https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Wed, 29 Apr 2026 17:03:32 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/help-me-get-my-baby-to-sleep-earlier#post-928694 Sat, 13 Jul 2013 10:49:20 +0000 hilsy85 928694@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@sslm: I would try waking her earlier first, rather than moving her bedtime first. Then she'll naturally be more tired earlier in the evening. That's if you want to change it versus waiting her out! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/help-me-get-my-baby-to-sleep-earlier#post-928683 Sat, 13 Jul 2013 10:39:38 +0000 birdofafeather 928683@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I agree that LO had a later bedtime at that age but she definitely would have taken a nap between 4 and bedtime! She sounds definitely overtired as I don't think she was awake more than 1-1.25 hours at that age. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/help-me-get-my-baby-to-sleep-earlier#post-928305 Fri, 12 Jul 2013 23:08:29 +0000 googly-eyes 928305@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>What others have said...wake up earlier for an earlier bedtime. We didn't get to a 7-8 bedtime til past 6 months, but we got down to 830 by 4.5 months... </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/help-me-get-my-baby-to-sleep-earlier#post-928230 Fri, 12 Jul 2013 21:36:56 +0000 SleepyMonkey 928230@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Agree with some of the previous posters that you have to shift her wake up time earlier if you want an earlier bedtime. She is getting about 11 hours of sleep at night. So if you want her to go sleep at 8pm then her day should strt around 7am. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/help-me-get-my-baby-to-sleep-earlier#post-928191 Fri, 12 Jul 2013 21:03:57 +0000 sslm 928191@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@hergreenapples: so we tried starting bedtime at 8 and here I am at 10 with her finally falling asleep. It's so frustrating, I think I might just wait it out a bit and see if she moves it earlier on her own </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/help-me-get-my-baby-to-sleep-earlier#post-928147 Fri, 12 Jul 2013 20:41:04 +0000 heartonastring 928147@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>So happy you posted this as I've been thinking about posting the same question!</p> <p>Our DD goes to bed at 9:30 and sleeps (usually) straight through until 5:30. By 9:30 though she's so overtired, so I told DH yesterday that I want to experiment over the weekend and try putting her down earlier. I've noticed her really starting to show sleepy signals around 8:20 when we're reading books and she starts rubbing her eyes. After that its pretty much non-stop fussiness until she's asleep. Will try the earlier bedtime and report back! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/help-me-get-my-baby-to-sleep-earlier#post-927985 Fri, 12 Jul 2013 19:25:10 +0000 allison 927985@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@sslm: he has sleep cues I've picked up on. I'm not sure that every baby is the same? But his eyes get red and heavy, he starts rubbing them, and he makes an "ah" sound over and over. Ha. Then he stops responding so much to our attempts to make him smile--just stares at us. Then he starts getting fussy.</p> <p>I haven't been giving him a bath every night, but actually just decided to start because it's summer and he sweats, thus he is stinkier. I managed to get him to bed tonight, after a bath, without a huge meltdown but he was heading that way because he's not used to the addition of a bath to his routine! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/help-me-get-my-baby-to-sleep-earlier#post-927971 Fri, 12 Jul 2013 19:18:06 +0000 sslm 927971@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@allison: how could you tell he was sleepy? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/help-me-get-my-baby-to-sleep-earlier#post-927958 Fri, 12 Jul 2013 19:04:41 +0000 allison 927958@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I agree with others, my LO shifted his bedtime on his own! He was going down at around 10 for the first 3 months, then has gradually moved his bedtime back. I just let him "tell" me when he's sleepy. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/help-me-get-my-baby-to-sleep-earlier#post-927906 Fri, 12 Jul 2013 18:33:18 +0000 Adira 927906@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I don't have any advice, but wanted to say that Xander used to be WIDE AWAKE from around 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. every night until one day he just started falling asleep around 7:00 p.m. instead! Now his bedtime is 7:00 p.m. and he's up for the day at 7:00 a.m. (with two feeds in between). I hope you're able to her to sleep earlier! Good luck! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/help-me-get-my-baby-to-sleep-earlier#post-927898 Fri, 12 Jul 2013 18:28:12 +0000 sslm 927898@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@oliviaoblivia: @hilsy85: hmmm ok. I should give her some time to move it herself! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/help-me-get-my-baby-to-sleep-earlier#post-927834 Fri, 12 Jul 2013 17:48:46 +0000 hilsy85 927834@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I agree with either giving her time to get there, OR @blackbird's suggestion of waking her up...make her 7 am feeding her wakeup time for the day. If she sleeps in til 9, it's not so crazy that she goes to sleep at 10. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/help-me-get-my-baby-to-sleep-earlier#post-927709 Fri, 12 Jul 2013 16:27:08 +0000 oliviaoblivia 927709@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>At 12 weeks dd was going to bed around 10/11. By five months she had pulled bedtime back to exactly 7:10. I'd just give her sometime to get there. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/help-me-get-my-baby-to-sleep-earlier#post-927621 Fri, 12 Jul 2013 15:55:15 +0000 cmomma17 927621@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@sslm: My LO is just days older than yours and I think what Weagle and BabyBoecksMom are describing is happening to me now! Because LO did used to go down much closer to 10 pm. I think he's been trying to tell me he's getting tired a lot earlier but I haven't been listening because I was so caught up on "bedtime" being a set time. This weekend I'm going to shift him earlier and see what happens!