it. Like if she wakes at 5:30 you might want to try to have her in bed by 6:30 and see how she does.<br /> Also, do you have a solid bedtime routine? Like literally the same things in the same order every bedtime? And are you really differentiating between daytime and night time? Like once bedtime is initiated, it’s night time. No talking, no lights, etc. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-week-old-ready-for-early-bedtime#post-2823003 Wed, 16 May 2018 21:47:38 +0000 JJ2626 2823003@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Well I tried for a 7pm bedtime tonight and failed! Woke her up from her last nap at 5:30, fed her, swaddled her at 7. Tried to get her to sleep for 40 mins at which point we decide she’s still hungry and my husband is giving her a bottle. She does this sometimes and it’s really hard to tell if she’s hungry or tired. Ugh I’m losing it today—all I wanted was some peace when my husband got home and instead I am listening to her cry and then we all have to go to bed at 8:30 so we are functional tomorrow. I’m so jealous of you moms that have evenings! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-week-old-ready-for-early-bedtime#post-2822929 Wed, 16 May 2018 18:52:33 +0000 HappyBaker 2822929@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Wow thank you for all the responses! Super pumped this might be our new normal :-)</p> <p>@SweetiePie: Thanks for all the info, super helpful and interesting! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-week-old-ready-for-early-bedtime#post-2822905 Wed, 16 May 2018 15:34:26 +0000 SweetiePie 2822905@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@MaryM: Ok if schedule can’t really be manipulated like that then I would just do what you’re already doing. Get him down as early as possible (sounds like maybe 7pm?) and I personally (this is just me) would discourage any waking for the day before 6am. So even at 5am I would treat that like a night waking. If he falls back asleep, gently wake as you’re already doing at 6am. Open his door and go about your business around 5:45 and then go in at 6am and rub him awake. Gently and happily saying good morning, open blinds, etc.<br /> But the truth is, if he’s still tired and not getting enough sleep, he may be cranky no matter how you wake him (if he’s a high sleep needs baby). If his natural instinct is 12 hours of night sleep and he’s not getting that, he might just be a little angry every morning when you wake him. But if you have to get to work there not much you can do about that, besides ensuring he does get as much as possible and trying to get him to wake naturally at 6am. If you are consistent he may become naturally programmed to wake at 6 so you don’t have to. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-week-old-ready-for-early-bedtime#post-2822902 Wed, 16 May 2018 14:56:49 +0000 MaryM 2822902@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@SweetiePie: That's not really going to be possible because of our commutes. We're usually getting home right at 6 or 6:30. We've pretty much been winding him down for bed as soon as he gets home. And that's been easy since I'm home. Once I go back to work, it might end up being a little later.</p> <p>I've been trying to gently/gradually wake him earlier and earlier. I'm not tiptoeing around as much, I'll gradually turn on lights/open blinds, etc. </p> <p>It may come down to me actually having to just get him up and wake him, but I've been doing my best to try to get him to stir on his own so he won't be as angry! </p> <p>If he wakes at 5, I'm fine getting up at 5 with him. The day he did that, he took a great morning nap at daycare. It's the just slightly earlier wake up that's harder because I can't keep him awake for two hours, but if I put him back down, he'll sleep too late. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-week-old-ready-for-early-bedtime#post-2822900 Wed, 16 May 2018 14:43:33 +0000 SweetiePie 2822900@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@MaryM: so if it were me, what I would do is start being very consistent with in bed by 6pm. This might mean starting the routine very early, like 5 so that last feed is 5:30 and in bed by 6. Reason being, sleep specialists say to think of night time as a 12 hour period. So if you want wakeup to be 6am bedtime should be 12 hours prior, 6pm.<br /> It might be hard for him for a few days or a week or so. But he will adjust to it if you are consistent. If he wakes too early, 5am for example, I would treat it like a night waking, whatever that is for you - whether that’s go in and pick up/put down, pat and whisper that it’s still night night time, CIO, etc. Then no matter what at 6am go in and make a big production (lights on, “good morning!” smiles and cheers and songs and whatever).<br /> Again, might take a little time but with consistency his schedule will shift. