Hellobee Boards Topic: How strict are you with your LO's sleeping schedule?

Hellobee Boards Topic: How strict are you with your LO's sleeping schedule? https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Sun, 10 May 2026 16:18:23 +0000 Andrea on "How strict are you with your LO's sleeping schedule?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-strict-at-you-with-your-los-sleeping-schedule#post-72794 Sat, 11 Feb 2012 07:06:02 +0000 Andrea 72794@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Yup, we are very strict and are always home. Life is very different but I think having her on a set schedule is priceless. But it is not for everyone to be that disciplined. It depends if you want to deal with variable sleep times or always know when your child will sleep. banana on "How strict are you with your LO's sleeping schedule?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-strict-at-you-with-your-los-sleeping-schedule#post-72697 Fri, 10 Feb 2012 20:15:09 +0000 banana 72697@https://boards.hellobee.com/ We're REALLY strict with the sleep schedule. We organize all of our activities around it actually. Yup, it means we don't do late night dinners with friends (bathtime is always at 7:30 and bedtime is 8-8:15pm) and we don't hang out somewhere all day that interrupts his nap (1pm-3pm). We do our morning errands, then come home for his nap, then we'll go out and hang out with friends or whatever from 3pm until his bathtime. A lot of our friends always comment on how strict we are and that we need a life (we probably do!). BUT the beauty of this is that LO goes down to sleep like a champ! At 1:00pm he points to his bed, grabs his blanket and falls asleep within 15-20 minutes quietly without any fussing. And wakes up smiling and happy. And at bedtime, absolutely no fussing. He grabs his blanket, points to his bed, makes us turn off the light and he just falls asleep quietly. And again, wakes up smiling and happy. This allows my DH and I to have our own quality time at night to watch TV and chit chat or whatever. And we also get that nice 2 hour break during the day while he's napping. So for us, it's a tradeoff that we're willing to take. Now I don't know if this has anything at all to do with this strict schedule or whether it's his temperament or whether it's because co-slept with him (we don't co-sleep during naps obviously). But it works for us and we're definitely not gonna do anything to even closely mess this up! LOL. Like @artbee said, every baby is different so whatever works for you will be fine! heffalump on "How strict are you with your LO's sleeping schedule?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-strict-at-you-with-your-los-sleeping-schedule#post-72692 Fri, 10 Feb 2012 20:01:52 +0000 heffalump 72692@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Well, lo usually starts bed time routine at 7 but we went for a late dinner tonight and we're getting home at 8. She will fall asleep in the stroller and we just take her out and do her bedtime routine later, she's fine with it. Usually we try to do an early dinner but if we can't it's fine. Every baby is different though. Rubies on "How strict are you with your LO's sleeping schedule?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-strict-at-you-with-your-los-sleeping-schedule#post-72626 Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:42:20 +0000 Rubies 72626@https://boards.hellobee.com/ I'm pretty strict. We sleep-trained at 3.5 months (earlier than most people) out of desperation and we also nap-trained,too. Because of this, though, our lives revolve around LO's sleep. More with her bedtime - we can get away with having her nap in her carseat/stroller but her bedtime? SUPER strict. Lozza on "How strict are you with your LO's sleeping schedule?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-strict-at-you-with-your-los-sleeping-schedule#post-72623 Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:36:55 +0000 Lozza 72623@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Sorry I just wrote a novel. I'm at work and procrastinating :) Lozza on "How strict are you with your LO's sleeping schedule?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-strict-at-you-with-your-los-sleeping-schedule#post-72622 Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:36:30 +0000 Lozza 72622@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Here's our experience: From birth to about 4 months (maybe longer, I can't remember. 'Tis all a blur), we could take DS anywhere. We had less inclination to go out since we were exhausted, and there are some places we wouldn't take him for various reasons (movies, fancy bars, etc.), but he mainly slept, and when he was awake, he was pretty happy to either hang out in the carrier or the carseat and watch the world around him. So we could go out to dinner at whatever time we wanted, linger however long we wanted, go on long car trips, make plans with no regard for naptime. Whatever. And we did some of that- we definitely went out to eat a lot, and that was easy (this was greatly facilitated by the fact that DS was generally a very easy-going baby). But our routines definitely did change- for one, we were too tired to do stuff too often or for too long (we still see friends a lot- like 3x/week... but we know that if Saturday is going to be busy, Sunday needs to be laid-back and preferably plan-free. that kinda thing). And I didn't love BF-ing in public, so if we were out and about for a few hours, I started getting antsy about getting home so I could pump. And both DH and I work far from home (in opposite directions, sadly) and often participated (jointly or separately) in post-work socializing near the office, which couldn't happen nearly as much if we had to go home and pick up a kid first. So our routines changed significantly, but for several months, we didn't think twice about DS's schedule- he was kinda like plant that we had to cart around and water. Once he got older and wanted more interaction and stimulation, it got a lot harder to engage in non-kid-friendly activities. Now he's 10 months, and we need to go to kid-friendly restaurants and limit the amount of time there (we used to be able to take him anywhere), and now he gets fussy when he's up past his bedtime because we're out (used to be that he could fall asleep anywhere). I think we still have it easy with DS compared to a lot of kids, and I think we're a lot more casual about bedtime than lots of folks we know, but our "being casual" about it means that even though bedtime is 7:30 PM, if he's doing fine at a friend's house, we're cool hanging out till, say, 8:30 PM (which gets him bed a little after nine). But I wouldn't do that more than once or twice a week, and I wouldn't hang out later than that. (If desired, we'll split up and have one person take baby home while the other hangs out). We don't have set naptimes (which would cause meltdowns in some kids, but seems to work fine for us). On weekends, we put DS down when he seems tired, whether that's at 10 AM or noon. And we don't really schedule plans around naps since DS is still pretty good at napping in the Ergo or the carseat (although I won't wake him up from a nap to go somewhere, so we're often late to stuff). Honestly, I think sleep policies and whether or not you'll be able to maintain your current routine will depend on two things: how flexible your kid is (which you can't know in advance), and how baby-friendly your routine/lifestyle is. If you have a colicky baby who fusses a lot, you may not be able to go to restaurants because you'll spend the whole time trying to soothe the baby, just without all the resources you'd have at home, and that's no fun. And if your baby doesn't sleep more than 90 minutes at a time, you may not be motivated to do stuff outside the house for a while. And if your current routine involves a lot of happy hours straight after work, well, someone has to go pick the baby up. On the other hand, if you have an easygoing kid who lets you get some rest, you may totally be able to go out as much as you want, more or less wherever you want, for the first few months, and then have to rein it in a little as your kid gets older and less content sitting around, but you can still have a great and active social life. enjollah on "How strict are you with your LO's sleeping schedule?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-strict-at-you-with-your-los-sleeping-schedule#post-72596 Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:50:26 +0000 enjollah 72596@https://boards.hellobee.com/ For those who are parents, how strict are you with your LO's sleeping schedule? DH and I will be new to parenting and we've talked about how hopefully when LO arrives, our lives won't change TOO much from our normal routines (ie: going to to eat on a week night, or hanging out with friends on the weekends, etc). At the same time, to try to prepare myself for baby's arrival, I've been reading a lot (on hellobee, internet, books, etc.) on good sleep and sleep schedules. But there's always a question I've had lingering in the back of my mind....do you not go out anymore during weeknights or weekend nights in order to keep your LO's sleeping schedule the same/consistent? Or does LO kinda work around your schedule? (I hope this post doesn't come out too selfish but I just wanted to see how ya'll do it) :)