Bed Time for Baby?

Updated on February 16, 2011
A.G. asks from Albuquerque, NM
12 answers

What time is good for bed time? We have been putting our twins ( they are 6months) to bed around 9pm every night, but now im thinking this might be too late. What time worked for your baby/babies?

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J.P.

answers from Stockton on

My baby who is 6 months goes to bed at 7:30'ish.....so does my 2 year old.....they sleep until 6:30 or 7 in the morning.....

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K.A.

answers from San Diego on

It all depends on what time you get up in the morning really. If you're up at 6 AM then yes, 9 o clock is too late but if you're up at say 8 or 9 AM or maybe as early as 7 then it's perfectly fine.
Bedtime around here is around 10, sometimes 11. Morning doesn't start before 8 or 9 in the morning tops for all 3 of my kids. None of my kids were early risers and were always late to bed. None of them are morning people at all, neither am I for that matter. Since I'm a SAHM, home school and have never had to get my kids to anything formal in the morning it works perfectly for us.
Everyone is more alert in the afternoon and early evening so I schedule to work with that. It works for my husband that works from home. He gets up before the kids and I and gets his conference calls done in the morning then works on the rest of his stuff during the day and is done with his day early enough that we as a family have a good deal of time together.
This is a chart I have seen several place. It gives you an idea of how much sleep your baby needs at various ages, including nap and nighttime sleep. So long as your children are getting enough overall sleep a day it doesn't matter what time their bedtime is.
http://www.babycenter.com/0_how-much-sleep-does-your-chil...

1 mom found this helpful

T.L.

answers from St. Louis on

My 6 month old goes to bed at 8:30, wakes up at 4:00 to eat and then sleeps until 7:30-8:30.

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D.P.

answers from Raleigh on

My 6 mo old can't stay up past 7. So we get her down between 6:30 and 7 every night. My son was a 7'o clocker, too.

H.X.

answers from Los Angeles on

Mine is 6 mo+ and she is just transitioning from 9:00 pm to 8:30. I hope to have her down by 8, or even 7 in the upcoming months.

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W.H.

answers from Phoenix on

What works for you. If you have a "normal" schedule where you are home with babies during the day and dad is home dinnertimeish and can spend time with them, then I'd say no later than 8. But we do have friends where one parents (the mom in this case) is working until 8pm and she needs to spend time with him before he goes to bed, otherwise she & baby never get to spend any time together, so they put their baby to bed later (9ish I think) and baby does sleep later in the morning.
(My experience is that my baby didn't sleep later in the morning if he went to bed late at night, but this was more of a occasional thing, not a consistent schedule we stuck to every night/every morning)

Main thing is, you want them down early enough so YOU have time to unwind, spend time with your husband, get yourself ready for a good night's sleep, etc. My husband goes to bed earlyish as he has to be up early so I do need my boy down before it's time for us to go to bed.

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D.K.

answers from Pittsburgh on

DS did not have a bedtime until he was a year old (and then only because his daycare only allowed 1 daytime nap for the 1 year olds). His schedule was pretty much wake screaming in hunger, eat, change diaper, play for a while, sleep, repeat q 3 hours until approximately 11-11:30 pm. Wake again at ~8 am and repeat. He would sleep anywhere - crib, stroller, floor, lap, didn't matter so we just took him everywhere. If he was tired when we were out late at dinner, he slept.

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B.B.

answers from San Antonio on

Our son went to bed at 7:30 until our daughter was born (at 16 months) - since then he has been in bed by 8 - 8:10 at the latest. Our daughter is put to bed at 7:30, and has been since she was born. That way we could ahve some one on one time with our son before he went to bed. He is now 3, and she is 16 months and we have the same routine, 7:30 for her, and 8:00-ish for him. :)

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K.F.

answers from Phoenix on

Both of my babies went to sleep for the night at 6:00 as they got older it moved to 6:30 then 7:00. Now my 3.5 year old goes to bed at 7:30 or 8. My 11 month old now goes to bed anywhere from 6:00 to 7:00.

I just determined their bedtime by how cranky they were. Both of my kids started to lose it around 5. As newborns they both went to bed around 10 and we slowly moved that bedtime earlier until they weren't cranky.

Since you start putting them to bed at 9, I would try 8:30 and move it earlier by a half hour until you reach the bedtime they prefer.

Try reading healthy sleep habits, happy child. Very informative.

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R.J.

answers from Seattle on

My son didn't have a "bedtime"... I followed his cues and put him to bed when he was tired (both for naps and nighttime).

As Katrina said... WHEN they go to be doesn't matter an iota... it's how long they get to sleep for.

My son had 3 basic schedules as an infant:

Summer (born in july) 5am up, 7-10am nap, 1230-300/4pm nap, 6-7pm nap, 9pm bed

Fall ....... 7am 10-1230 nap, 3-5 nap, 9 for the night

Winter .... 5am, 9-11 nap, 1-3 nap, 5 for the night. ((night feedings also, but eat and pass right back out)) - winter.

Spring ....... repeat fall.

His sleep patterns changed as he dropped naps... but one thing has stayed consistant: he needs 10-11 hours of sleep UNLESS he's in a growth sprurt... and then he needs 13-14. A great thing about starting homeschooling in 1st is that I can watch his sleep patterns. He typically goes to bed at 9 and gets up at 730. But 3 or 4 times a year for about a month sleeps until 1030 or later. It's amazing how much more ENERGY he has/ how much happier he is getting to sleep himself out those months instead of the year prior when we had to be up, regardless of what his body needed, in order to get to school.

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L.D.

answers from Dallas on

I think 9 sounds a little late. My daughter, who is now one, goes to bed between 7 and 8. I think at 6 months she was still a little all over the place - some nights 9, some 7, some 8 some almost 10! SHe has just worked herself down to an earlier bedtime.

But - all babies are different, and if 9 is working for you, I wouldnt stress over it. I know some babies that go @ 6:30!

G.K.

answers from San Francisco on

At 6mo, both my kids were night owls and went down for the night around 11/11:30pm. Over the months, they backed themselves up, but I had the luxury of being a SAHM. My 15mo daughter now goes to bed 8/8:30, and my 4yo son follows close behind at 8:30/9:00. A lot of choosing an actual bed TIME is when naps occur, etc. There gets to be a point where you recognize that after x amount of hours, baby is ready for bed for the night, and you adjust what time they get up from their nap to more closely correspond to your desired bed time :) Like right now, my 15mo takes a 1-2 nap, and I know she's ready for bed 5.5-6 hours after she gets up, so I try not to let her sleep later than 2:30 or so to help bedtime stay around 8:30.

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