https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Sun, 26 Jul 2026 18:58:07 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-am-i-doing-wrong#post-657545 Thu, 21 Mar 2013 12:00:59 +0000 yoursilverlining 657545@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My LO was a little night owl like yours at that age, and we gradually moved up her bedtime, watching for sleepy cues. She started with a bedtime around 10pm, then we moved it to 9:30, then 9:30, then she did a big jump to being ok with between 7:30-8pm; which is now her bedtime. It was a pretty smooth process (with some bumps in the road, of course!). </p> <p>LO also needs to have her paci to really calm herself into a deep sleep. When she was too little to put in her paci by herself, she would cry when she lost it/woke up; and I would go in and replace the paci and softly stroke her head/hair, but not pick her up or say anything or turn the light on. I just tried to keep the room as calm and quiet and neutral as possible when I went in to assist her.</p> <p>Things maybe to try: not swaddling her since she is finding her thumb to self soothe with, or swaddling her arms-out so she can suck her thumb; try the Soothie pacifier (it's the only one my LO will take, she refuses all others because she's bossy). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-am-i-doing-wrong#post-657533 Thu, 21 Mar 2013 11:56:22 +0000 buffalove 657533@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I also didnt read through all the comments, but DS had a very similar schedule at that age. He took an evening nap around 8/8:30 then went down for the night around 10. He would sleep a solid 8 hours at night, so I was happy with that! As he got older, he was able to stay awake for more than 1.5-2hrs at a time, and by 5 months he would sleep for 9-10 hrs at night, so I was able to move his bedtime up to 8pm. As it stands at 8 months, DS goes to bed at 8pm (routine starts at 7:15/7:30) and he sleeps for 10-11 hours. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-am-i-doing-wrong#post-657503 Thu, 21 Mar 2013 11:45:52 +0000 mrs. wagon 657503@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@PrincessBaby: I have almost nothing constructive to add other than that we went through the exact same thing at the exact same age with LMW! We started her bedtime routine at 5:30ish and we'd be going in and putting her back to sleep every 30 mins EXACTLY until like 10pm. It was BRUTAL. Luckily there were three of us (me, Wagon Sr. and my mom) so we just took turns so none of us went totally bezerk. With just brute force we just did it for WEEKS. Eventually she had less and less wakeups (down for good by 9, down for good by 8:30, down for good by 8...) until she'd just have one at exactly 30 or 45 mins... then one day she just stopped doing it. She's 8 months now and every night is pretty much EXACTLY the same-- bedtime routine around 6, she falls asleep drinking her bottle and soothes herself to sleep in her crib with her lovey, wakes crying around 9pm, finds her lovey and falls back asleep. Sleeps all night long. </p> <p>There is light at the end of the tunnel!! I scanned some of the suggestions on this thread and they all sound great. We were too tired and exhausted to even try any strategies... we just dealt with it since there were 3 of us to switch off. Good luck!! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-am-i-doing-wrong#post-657217 Thu, 21 Mar 2013 10:34:41 +0000 littlebittyhouse 657217@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@PrincessBaby: I didn't read through all the posts but here are my thoughts:</p> <p>You probably have a sleep association happening. Right around this age is when they start to realize how they fall asleep. When you're LO falls asleep nursing, then wakes up in the cib, the only way to get back to sleep is to nurse again. vicious cycle!</p> <p>Bedtime is hard to pinpoint. period. Naps don't reallllly establish themselves until about 5 months so before then it is about the bedtime routine and 'bookends' to the day. Bookends meaning that LO should be going to bed and waking up within the same 30 minutes each day even if this means that you have to wake them in the morning. </p> <p>The last awake stretch before bedtime should be the longest. At this point probably about 2.5 - 3 awake hours before bed. Anything less than that and the sleep pressure just isn't high enough to get that nice long first stretch of probably 5ish hours. Around the two hour mark you'll prob have a fussy baby so that is when I start bath, massage, book etc to have some relaxing quiet time at night.