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Bringing sleeping time earlier

  1. #1
    Obiwan is offline Registered User
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    Bringing sleeping time earlier

    My 3.5-month baby girl goes to sleep at about 10pm - 11pm and wakes up in the morning after 9.5 hours to 10 hours sleep. Many of you have talked about 11pm being late, i'm wondering at what age I should get her to sleep earlier (8pm?)? Thanks!


  2. #2
    barbwong_130 is offline Registered User
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    Before worrying what other people think about your baby's bedtime answer the question "Does it suit our family?"

    My babies all went to bed around 11:00 pm (when my husband and I retired for the night). This suited us very well. We both worked and this late bedtime meant that we could get five hours together with our babies each day.

    If they had gone to bed earlier (8:00 pm, which is often recommended) we would only have had two hours together.

    We carried on this late bed time until they started primary school (They went to Chinese kindergarten and so had a long nap in the afternoon).

    Make sure that any changes you make will suit your family.

    Having said that the easiest way is to bring the whole 'going to bed routine' forward by about five minutes every couple of days. E.g. if you give a bath, read a story and then bed. Bring the bath forward by the five minutes and don't worry too much about if the routine takes longer than usual. Just keep bringing the bath forward and eventually the bedtime will be forward too.

    Best wishes,
    Barb


  3. #3
    southside852 is offline Registered User
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    make adjustments little by little. When my son is jetlaged, we adjust his bedtime by bringing it later/earlier by 15 minutes each night until I reach the desired time. our son is in bed at 7pm and asleep by 7:30pm every night. He's had this schedule since 6 months and is now almost 2 years old.


  4. #4
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    carang is offline Registered User
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    my kids have a "bedtime" that is anywhere from 7:30-8:30 depending on the day they have had. i prefer it this way as we can still go out for dinner as a family if we like.

    personally, i would hate for my kids to be awake until hubby and i go to bed. first off, it would not give us any "down" time. it would not give us any "couple" time. and if i was having a really bad day, and was exhausted, my kids wouldn't be ready for sleep until 11pm.

    but that's just me. i know for many, if not most, local families late bedtimes are the norm. i think you hear about early bedtimes on here because it's an expat website and early bedtimes is the norm.

    the thing that is MOST important is not necessarily the bedtime, but rather the amount of sleep. THIS is where, i think, a lot of local families fall down. a long nap in the afternoon is not the same as a long stretch of sleep at night (i believe). i think that children must get enough sleep. it is detrimental to their health if they don't. i just read an article that linked lack of sleep in children to obesity amongst other things.

    there are days i wish my kids would sleep past 7am... but with the bedtime they have, it doesn't happen often. there is give and take in every situation. you just need to find what works for you and your family and stop listening to everyone else.


  5. #5
    Obiwan is offline Registered User
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    I would prefer to have the children sleep earlier too, as schools start quite early in the morning, and I would like them to have enough sleep.

    I'll probably have to adjust the volume of her milk though to make sure she still has enough despite having no feed from 8pm - 8am.


  6. #6
    MommyTo3 is offline Registered User
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    Quote Originally Posted by carang View Post
    my kids have a "bedtime" that is anywhere from 7:30-8:30 depending on the day they have had. i prefer it this way as we can still go out for dinner as a family if we like.

    personally, i would hate for my kids to be awake until hubby and i go to bed. first off, it would not give us any "down" time. it would not give us any "couple" time. and if i was having a really bad day, and was exhausted, my kids wouldn't be ready for sleep until 11pm.

    but that's just me. i know for many, if not most, local families late bedtimes are the norm. i think you hear about early bedtimes on here because it's an expat website and early bedtimes is the norm.

    the thing that is MOST important is not necessarily the bedtime, but rather the amount of sleep. THIS is where, i think, a lot of local families fall down. a long nap in the afternoon is not the same as a long stretch of sleep at night (i believe). i think that children must get enough sleep. it is detrimental to their health if they don't. i just read an article that linked lack of sleep in children to obesity amongst other things.

    there are days i wish my kids would sleep past 7am... but with the bedtime they have, it doesn't happen often. there is give and take in every situation. you just need to find what works for you and your family and stop listening to everyone else.
    Completely agree, I honestly don't think school aged children can "live" on 7-8 hours of night time sleep ... I hear too many stories about kids falling asleep during classes, etc. Lack of sleep is not healthy. I would slowly adjust the bed time by moving it forward and find a time that works for your family, but most importantly, make sure the child gets the sleep they need, they deserve it!

  7. #7
    LLL_Sarah is offline Registered User
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    Three and a half months is very young to expect a baby to manage 12 hours without eating. Often babies this age do understand that there is a difference between the daylight hours and night time though. In the day they are more likely to play after a feed whereas at night time they will wake, feed and go straight to sleep again.

    I wouldn't worry too much about schooling at the age. One of the nice things about having a young baby is that there are no school times to worry about. You don't need the baby to sleep early yet, or worry about going away during the school holidays. You will have many years to worry about these things - make the most of not having them yet.

    Best wishes,
    SARAH
    (Who has just taken her first no school holiday in 18 years!)


  8. #8
    Obiwan is offline Registered User
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    Thanks Sarah, that is why I am wondering what is a good age to introduce early sleep time, or if we were to introduce it later (towards school age), it'll be hard to change her habit of sleeping late.


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