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-week-old-ready-for-early-bedtime#post-2822894 Wed, 16 May 2018 14:27:06 +0000 Mrs. Goose 2822894@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Sounds like your baby is ready to me and that’s great! I feel like it makes it way easier when you don’t have to work on moving their bedtime Allier. With my first we put her to bed when we went to bed and that was 11 ish and it worked great because the long stretch coincided with my sleep. I tried to do the same with our second and it didn’t work at all. He put himself on an early bedtime of 8/8:30 and slept crummy at night after the first 3-4 hour stretch. But I could not wake him up at 9 and feed him and play to keep him awake before a later bedtime like I did with my first so I had to go with his schedule. I know not all babies dictate their schedule, but if they do and it works for you and is appropriate for their age then roll with it. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-week-old-ready-for-early-bedtime#post-2822885 Wed, 16 May 2018 13:31:50 +0000 lioneyes 2822885@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We started bedtime at 6/6:30 around 6 weeks. By 14 weeks we had moved it to 5pm (I know) because he was sleeping through the night and DH had to get him and feed him at 6am. Even now at 3.5, we love our early bedtime! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-week-old-ready-for-early-bedtime#post-2822871 Wed, 16 May 2018 12:36:12 +0000 periwinklebee 2822871@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@JJ2626: I also just wanted to say that I think there is a lot of variation across babies in when and how easily they settle into a routine. My almost four month old is now in a pretty consistent routine, but as a younger baby wasn't on anything like the schedules I saw written in sleep books. He is now going to bed and waking for the mornings at the same times everyday - I think it was more a matter of him being ready for the consistent bedtime than anything I've done. And he does this now despite daycare naps being pretty variable. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-week-old-ready-for-early-bedtime#post-2822864 Wed, 16 May 2018 12:11:58 +0000 MaryM 2822864@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@SweetiePie: I think 6ish? That way I get up at 5:30 and get ready, get him up at 6 and feed/change him, then we leave and get to daycare between 6:30 and 7</p> <p>When he's gotten up at 5, I've taken his bouncy chair in my bathroom so I can get ready and keep him awake. I ended up driving circles around daycare until they opened at 6:30 because he was ready to go back to sleep (so if he did, at least he was already in the carseat! He's happy when the car is moving)</p> <p>I think the only reason he got up at 5 was because he woke up at an odd schedule that night. He usually wakes up at 11/midnight and 3/4, but that night he woke at 9 or 10 so they all got moved back a bit. </p> <p>But most days, I've been getting up at 6 or 6:30 and getting ready, then waiting for him to wake up. </p> <p>A couple times DH or I have gotten him up before he was ready (sometimes he fusses in the morning when he's pooping but not actually ready to wake up) and they've led to a MISERABLE baby who won't eat or calm down. </p> <p>Ideally, if we could stretch his sleep just bit so he woke at 2 and 6, we'd be so freaking happy. </p> <p>The first day he went to daycare, he was so exhausted from not napping well he slept 8 hours in the first stretch and woke up around 6 the next day...but having him not nap is obviously not the solution. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-week-old-ready-for-early-bedtime#post-2822863 Wed, 16 May 2018 11:59:28 +0000 SweetiePie 2822863@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@MaryM: so what time is ideal for him to wake up (for you)? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-week-old-ready-for-early-bedtime#post-2822860 Wed, 16 May 2018 11:56:15 +0000 MaryM 2822860@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@SweetiePie: How do you wake up your baby? Mine is an angry mess if we get him before he naturally wakes up. </p> <p>But I'm returning to work in two weeks, so I need to get him waking up slightly early in the mornings! I can't be waiting on him to wake up and rushing him out the door every morning like I've been doing (I'm working from home now with him in daycare, and trying to get him into a routine)</p> <p>He currently wakes up anywhere between 5 and 7:30...but 7:30 is his usual. I need to get him to daycare between 6:30 and 7 to be able to get to work on time. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-week-old-ready-for-early-bedtime#post-2822858 Wed, 16 May 2018 11:50:54 +0000 SweetiePie 2822858@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@JJ2626: i have found with both kids that it will vary by about 30 mins based on the last nap of the day. I think schedule isn’t really the Right word at this age, more like predictable routine.