</p> <p>Some really good info in these (free!) 20 min sleep webinars:</p> <p><a href="http://www.isisparenting.com/page/webinarssleep" rel="nofollow">http://www.isisparenting.com/page/webinarssleep</a></p> <p>Watch science of sleep, sleep &amp; nap patterns birth - 5 mo, Bedtime routines 6 weeks to 18mo and then Trading Down Associations.</p> <p>FWIW: I have a hard time with the nursing close to bedtime because LO fall asleep! Now I nurse last and then rouse him a little to 'brush' his teeth with a gauze pad and then put him in his crib awake but drowsy. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-am-i-doing-wrong#post-657145 Thu, 21 Mar 2013 10:17:32 +0000 lemondrop 657145@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Ours has always been a night owl. We did start his day earlier to get him to go to bed earlier, but I hate waking a sleeping baby no matter what time of day. Gradually by a year he has regulated to up at 7am and bed between 8-9pm. We've just done a lot of trial and error. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-am-i-doing-wrong#post-656868 Thu, 21 Mar 2013 08:55:35 +0000 NovBaby1112 656868@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>hmmm I would definitely start her day earlier, like 6:30/7am (looks like you plan on doing so already) so that she will be ready for bed around 8pm. the key is consistency- keep doing her bedtime routine starting at 8pm every night and eventually, she will get used to it, even if she fights you for a little. it takes babies about 3 days to a week to get used to a new schedule/routine. if she wakes up past 8, treat it the same way you would a night waking (no talking, lights off, etc). </p> <p>our LO used to have a 10pm bedtime, which became 9pm, then 8pm, now she is down by 7pm, but it took a few weeks to get there. however, she wakes up early now (630 am gah!)</p> <p>one other reason why she might be fighting you to go down at night- how does she nap during the day? how many naps and how long? if she is sleeping for too long- it could be taking away from her night time sleep. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-am-i-doing-wrong#post-656851 Thu, 21 Mar 2013 08:50:26 +0000 MaisyMay 656851@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@PrincessBaby: Have you tried soothies instead of pacis? I know A really prefers the soothies, and they are more nipple-shaped. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-am-i-doing-wrong#post-656595 Thu, 21 Mar 2013 06:00:33 +0000 BabyBoecksMom 656595@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@PrincessBaby: that is pretty late for the majority, but it's not unheard of. DD would go down about 9 or 10 at that age. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-am-i-doing-wrong#post-656591 Thu, 21 Mar 2013 05:49:15 +0000 threeplusme 656591@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Sounds pretty normal to me. My daughter is 5 months and she just started to go to bed between 8/9pm previous to that it was closer to 10 or even 11. She is just starting to settle into a nap pattern. I have twin boys who are almost 3 yrs old and I remember with them that a real nap/sleep pattern didn't emerge until 4 months and fortunately they didn't go through a sleep regression but my daughter did. We hit 4 months where we had a least one block of maybe 6 hours at night and went back to every 2 hours for a good solid week. We are back to a 6 hour block followed by 3 hours. Mrs; Confetti just did a blog post about naps that you should check out. It reminded me of the 2-3-4 method that worked well for my boys and I am going to start with my daughter. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-am-i-doing-wrong#post-656582 Thu, 21 Mar 2013 05:22:28 +0000 Penny Lane 656582@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Disclaimer: I didn't read any of the previous posts.</p> <p>Maybe H is just a late sleeper. Not all babies sleep early. My dude was going to sleep around that time until he was like 4 months old. Even now at 7 months he goes to bed at around 9pm. I've tried to make his bedtime earlier and ended up with 3 nights worth of screaming baby from 7pm til 9pm while I struggled to get him to sleep.</p> <p>I'm sure she will start sleeping earlier when she's ready! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-am-i-doing-wrong#post-656543 Thu, 21 Mar 2013 01:49:30 +0000 Sweet T 656543@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@PrincessBaby: Hmm...have you tried different types of pacis? My LO was super picky and would only take one kind.