When to try starting a bedtime??

[Smittenk]

DS is not yet 2 weeks old so I'm sure I am a ways away from starting a bedtime but I was wondering when I can start a nightime schedule?? How old was your DC when you began putting them to bed at a certain time??

TIA!

[Pine Tree]

We started around 7 weeks, when she started to drop a nighttime feeding. She's now 10 weeks and goes to bed between 8 and 9 (depending on feeding) and sleeps until 6 or 7. Ever since we started using the real 'miracle blanket' she's been a great sleeper with a good bedtime.

[myshel]

We started putting DD (and DS for that matter) to bed at the same time every night from the very beginning. We knew that during the first weeks, there would be no guarantee as to how long either DC would sleep, but we were okay with that. In the early weeks, we put our DCs to bed between 10-11 pm. They usually woke up after 2-4 hours for a feeding.

As they got older, we'd slide the bedtime back a half hour until we had a good bedtime. This routine worked very well for DS, who's now a fabulous sleeper.

We're still working on it with DD, who is 10 weeks old. She really liked the routine, but still isn't a super sleeper just yet.;)

[juliemag]

We started around 5-6 weeks. We would begin around 8 pm and we'd bathe him, swaddle him up, then I'd nurse him until he fell asleep, then I'd put him in the pack n' play. The swaddle made a big difference in our routine and we are still using it today at 3+ months. As time as gone on, we just follow his sleepy cues and sometimes he's down around 7:30ish, sometimes 8:30ish. Just depends on his day and how ready for bed he is.

[katmg]

I followed Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child as far as when they should start moving their bedtime up - I think it was 3 months? DD now goes to bed around 6-6:30 every night. She is currently STTN but she likes to change that on us every few weeks. ;)

[MichelleRenee]

DS set his own bedtime around 11pm up until 3 months when he just magically started going to bed between 7-8 pm. I tried moving his bedtime up earlier but for those first 12 weeks he called all the shots.

[jesseybell]

DD didn't have a bedtime while I was home for the first 12 weeks - she'd snooze with us downstairs and we'd bring her to bed with us after a bottle around midnight. She was exhausted her first few days at daycare (as was I having gone back to work!) so after 2 days we started putting her down at 8 pm (and since then she's moved it back to 7-7:30) and waking her up to feed her before we went to bed. Next time around we plan on establishing a bedtime routine before I go back to work.

[Freckles]

We started trying at 8 weeks, but a schedule of sorts didn't really start working until 12 weeks or so, and we still wish to move it back an hour, so that he goes to bed at 8pm.

Right Now:
Bath Time:7pm
Last Feeding:8:30pm
Bed Time:9pm

Sometimes he wakes up for a dream feeding between 10:30pm-Midnight, but most nights he sleeps through until somewhere between 4:30am-6:00am.

He is up for the day between 8am-9am when he has his second feeding of the morning.

[Megande]

I followed Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child as far as when they should start moving their bedtime up

We did this too. DS started needing an earlier bedtime around 8 weeks.

[PinkMartini]

DS started STTN at 3 months, so that's when we 'set' a bedtime for him. Prior to that he'd go to bed anytime between 8-10pm for a few hours before he'd wake up for a night feeding.

[suzfuzsunflower]

I followed his cues. Around 2-4 weeks he would get tired and go to sleep around 9:30 or 10. He started to move his bedtime back after that. I now start his bath around 7:30 p.m., and he is asleep by 8 p.m., 8:30 at the latest. Sleeps until 2 or 2:30 a.m., back to sleep until 5:30, back to sleep until 8 a.m. :)

[Rancid13]

We started at around 2 months. He was going to bed very late at night and one night would not go to bed at all. I think one night it was at about 3am that I texted DH b/c I was at my wit's end with DS and DH was out at his company's Christmas party on a boat (yeah, this was at least a month after Christmas too). I was constantly exhausted, even though DH helped as much and as often as he could. I started the bedtime routine of bath, bottle and bed and began nursing to sleep at first but after a month or so of that was able to put him to bed awake but sleepy. We never had to deal with much fussing/crying at bedtime so thankfully never had to consider the CIO method.

[AlisonCO]

I think that we started around 3 months with DD when she started to have a loose schedule during the day and a fairly consistent bedtime. It is never too early IMO to start a loose routine like bath, books, pj's, nurse, sing etc.

[Tonysweetie]

We started very early. I'd say around 3/4 weeks. Our schedule is usually a bottle around 8:30/9, bath at 9:30, lotion & PJ's and then I put him down in his crib around 9:45 and he's out by 10. He will usually sleep until around 8 am but sometimes throws me a curve ball like last night. I was blessed with a good sleeper! He's over 3 months old now. :)

[shaqangel]

we started closer to 3mths and incorporated a bedtime routine with it as well. the routine really helped and we didnt stray from it. but around 6mths we sorta slacked cos of christmas, etc so he got a little of track so we had to make a more conscious effort to get back on track!