<br /> Things will get better! :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/help-me-get-my-baby-to-sleep-earlier#post-927612 Fri, 12 Jul 2013 15:51:38 +0000 sslm 927612@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@BabyBoecksMom: @Weagle: well this is very promising!! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/help-me-get-my-baby-to-sleep-earlier#post-927608 Fri, 12 Jul 2013 15:50:14 +0000 Weagle 927608@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@sslm: She did. If I recall, she shifted in 15-30 minute increments over a couple of weeks. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/help-me-get-my-baby-to-sleep-earlier#post-927607 Fri, 12 Jul 2013 15:50:13 +0000 BabyBoecksMom 927607@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Same as @Weagle. We tried and tried to get her to bed earlier, but she did it gradually on her own. We would notice that she was getting really fussy and overtired a little earlier each day and now she goes to bed at 7! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/help-me-get-my-baby-to-sleep-earlier#post-927600 Fri, 12 Jul 2013 15:48:51 +0000 sslm 927600@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Weagle: so did she just naturally shift her bedtime? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/help-me-get-my-baby-to-sleep-earlier#post-927597 Fri, 12 Jul 2013 15:48:14 +0000 Weagle 927597@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My LO went to bed at 9-10 around that age. Shortly thereafter she started getting tired earlier and earlier. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/help-me-get-my-baby-to-sleep-earlier#post-927589 Fri, 12 Jul 2013 15:47:06 +0000 sslm 927589@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@MamaMoose: we do cluster feed in the evening for sure! I agree that she's overtired. I'll try to extend the nap. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/help-me-get-my-baby-to-sleep-earlier#post-927587 Fri, 12 Jul 2013 15:46:18 +0000 blackbird 927587@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>could you start your day earlier? just shift the whole thing?....mine goes down between 8 and 9pm...*BUT* she is up at 6:30 am...(then naps every 2 hours or whatever) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/help-me-get-my-baby-to-sleep-earlier#post-927586 Fri, 12 Jul 2013 15:45:48 +0000 sslm 927586@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@cmomma17: I know, I'm super lucky on the late riser and the long nap thing!! We have tried different times and since it was not working we gave up and now start at 9. We are going to try this weekend to get it earlier so tonight we are planning to try starting at 7:30. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/help-me-get-my-baby-to-sleep-earlier#post-927558 Fri, 12 Jul 2013 15:40:01 +0000 MamaMoose 927558@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@sslm: It sounds like she might just be overtired. I would try to extend that nap at 4:30 even if it means letting her sleep on top of you or anywhere she'll sleep longer. I think she's probably fussing becaus she's so tired she doesn't know what to do with herself. Also, I would try to nurse as much as possible in the evenings. My LO always cluster fed in the evenings so that may also be part of the fussiness. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/help-me-get-my-baby-to-sleep-earlier#post-927554 Fri, 12 Jul 2013 15:38:50 +0000 cmomma17 927554@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@sslm: I think doing the bedtime routine at a set time consistently really helped us. My LO was super fussy at bedtime for a long time, but now, he's finally starting to see the routine as a sleep cue. He's a lot quicker to fall asleep when we get to the end of the routine (swaddled and nursing). It took some work and frustration for a few weeks though. Hang in there! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/help-me-get-my-baby-to-sleep-earlier#post-927550 Fri, 12 Jul 2013 15:37:09 +0000 cmomma17 927550@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>she sleeps in until 9 and takes a 2-3 hour nap?? I'm jealous!!! ;)</p> <p>My LO just turned 12 weeks yesterday. I have been doing his bedtime routine starting at 8pm-ish for several weeks now. Recently I've been noticing he's getting overtired before then so starting tonight I am going to push it back to an earlier time, probably 7:30 at first, then maybe 7 if it works for him. When do you start yours?<br /> 4 pm - 10 pm is a really long time for them to be up. If your LO is getting overtired (which mine so easily does!!) it might make it impossible to get her down.<br /> Could you remove "play" from the bedtime routine? Is she being stimulated too much possibly? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/help-me-get-my-baby-to-sleep-earlier#post-927541 Fri, 12 Jul 2013 15:34:17 +0000 sslm 927541@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@MamaMoose: it doesn't seem to matter when we start, she just fusses and fusses and then goes to sleep at 10. Usually on the dot! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/help-me-get-my-baby-to-sleep-earlier#post-927532 Fri, 12 Jul 2013 15:31:41 +0000 MamaMoose 927532@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>When are you starting the bathtime routine? Do you start it early (like 7) and she just fights you for hours before going down? Or are you not starting it until later? When my LO was that age she was still going to bed pretty late (usually around 9:30) but she still had lots of naps. At 12 weeks she definitely could not have handled being away from 4:30pm striaght through until 10pm. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/help-me-get-my-baby-to-sleep-earlier#post-927520 Fri, 12 Jul 2013 15:29:09 +0000 sslm 927520@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>M will be 12 weeks on Sunday. Here's a typical day, sleep wise:</p> <p>9:00am - up for the day<br /> 10:30 - nap in swing or stroller or car, usually 30-45 mins<br /> Sometime between 12:30 and 1:30 - nap in crib, usually 2 hours, sometimes 3<br /> 4ish - another shorter nap, usually 30 mins or so</p> <p>At this point she's typically up until she falls asleep for the night at 10. We have a wake up at 4am and sometimes one more at 7.</p> <p>I need help!!! She needs to go to bed earlier for our sake and hers. Any tips would be great!!!</p> <p>Oh, our bedtime routine is bath, pjs, play, swaddle or sleep sack, nurse, sleep. </p>