</p> <p>I hope H gets on a better schedule soon!! I know it's tough! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-am-i-doing-wrong#post-656537 Thu, 21 Mar 2013 01:32:57 +0000 googly-eyes 656537@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@PrincessBaby: I just started waking LO up from that late nap within x (age appropriate amt of time) from bedtime and little by little we have finally reached 8p at 6m, who knows if well go up more.. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-am-i-doing-wrong#post-656369 Wed, 20 Mar 2013 22:00:28 +0000 PrincessBaby 656369@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@BabyBoecksMom: How late was bedtime prior to 4.5 months? From reading on here, I feel like 1030-11p is FREAKISHLY late!!! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-am-i-doing-wrong#post-656368 Wed, 20 Mar 2013 21:59:17 +0000 PrincessBaby 656368@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@aprk: Oh ok! I am implementing this TOMORROW! Thank you for sharing!!! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-am-i-doing-wrong#post-656366 Wed, 20 Mar 2013 21:58:08 +0000 PrincessBaby 656366@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@TurtleDoves: I would love that! But this kid fights sleep like Rocky Balboa! I mean it is WORK to get Homegirl down! I don't know what she's all hopped up on!!!! I mean the sleep sheep totally does a number on me every night, I don't know how she can resist a deep slumber but she does!!! You are BLESSED! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-am-i-doing-wrong#post-656362 Wed, 20 Mar 2013 21:56:11 +0000 aprk 656362@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@PrincessBaby: she suggested doing it in 30 minute increments over a week or so, but who knows, it might work all at once! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-am-i-doing-wrong#post-656353 Wed, 20 Mar 2013 21:53:30 +0000 CupQuakeWalk 656353@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Babies that age need 3 naps + nighttime sleep &amp; can only stay up about 1.5h before need to sleep.<br /> So we just followed that.<br /> He gets put down exactly 1.5h after he wakes up from each nap.<br /> If he wakes from his last nap at 8:10, then I know bedtime is 9:40pm which means wake up time is 9:40am (my son does 12h)<br /> It is our magic recipe.<br /> Maybe you're waiting too long between naps? Meaning try to end her last nap early. She will not be happy. But then she will get put down 1.5h you woke her up from her 8pm nap and that alone will move up bedtime. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-am-i-doing-wrong#post-656347 Wed, 20 Mar 2013 21:48:04 +0000 PrincessBaby 656347@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Freckles: I think you're both right and this definitely is a factor! I think those same thoughts!!!</p> <p>@aprk: oooooohhhh...Like maybe when she gets up at her 530/6 feed, just keep her up? I think I'm going to do that in the morning!</p> <p>@wheres_c: Yeah, maybe I'm over eager and need to slow my roll a bit!!! 3 weeks? Gah!</p> <p>@MsMini: I think you're right! Mine is def a night owl!!! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-am-i-doing-wrong#post-656345 Wed, 20 Mar 2013 21:46:22 +0000 rawrasaur 656345@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I don't know. Sounds like a very similar routine to what we do and we have had a 7:30-8:30 bedtime for about a month. I think every kid is different. Audra goes down super easy at night, she does seem to need the pacifier though. </p> <p>Maybe you could just stay with her until she is in a deeper sleep. When she starts to wake up, rub her belly, sing softly to her and just let her know you are near, but don't pick her up. I do that a lot for Audra's naps. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-am-i-doing-wrong#post-656343 Wed, 20 Mar 2013 21:45:57 +0000 BabyBoecksMom 656343@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@PrincessBaby: I was going to say try a paci, but it sounds like she won't take it. As for the bedtime, if you want to move it up, I would suggest doing it gradually, like 15-30 min earlier every few days. Changing it to her last nap time might be too much too soon. </p> <p>DD had a late bedtime until about 4.5 months and then she just started showing her sleepy cues earlier and earlier, so we just went with it. Now, she's in bed around 7pm. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-am-i-doing-wrong#post-656326 Wed, 20 Mar 2013 21:35:57 +0000 mrskc 656326@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I agree with trying to move it gradually. I was just reading about this in my no-cry sleep solution book. It suggested trying one of two ways.