https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Fri, 05 Jun 2026 20:18:17 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/help-me-understand-the-weissbluth-early-bedtime#post-1931064 Wed, 05 Nov 2014 14:05:36 +0000 Little Misters Mom 1931064@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@BadgerMom: I would read it. He gives a lot of specific examples about schedules and how exactly sleep cycles work. I can't say it's really helped us "solve" that many problems (what we've used has worked but we're a long way from "good" sleep), but it has helped us understand what is happening and what we want to be working towards. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/help-me-understand-the-weissbluth-early-bedtime#post-1931036 Wed, 05 Nov 2014 13:47:51 +0000 BadgerMom 1931036@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Little Misters Mom: Que sobbing :crying: . (from me not the baby) I am not a morning person. But I understand what you're saying.</p> <p>Is moving the bedtime earlier supposed to work immediately? or is there a period of time I should give to see if it helps?</p> <p>I think you may have peaked my interest enough to actually read the book :happy: </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/help-me-understand-the-weissbluth-early-bedtime#post-1930982 Wed, 05 Nov 2014 13:20:14 +0000 Little Misters Mom 1930982@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@BadgerMom: Ah, ok. I think you might actually have the exact scenario Weissbluth is talking about. LO might just be regulating to an earlier wake up (say around 6:30 for the day). And because of the later bedtime he is getting tired which results in an even earlier wake up. So by putting him down a little earlier you might see him go from sleeping 8:30-5:30 to sleeping from 7:00-6:30, hence the earlier bedtime getting you more sleep (but with the days of the 8 am wake up being over). The sporadic days of sleeping later are part of what he describes in the book, basically saying it is the result of exhaustion.</p> <p>Not sure if that makes any sense the way I explained it, but that was my take away from HSHHC. That said, I have struggled with LO's sleep since week 1 and have found Weissbluth's advice to apply to us about 70% of the time. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/help-me-understand-the-weissbluth-early-bedtime#post-1930951 Wed, 05 Nov 2014 13:04:21 +0000 BadgerMom 1930951@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Little Misters Mom: LO is/was a rockstar night sleeper. He would go down after a bath and nursing at 8/8:30 with no fuss and sleep until 6/6:30. I would feed him (probably 15 mins), and he would go right back to sleep until 8.</p> <p>So I guess our "haywire" is a relative term... He still goes down at 8/8:30, now with some crying/pacifier loss because of his free hands and usually sleeps soundly until 5/5:30 (he has woken up a couple times between there the last couple of days because he rolled onto his tummy, but goes back to sleep ok after being flipped and reinserting pacifier). After 5/5:30 is where all bets are off. I've tried waiting to see if he'll go back to sleep because I know he can make it past 6, and that has been hit or miss (mostly miss). I will go in a 6 and feed him and he has trouble going back to sleep, the last two days he's been awake from 5:30-7:15ish, at which time I went in and reswaddled him and he fell back asleep until 8:30. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/help-me-understand-the-weissbluth-early-bedtime#post-1930908 Wed, 05 Nov 2014 12:43:06 +0000 Little Misters Mom 1930908@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>What is his sleep like now that it's gone haywire? I think part of Weissbluth's advice is that, in the long term, an early bedtime is going to maximize sleep. So while putting him down closer to 6:30 or 7 might initially result in an earlier wake up, once his circadian rhythms settle into that 4-6 month sleep pattern, he will end up dropping that early wake time, and giving you better sleep than if you continued on the urgent path and the earlier wake up decreased overall sleep. </p> <p>That said, so much advice hasn't proven right for our kid. So trust your instinct on whether your kid just doesn't fit that mold. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/help-me-understand-the-weissbluth-early-bedtime#post-1930902 Wed, 05 Nov 2014 12:40:26 +0000 BadgerMom 1930902@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@looch: Got it! So then the fact that we were on vacation last week and were terrible and sticking with his routine could also be compounding our issue, leading me to believe that giving it time to get back on our routine will hopefully help.</p> <p>Thanks for helping ease my mind :happy: </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/help-me-understand-the-weissbluth-early-bedtime#post-1930892 Wed, 05 Nov 2014 12:37:00 +0000 keepcalmcarrie 1930892@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I didn't read the book, but my mom suggested an earlier bedtime when J dropped from 3 naps to 2, I think around 6 months, and it worked like magic. It doesn't seems to matter when he falls asleep - he's up for the day between 7-8 whether he goes down at 6:30, 7:30, or 9. He was much happier and slept more solidly with a 7-7:30 PM bedtime though. I'd recommend early bedtime - it might not impact wake up time at all, if you're lucky. