How can I move my babies bedtime without letting her get overtired?

Question

My 3 1/2 month old currently settles down for the night at 6-6.30pm. Any later than this means that she is overtired, and we have an awful time tryng to settle her. She sleeps through to 6am, sometimes waking once for a 3 or 4am feed. When the clocks go back, she will be waking at 5am, which is a tad on the early side! Does ayone have any ideas how to shift her body clock by an hour or 2?

Answer 1

My eldest used to worry me sick by sleeping for 12 hours. Try to delay her bed time by introducing quiet play such as singing to her or nursery rhymes for 10 to 15 minutes from her current bed time. Once she gets used to the later time and sleeping a liitle longer, move it further back until she's waking up a a more reasonable hour. Go at her pace though and try not to stress either of you; you should be enjoying each other. As she gets older you can change the bedtime activity to a story, a great way to encourage bedtime.

Answer 2

Sometimes the body clock is set and that's that! My 3 are all in bed by 8.30 and it doesn't matter how late I might let them stay up through the hols or weekend - the middle one especially is a 6.30 - 7 am riser and that is that and noone sleeps beyond 8.30am.
I personally think 3 1/2 months is too young to be trying to make any major changes to routine, but even if you can stretch out her night routine by 10 - 15 mins every 3 or 4 nights, she might cope with that better than trying to lose a whole hour in one go.

Trying to shift her body clock by an hour or two obviously means getting used to putting her down for a sleep later, but I feel at such a young age, if a child is used to a later night then it can only get later and later the older they get! 6.30 - 7pm is a great time to settle a baby.

As for in the mornings - maybe try leaving her for just a few minutes longer each morning before you lift her. She might take the hint and learn to sleep a bit longer, or at least lie quietly.

I think you will find that the first couple of nights after the clocks change are the worst but I found with my 3 that after that their own body clocks adjusted themselves to the new time.

If you want to try and lose the night feed - but would only work if she is used to a bottle - then the last time my 1st took a night feed was around 12 weeks when I gave him water instead. He took 2 great gulps till he realised what it was and I put him back in the cot and he didn't wake for another feed after that.

Whatever happens, I hope you find a solution that works for you.

Answer 3

we all are born with an "internal clock" that mostly regulates our sleep patterns. however, sunlight plays an important role in this clock's predictability. most of us have a natural instinct to wake when the sun is up and sleep when the sun is down. alarms clocks have interferred with this natural schedule but a baby is untainted. a baby's schedule is influenced most greatly by light and hunger. try keeping more lights on and/or windows open during those early evening hours. don't darken the home area until your desired bedtime.
in the morning keep windows completely darkened until baby is awake then open blinds and curtains.
this won't work immediately. this method was very successful with my son's bedtime but the morning wake was a much greater struggle. sunlight and hunger weren't enough. he needed constant bugging too. of course my experience was with a child a few months older. my son slept nothing less than 20 hours a day for the first few months. it was torture waking him even to eat.

Answer 4

She gets a 12-hour nights sleep? Good grief. You're one lucky woman. :-)

Shift her bedtime by ten to fifteen minutes at a time. Also, try some in-between time. Instead of laying her down for bed, have some quiet activity that will keep her stimulated enough to keep her up. Maybe you can help shift the night-time hours by shifting naptime. If she takes a later nap, it'll be later at night when she's worn out again.

It's been years since my kids have let me sleep past 5:00.

Answer 5

Sounds like you have a really settled baby to me, congrats! I know it's really annoying when they keep on changing the clocks but it doesn't have to be a hassle. Put your baby to bed ten mins later each night, it takes about a week (obviously) to move her sleep routine a whole hour but this way is less tiring for her, unfortunately it does mean a few early mornings for you! Try Gina Fords "contented little baby book" I lived by it for the first year of my babies life, the woman is genius!

Answer 6

try combining two of the naps. My son who I now know is ADHD was like that and I found if I skipped the early nap(he woke up at 5am early nap was around 8) put him down 10 am and woke him at 11:30 for lunch then put him down around 3pm for a long nap (not long than 3 hours) he went to sleep because he was indeed tired but he also slept better at night. We also used the same routine for naps everyday of washing his face and hands rubbing a little lotion on his back while I rocked him and we listen to nursery rhymes on the cd player. Once we were able to establish that We gradually started laying him down in his crib and just rubbing his back while the music played after that was successful we started laying him in his crib and starting the music for him that was a signal that it was time to sleep. My baby is now 8 yrs old and still if he is really out of sorts or extremely hyper I can play that cd and when 15 minutes he will be asleep.

Answer 7

As a mother myself i have a 4yr old and she has now got into a routine of going to bed.When she wasnt at school and at home i used to give her a nap when the clocks went back. However i only gave her an hour nap then by the time she went to bed she wasnt overtired anymore. Now we have a game to get her to bed cos shes so active. When its time for bed we tell her its nap time and that we want her to wake us from our naps later.So instead of goodnight its actually 'see you later'.
I hope this has given you some options.Trust me when your little one goes to school bedtimes get easier.

Answer 8

I've been trying to do that for 2 years with no luck! My daughter goes to bed about 630 and wakes between 5 and 6. I've tried putting her to bed later but she still gets up at the same time so i've given up. apparently my sister and i use to be early risers too. its just something some kids do i think. she's happy enuf, gets enuf sleep and is always a pleasure when she wakes (she's nearly 2 and 4 mo's) so i don't see it as a problem. just wait another 15 years when we can't get them out of bed at all! *groan*

Answer 9

just do it over a matter of a few weeks time. Every night try to get her to stay up a few Min's longer. You might try an afternoon nap and see if that will help her to stay up an extra hour or so. You are lucky that she sleeps that much, my 6 month old son seems like he never sleeps, and I am up all the time with him.. good luck, and hope that you get it worked out..

Answer 10

I believe if you try to achieve this new bedtime schedule , start small .
Every night try for ten minutes difference then it will be easier on the child and yourself to succeed , before the time change , hope this will help .