</p> <p>1. reduce bedtime gradually by 15-30 minutes every 2-3 days. Pay attention to how easily she falls asleep as well as awake time.<br /> 2. starting at 6:30 pm, watch your baby closely. As soon as she starts showing signs of tiredness, put her straight to bed. At first she may think it's just a nap. Respond quickly so she doesn't fully wake up. Follow usual method to help her fall back to sleep. (sounds like you're already doing this one)</p> <p>I'm not much help b/c my baby has always wanted to go to bed around 7 pm. BUT he's usually up for the day at 6 am. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-am-i-doing-wrong#post-656324 Wed, 20 Mar 2013 21:34:05 +0000 PrincessBaby 656324@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@googly-eyes: I haven't bc that nap at 8 or 830 really screws everything up! If I let her have activity after that then she's awake for a while! So I thought I would just cut out the activity and try to get her down for the nights:(</p> <p>@yellowbird: I've wondered that. Especially bc she has had some random night wakings and she had been STTN since 8 weeks!</p> <p>@Sweet T: She won't take a pacifier- waaaahhh!!! I wish she would! She has been sucking her hands nonstop for a while and I noticed just recently that she's found her thumb sometimes, and I actually kind of hope she at least has that one method to self soothe... But she doesn't do it consistently yet... </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-am-i-doing-wrong#post-656318 Wed, 20 Mar 2013 21:31:47 +0000 MsMini 656318@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>S never slept more than 10 hours at night, and it took MONTHS for me to work him back to a 9pm bedtime. I think some babies are just night owls :) Bright side, he is a GREAT napper usually! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-am-i-doing-wrong#post-656316 Wed, 20 Mar 2013 21:31:22 +0000 wheres_c 656316@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I also suggest doing it gradually. B is the same age as H, and we were at an 11:30 bedtime. We moved it to 10:30, and then 9:30 and now 9. It took about 3 weeks. There were a few early wakes (5am?) but now he's back to STTN.<br /> We don't nurse to sleep though....we follow EASY. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-am-i-doing-wrong#post-656314 Wed, 20 Mar 2013 21:31:05 +0000 aprk 656314@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I met with a sleep consultant last week and another mom in the group had the same issue. She suggested gradually waking up earlier and earlier in the morning to be able to push bedtime up to a preferable hour. Good luck! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-am-i-doing-wrong#post-656312 Wed, 20 Mar 2013 21:30:47 +0000 Freckles 656312@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@PrincessBaby: I may want to try moving it back in 15 minute increments? It took me a few days just to move it back 30 minutes! Also, @yellowbird: has a good point about a regression. I remember back at the 3.5 month mark, it took FOREVER to get her to sleep. I always wondered, "am i putting her down too early? too late?" Her bedtime was 7-7:30 but we couldn't get her down until about 8:30pm. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-am-i-doing-wrong#post-656309 Wed, 20 Mar 2013 21:29:59 +0000 CottonCandy 656309@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>ditto on the paci....I put like 4 in my lo's crib! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-am-i-doing-wrong#post-656307 Wed, 20 Mar 2013 21:28:19 +0000 Sweet T 656307@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Do you use a pacifier? It sounds like she's sucking for comfort. I don't think it could hurt to try it if you aren't all ready. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-am-i-doing-wrong#post-656306 Wed, 20 Mar 2013 21:28:04 +0000 yellowbird 656306@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Could it be the 4 month sleep regression? </p> <p>My LO sttn from 1.5 months to 3.5 months, then the dreaded regression started. Ughhhhh. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-am-i-doing-wrong#post-656305 Wed, 20 Mar 2013 21:27:47 +0000 PrincessBaby 656305@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Freckles: About a week... I just thought I could transfer that last nap into bedtime instead with a really strong bedtime routine that says "ALL BABIES ARE GOING TO SLEEP NOW." </p>