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/help-me-understand-the-weissbluth-early-bedtime#post-1930890 Wed, 05 Nov 2014 12:36:41 +0000 looch 1930890@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Weissbluth preaches that sleep begets sleep, so logical extension is that if you go down earlier, you sleep longer and better. While the early bedtime/later waketime wasn't true for my son, what was true was that good naps during the day were critical to a good overnight sleep. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/help-me-understand-the-weissbluth-early-bedtime#post-1930888 Wed, 05 Nov 2014 12:35:30 +0000 BadgerMom 1930888@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@fairy: @winniebee: Thanks! I'm glad to know it's not a once size fits all solution! I think I have one of the deviants as well :silly: . </p> <p> I guess the early bedtime does work to a point with him. When I put him to bed later than 8/8:30 he doesn't sleep any later in the morning, but when I put him to bed earlier than 8, he gets up earlier in the morning, so maybe 8pm is just our sweet spot.</p> <p>I was wondering that about dropping to 2 naps too! He usually fights his evening nap but is obviously tired. But I don't want to put him to bed too early because then he will wake up early and then the cycle will start all over... I think I just need to give him time to sort it out, not push the last nap, and hope he gets happier in the evening as his wake-times stretch :happy: </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/help-me-understand-the-weissbluth-early-bedtime#post-1930880 Wed, 05 Nov 2014 12:32:40 +0000 ShootingStar 1930880@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Early bedtime never worked for us. We've pretty much stuck with bath time at 7:30 and bed after since 6 weeks. I found that for him his max wake time was more important than the actual time we put him down. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/help-me-understand-the-weissbluth-early-bedtime#post-1930873 Wed, 05 Nov 2014 12:26:42 +0000 fairy 1930873@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I think their idea is that babies will actually sleep longer with an earlier bedtime, but that definitely isn't the case for all babies (including mine! she would sleep 10-12hrs regardless of when she goes to bed and if I tried an earlier bedtime she would just fight sleep until her usual time) I do notice that night sleep is impacted when they are trying to drop a nap - maybe your LO is trying to transition to 2 naps? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/help-me-understand-the-weissbluth-early-bedtime#post-1930867 Wed, 05 Nov 2014 12:24:14 +0000 winniebee 1930867@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I read that book and while informative it didn't work for us. After I read the book we started putting my son down at 7 but he would wake at 5. 730 would wake at 530. 630 and he would wake at 430. He would only sleep 10 hours so super early bedtime just didn't work for him (or rather for us...because who wants to wake at 5 on the weekends?). We kept him on the 7 pm bedtime for at least 4 months and he never would wake later than 5. So we then switched to 730 and eventually 8. Our next I will do an 8 pm bedtime. It's still early enough that you are in the zone and we can at least sleep til 6. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/help-me-understand-the-weissbluth-early-bedtime#post-1930850 Wed, 05 Nov 2014 12:14:41 +0000 BadgerMom 1930850@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>LO is 5 months (22 weeks). This is his usual schedule:</p> <p>6/6:30 - Wakeup, Eat, Back to sleep<br /> 8:00 - Wakeup for the day<br /> 10:00ish - Nap (45 mins - 2 hours)<br /> 2:00ish - Nap (45 mins - 2 hours)<br /> 6:00ish - Catnap (45 mins - 1 hour)<br /> 8/8:30 - Asleep in crib</p> <p>Things have gotten a little crazy this week with the time change (we were traveling so it was a 2 hour change) and LO has started to roll on to his belly during the night so we've had to stop swaddling. Needless to say, his schedule and his sleep have gone haywire.</p> <p>Right now I'm just kind of going with the flow hoping he gets back on his regular schedule, but the whole Weissbluth early bedtime thing keeps creeping into my mind. I never read HSHHC so forgive me if my questions are dumb. </p> <p>According to Weissbluth we are probably putting LO to sleep too late, but it seems like no matter when we put him to sleep he wakes up 9-11 hours later to eat and goes back to sleep for another 1-2 hours. Won't putting him to sleep at 7 cause him to wake at 4-6am and then for the day at 6 or 7? Waking up that early won't work for us because he doesn't get to daycare until 9 which would be right at nap time. I guess the reason this keep creeping into my head is because LO is fussy in the evenings because he's had a long day... But won't his new fussy time just shift earlier?</p> <p>Before this whole time change/rolling/deswaddle debacle, LO went down easily at 8/8:30 after a bath and nursing and woke up happy in the morning, quietly talking to himself. Is that enough of a sign that he's getting enough sleep or do does the fact that he's fussy in the evenings trump that and signal a need for change? Or maybe it's time to just drop everything (swaddle, pacifier, MOTN soothing) and CIO in the hopes that things get back on track. GAHHH why don't these little people come with directions?! :silly: </p>