Lo2 is 8 weeks old and typically falls asleep on one of us on the couch between 8 and 10, and then we change him, feed him one last time, and put him in bed when I'm ready to sleep (typically 10-11).
Lately he's been super fussy and hard to settle in the evenings and it made me wonder if perhaps he should have an earlier bedtime.
When did you start moving your older newborn/young infants bedtime earlier? Or did it depend on quality of nighttime sleep and number of wake ups?
50 votes
grapefruit / 4355 posts
If I'm remembering correctly I think we started around 3-4 months. We gradually shifted her bedtime from ~10:30pm to ~9:00pm. We've been on a pretty consistent 9pm-9am schedule for a few months now (DD is 7.5 months).
nectarine / 2047 posts
DS is almost 10 weeks and he goes down between 830-930 and sleeps straight until 5-6am. His bedtime has progressively gotten earlier over the past 2-3 weeks
squash / 13764 posts
Dd is 3 months and her bedtime is around 7pm. We started putting her to bed between 7and 8 around 8 weeks.
persimmon / 1436 posts
DD2 is 10 weeks and bedtime is around 10, STTN, and waking up between 7-8 am. Her bedtime has started to creep earlier as it started out at 11 pm. We are a family of night owls I guess.
kiwi / 556 posts
@AggieDaze: I posted often early on about sleep woes! 
my 6.5 month old's bedtime shifted from 10-11 to 830-9 gradually at about 4.5-5 months. I couldn't really *do* anything about it, she just finally cut out a later feeding and would stay down. It seems like everyone's babies are all over the place on sleep needs, but you'll find your groove, especially as the night feedings lessen!
I had to remind myself often around that age that she was still learning how to adjust to sleep outside the womb! Some do seem to find their circadian rhythm sooner than others, but I'd say at 8 weeks it's pretty normal for later bedtimes and some degree of fussiness.
apricot / 315 posts
I think it was just after 2 months I started DS on a 7pm bed time. It didn't always work out but he was generally settled some time between 730 and 830, and now at 4.5mo he's usually down closer to 730. When I say down I mean totally asleep and I'm out of the room.
pomegranate / 3601 posts
My kids moved there bedtime to 7-8pm at around 7/8 weeks. My daughter a little earlier than my son.
apricot / 448 posts
Thanks everybody for your responses!
LO fell asleep by himself in his crib at 8 pm (wasn't really on purpose; he just was really unhappy so I swaddled him and set him in his crib and within minutes he'd fallen asleep). He'd last woken up at 6 pm after a car seat nap at the park.
I don't know if he's trying to tell me he wants to go to bed at 8 pm? Or if this is a nap?!
I'm tempted to start putting him to bed earlier but I'm also terrified that's going to mean more wake ups for me over night.
honeydew / 7463 posts
We started early trying to establish a routine and bedtime at 7pm (at the latest). Maybe not in the first couple of weeks, those are a blur. But def by 3/4 weeks.
ETA: I'm not sure if you read any of the infant sleep books, but Dr Weissbluth's book actually says an infant at that age should go to bed between 5 and 7pm 
Which seems insanely early. But kinda makes sense. There's other theories that the "witching hour" so many people experience between those hours is actually baby being overtired and wanting to go to bed early.
And after I posted I saw your update. It's awesome that he went down so well at 8pm! Looking forward to hearing how the night goes!
pomegranate / 3658 posts
It was somewhere around 2-3 months when we started transitioning to a real bedtime, rather than just letting her snooze in the living room with us until we were ready to go to bed.
From that point until we moved her to her own room at 4.5 months, we would have to switch her from her crib to the co-sleeper when we went to bed. That felt kind of odd. But I didn't want her sleeping in her crib all night because I was still nursing her 2-3x a night.
nectarine / 2243 posts
My LO is 9.5 months and her bedtime is somewhere between 6-6:30 still!!
grapefruit / 4006 posts
Around 8 weeks for dd2 and 12 weeks for dd1. We started doing it because they began having these "witching hours" and my pedi said it was because they needed to be in bed earlier and they were overtired.
apricot / 448 posts
@Pumuckl: We did the 7:30/8 p.m. bedtime two nights in a row and he ended up waking up 45 minutes later. Then, I brought him out to the couch where he basically fell asleep until I went to bed at 10. Not sure what this means?! Ha. LO now has a bit of a cold, and all of our sleep has shifted dramatically so I'm just going with the flow at the moment.
kiwi / 643 posts
DS2 is 3 months old now, and I want to say it was around a month or so ago when his natural bedtime became 6/6:30.
apricot / 448 posts
As a quick update, LO is 3 months now and goes to sleep by 7:30 each night Unfortunately, we now have an extra 2 night wakings but that's a tale for another day.
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