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Um ... we put LO to bed when we go to bed at 10:30 or so. She falls asleep earlier than that but just hangs out with us in the living room. She's six weeks old. I guess we should think about a bedtime routine soon, though then we'll need to finally set up the video monitor. So far we've just been staying with her in whatever room she falls asleep in throughout the day/evening.

@yellowbird: my wee guy is 6 weeks and doesn't crash out till after 10pm so I usually start getting him ready for bed at around 9 (pj's, a wipe down then into the bedroom to nurse). I'm hoping he's going to start shifting his bedtime up soon!

@PawPrints: No, I think that's a perfectly fine bedtime routine. With my first, she just slept on or near us, until we went upstairs to bed. Then we took her up and settled her in her crib in our room. It worked wonderfully.

@yellowbird: My LO has started going to bed earlier now that she's in daycare. She is do stimulated there that she is quite tired when she gets home! Definitely sleeping more at night although only short naps now during the day. Before we were putting her to bed by about 10 but now it's between 8 and 9. We have always done swaddle, singing, white noise, bassinet at bedtime since the beginning.

@SleepyMonkey: This! Most people don't realize that the witching hour is just overtired-ness and they should be going to bed!

Pretty much any infant sleep book you read will say that the ideal bedtime for an infant or child is between 5pm and 7pm and one of the biggest mistakes parents make is keeping them up longer so one (or both) parents can see them. I read recently that parents should think of time with their child in terms of quality vs quantity. It's better to have less, but pleasant time with a well rested child than more, fussier time with an overtired one. If that makes sense how I wrote it. I can find that article somewhere if it interests you.

We have experimented with my sons bedtime between 5pm and 7pm since he was about 5 weeks old. I understand that infants sleep anywhere at first and it seems less "important" to have a bedtime, but it will pay off in SPADES if you start early. They will learn (sooner than you think) that once you start the bedtime routine and put them in their bedtime resting place (crib, bassinet, etc) it is night/bedtime. Which should actually help with wakeups because they will understand better that it's night time vs daytime.
With my son, at around 6:30 we start routine:
-take him in his room, undress
-bath (every other night now)
-snuggles/maybe a book
-PJs
-sleep sack
-Lovey
-light off
-sound machine on
-bottle
-snuggle for a minute or two BUT not rocking to sleep. I'll hug him and give him kisses and let him play with my hair or something.
-put in crib drowsy but awake
-music crib soother if needed (if he's not super drowsy)
We've been doing this for almost his entire 8 months of life and I'm not exaggerating when I tell you that he goes down so easily ANYWHERE because of this routine and an early bedtime. The only exception has been normal developmental bumps/"regression" and teething.
And I adjust bedtime if needed. If his naps were shit or he's cranky, I have no qualms putting him to bed at 6pm instead of 7pm. He doesn't wake up earlier than his usual 6am when I do. He just needed that extra hour of sleep.

Yeah, if my husband can't leave work a little early he doesn't see him in the evening. But why would he want to see him if he's a cranky crying mess anyway? That's not fun for anyone.

The compromise is that he gets up with him every morning and spends one on one time from about 7am to 7:45. So he sees him then and if he also sees him in the evening he just considers that icing on the cake.

Of course this is what I've read and what has worked well for us. I'm not a doctor or a sleep guru myself But I am very passionate about it and have read a ton and followed my pediatricians recommendations.

E is 15 months old and goes to bed around 9 or 9:30. N is 2.5 and goes to bed somewhere between 9:30-10 most nights. We are late raisers at our house so the late bed times work for us.

@jape14: yeah same! If I were to put him down after 7 (which I did once out of curiosity and once out of necessity) he just is miserable and still gets up at 6am.

My DS is 15 weeks now, and so far we've had a variable bedtime depending on when he wakes up from his last nap. Usually bedtime ranges from 8-10. We've noticed it's more often between 8-9 now that he's past the 3-month mark, but it still varies. We just make sure he's not awake more than 2 hours after his last nap. We start his bedtime routine about 1 hour after he last woke up.

I read Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child when he was 6 or 7 weeks old and I started obsessing about his bedtime, thinking we had to be getting him to bed between 6 and 7 since that's what the book said. However, when we did that, he would wake up countless times (4-5!) throughout the night and would be difficult to get back to sleep. Whereas if we put him down between 8 and 10 he wakes up only once, and gets about 2 hours more of total sleep each night. And he is much happier during the day when he gets more sleep at night! So, while the earlier bedtime is probably good for a lot of babies, it just isn't working for him yet. I tried to force things on him based on these recommendations, and I really regret doing that because of the stress (and little sleep) it caused.

I would experiment with bedtimes based on her last wake-up and see what happens, but don't force any particular bedtime just because someone says it's a good idea. I will say that now is a good time to get a "routine" started though.

We have a similar routine as @SweetiePie and it works well for LO. He goes to bed right around 7 and usually sleeps until 6:30-7. Sometimes we push his bedtime a few minutes later but its usually a disaster. However, I also agree with other posters that you have to find what works best for your LO. I think routine is more important than the timing.