<br /> One thing you can do is wake them for the day at the exact same time every day. Say 7am. If they wake sooner, don’t go in till 7am or treat it like a night waking (boring, dark). If they are still sleeping, wake them.<br /> This begins to set their internal clock to wake at the same time every day, or know that if they wake sooner you won’t come in and get them.<br /> Once they are starting the day at the same time, and you know how much time they can handle awake, your day starts to fall into place. So wake at 7am and I know my guy can’t do more than like an hour in the morning. So I know he’ll always be back down around 8am, give or take a half hour (if he actually woke at 6:30, it would be back down at 7:30 which sounds insane but he’ll sleep another 2-3 hours! Sleep specialists say that the first nap of rhe day is the most important nap - it’s almost like a continuation of their night time sleep) . I then decide how long I want that nap to be. For us at this age it’s at least two hours. So again, I won’t go in and get him until that two ours has lapsed. So even if he wakes up a half hour earlier, I leave him be. Or if I do have to go in because he’s getting really worked up I treat it like a night waking - keep it boring, don’t talk don’t turn on lights don’t interact. Then when the nap is up I go in and make a big production turning on the lights and talking cheerfully and interacting. Again this begins to set their clock to know how long the nap will be and when they should expect you to come in. Rinse and repeat for the next nap and the next. The final nap of the day is what sort of sets the tone for bedtime. Bedtime in our house can be anywhere between six and seven. If the last nap of the day didn’t really happen or wasn’t very good it’ll be closer to six. If the last nap of the day was pretty good, say 45 minutes or more, that time will be a little closer to seven. All the while taking into account the max time he can spend awake before getting overtired.<br /> I also find that he can pretty easily do less awake time at the end of the day and still go down pretty easily for bedtime. For example if his last nap goes until 530 I don’t necessarily have to wait until 7 before he’ll go down easily. I could still put him down around 6:15/630 and although it’s only been 45min to an hour he’ll go down. Their bodies do start to recognize bedtime versus naptime. Remember sleep begets sleep for babies. It’s not like us, where if we took a 5pm snooze we’d be up for hours. </p> <p>Some of it is Watching the clock. But mostly it’s getting to know them and their needs and their own patterns. How much time they can spend awake, etc. and then nurturing those patterns and needs versus fighting or resisting them. I know many people whose babies are super cranky in that 5 to 7 window, but because they think that’s too early or they want to keep them awake for a spouse or whatever, they fight that earlier bedtime and instead put the baby down later. And then they are sort of an overtired mess. If you start to really pay attention and monitor the baby and don’t be afraid to try an earlier bedtime, I think you’ll see that it works out quite well. Baby sleep is very counterintuitive. Earlier bedtime usually means longer and better sleep with less wake ups. That might actually be why your baby is still waking every three hours or so overnight. Overtired and wired makes it hard for them to go down and also harder for them to stay asleep. With my own current three months old we used to do bedtime a little more between 7:30 and eight because that’s how things were working out. Once I fought that urge to keep him up (it’s natural I think) and started putting him down closer to six/6:30 That’s when his first stretch of sleep for the night magically stretched - instead of 8-11 it became 6:30/7-2/3am. Which is LIFE CHANGING!<br /> I could go on and on but I’m on my phone doing talk to text and now I have to run some errands. But please feel free to reach out to me if you have more questions! I read about baby sleep constantly and it’s kind of my obsession. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-week-old-ready-for-early-bedtime#post-2822846 Wed, 16 May 2018 11:01:00 +0000 MaryM 2822846@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@JJ2626: DS usually stays awake anywhere from and hour to two. So if he's up from a nap at four, we keep him awake until 6 to put him down for the night. If he's up at 5 or 5:30, we start putting him to bed earlier. </p> <p>We usually start putting him down around 6 or 6:30 so he's out around 6:30-7:30</p> <p>Now that he's in daycare, it's more consistent. He gets home from daycare around 6, we talk/play for a bit, then start getting him ready for bed. </p> <p>I don't know if it matters, but early on, nighttime bedtime also came with a location change. He was sleeping in his room during the day, but in our room at night. so the routine was slightly different when we put him down for the night. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-week-old-ready-for-early-bedtime#post-2822840 Wed, 16 May 2018 10:42:06 +0000 JJ2626 2822840@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Wow-how do you guys stick to a consistent bedtime for your little babies? DD is 3 months and her schedule varies every day by 2 hours! So bedtime can be anywhere from 6:30-8. We do find she gets the longest first stretch if bedtime is 7/7:30 but we usually can’t control it. Although it sounds like we should do earlier anyway so it stretches?</p> <p>Are you waking your babies from naps so they stay on schedule? I thought we weren’t supposed to expect a schedule until 5 or 6 months but would love one now if possible!</p> <p>ETA: also can’t believe how much your LOs sleep! At 5 weeks we were still every 3 hours!</p> <p>ETA again: we do schedule in th sense that she is down after 1.5 hrs awake and we don’t let her go more than 3-3.5 hrs without eating but that can mean bedtime really varies based on the previous night. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-week-old-ready-for-early-bedtime#post-2822805 Wed, 16 May 2018 08:18:33 +0000 NorthStar 2822805@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@HappyBaker: We pretty much did a 6pm bedtime right from birth for DS. He is now 15 months and I start nursing him around 6:30, so it is still a fairly early bedtime. </p> <p>Our DD is almost 6 and goes to bed at 7. We are lucky she doesn't fight it. lol. I would imagine she will want to stay up a bit later once summer is here. </p> <p>and YES to the relaxing nights! It's amazing when you don't have to deal with a fussy baby! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-week-old-ready-for-early-bedtime#post-2822804 Wed, 16 May 2018 08:16:00 +0000 MaryM 2822804@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>YES! I think it was around 6 weeks my baby started HATING the afternoon and fighting sleep. </p> <p>As soon as I started putting him to bed between 6 and 7 and putting him down for naps in a room with darkening blinds...world of difference! Such a happier baby! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-week-old-ready-for-early-bedtime#post-2822795 Wed, 16 May 2018 07:31:48 +0000 Pumuckl 2822795@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Littlebit7: At the time it was my then 21 month old and the newborn.<br /> Now they are 5, 3 and 2x1 year old. We don't let the 3 year old nap anymore (thankfully daycare is fully onboard with that) and they all go down at around 7:30pm. Earlier just isn't really feasible. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-week-old-ready-for-early-bedtime#post-2822791 Wed, 16 May 2018 06:51:41 +0000 Littlebit7 2822791@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Pumuckl: what time do your two kids go to bed? I’m still trying to sort out my timing because my older one is a crazy person and I do bedtime by myself. LO1 is 3, LO2 is 4 months. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-week-old-ready-for-early-bedtime#post-2822790 Wed, 16 May 2018 06:50:31 +0000 Littlebit7 2822790@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Yep. We started doing early bedtimes from the very beginning. If my 4 month old doesn’t take a catnap in the late afternoon bedtime can be even earlier , 545 or so. But I aim for 630 plus or minus. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-week-old-ready-for-early-bedtime#post-2822788 Wed, 16 May 2018 06:38:05 +0000 HappyBaker 2822788@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@SweetiePie: amazing! I thought it was too good to be true haha. It was the most relaxing night we’ve had in a while! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-week-old-ready-for-early-bedtime#post-2822787 Wed, 16 May 2018 06:37:48 +0000 Pumuckl 2822787@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>That was the case for my second. She startet with an early bedtime out of excatly the same reason, I had to tend to her big brother. So I started putting her to bed before I began LO1's bedtime routine. That worked great and honestly she was the least fussiest of all of my 4 and I think the early bedtime had a lot to do with it. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-week-old-ready-for-early-bedtime#post-2822786 Wed, 16 May 2018 06:36:32 +0000 SweetiePie 2822786@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My babies have all had a 7pm bedtime since day 1. Currently have a 3 month old and we’ve been doing a bedtime routine and early bedtime since the day we came home from the hospital. And those wakeups you mentioned were his wakeups at that age.<br /> I really think it’s a misconception that they don’t have an early bedtime from day 1. Not sure why or where it came from. In fact, Weissbluth (I think it was him) said that’s what the witching hour is. Babies should have a bedtime between 5-7pm and that’s why many of them have that fussy period - they are tired and want to go to bed! It’s not a mystery witching hour, it’s them asking to sleep. </p> <p>Bottom line, resounding YES from me that the 5 week old is ready for an early bedtime. </p>