What is a good bedtime for a 4 month old baby?

Question

Is 7pm too early? Can you give me examples of what works with your baby? Or what you did to ensure a long sound sleep at night.
Thanks

i'll be ignoring Alicat's answer, you obviously don't have children and the reason i ask is because i'm curious, not because i'm 12.

Answer 1

I think you are making an excellent step Ianthe right direction. You are giving your baby a routine. That on it's own it is incredible. I started putting my son to bed at 7pm from when he was a month or so. Even now he goes about 7 or half past and he is 2 1/2. It all depends when the evening feed is. I used to bath dress and feed my son then put him into bed. That way I could go an do dinner and eat before the next feed was due. I found that it has been of great benefit to me. As (touch wood) he goes to bed without problems. A good routine will also help you get your baby sleeping through the night.

Answer 2

babies vary in how much sleep they have. At 4 months it could be between 15-20 hours a day. It is good to get into a routine, but also be ready that the baby might be changing routines often in their first year. if their hungry or wet or need changing, go with what they need. If you can rest when they rest, then so much the better.
I would not expect the baby to sleep thru the night at 4 months, not until they are on solids and you can try keeping them awake longer on some occasions, but this can be very waring and not always possible. There are good advice sites on the web and some good books. Try your clinic or health visitor.

Answer 3

It's all a matter of creating a schedule that works for both of you.

When my son was that age he went to bed at 8:30. He seemed to wake up less in the night and not as hard to get to sleep. It's weird if we tried the routine any later or earlier it just didn't work.

At ten months we still have the same routine except he goes to bed a half hour early at 8:00. He sleeps clear until 8 or 9 in the morning!

We would always feed him oatmeal (with a spoon) before bed time it seems to keep him asleep longer. It takes us about an hour to send both of our boys to bed and we've fallen easily into the routine as I'm sure you will too. Best of Luck!

Answer 4

At 4 months old i would start to get into a routine if not already done. Bedtime should be after the last feed, bath and change, 7pm doesnt sound too early to me. my little boy used to sleep from about 7pm till about 6 am at that age.

Answer 5

This may sound a little crazy, but my daughter was amazing with sleeping, and I would normally put her to bed around 11:00 PM. She would sleep until 10:00 AM the next morning. When she was about 4 months, I changed to 9:00 PM. Now that she is almost 7 months, she knows when the right time for bed is. She usually wants to go up to bed around 7:30-9:00. I've been letting her take a few naps during the day, and this helps her get the rest she needs at night, because she is not too tired. You are her mother, you will realize when the right time is for you to put your baby to bed. My schedule works very well for my daughter, and once you have your very own schedule, it will work smoothly for you too.

Answer 6

I can't tell you how to get your child to sleep through the night. My daughter was 2 1/2 before this happened. At 4 months I don't really think you can set a bed time. I set it at about 8 months for 7pm. This led to me waking up at 6 or 6:30 every morning. My son who is 1 1/2 use to sleep through the night, but the minute my daughter started to sleep through, he started to wake up. LOL. Some day I will get a full night's sleep. At your babies age schedules are hard to set. Now they usually go to bed at 8 but they still wake up at 6 or 6:30 most mornings.

Answer 7

My 5 month goes up to bed between 6.30 and 7. From there we have a kickabout and chat (shes finding her voice) as we get her undressed, then a warm bath - not too much playing, then we dress her ready for a cuddle/feed if necesary., She is quite often falling asleep before I finish putting her PJs on! I dreamfeed about 10/10.30ish, and she sleeps until 7.30, sometimes with a 2am feed, but not always!

I know this time seems early, or so my HV thinks, but any later and we have a complete meltdown, it takes forever to get her to sleep, and its a disturbed night. I would suggest following your babies cues for a few days, learn to recognise when s/hes had enough, and then when you see what baby needs, you can 'nudge' him/her in a regularish bedtime.

Good luck!

Answer 8

Both of my kids went to bed around 9:00 p.m. at that age, would wake up once to eat around 3 a.m., and then sleep until 6 or 7 the next morning.

As far as a long sleep at night goes -- to me, that seems to be highly dependent on the individual baby, and less dependent on what you do. My son slept through the night on his own at 6 months, my daughter not until 9 months after parental intervention. However, my sister has sleepers -- all of her kids did it on their own very early. Solids/cereal never made a difference with my kids.

Good luck!

Answer 9

with my little boy, he is also 4 months. From the day i took him home from the hospital i set bed rountine and have stuck to it since. 7pm bath, after bath and changed into romper and baby gro bag i feed him and then put him in his cot still awake. He sleeps throu everynight and as done since 6 weeks old. But you have to find a rountine that works for both you and bubs. P.S. 7pm is a great time for bed

Answer 10

My daughter was going to sleep at 10:00pm and waking up at 6:30am. She is on that schedule because that is what works best for my husband and I. We leave for work at 7:00 am so that works out good for us having her wake up at 6:30am. Maybe you can have her fall asleep a little earlier or a little later... with a baby that young, it really depends on what time you want to wake up in the morning. My daughter has been a good sleeper from day one and sleeping 8 hours a night at 6 weeks old. The one thing that we did and I would recomend to all new moms is to try and only put your baby in his/her crib when it is time for bed. (During the day, I have her in a pack-n-play, bouncy seat, swing, etc.) When you lay her down, it is best if she is a little awake and falls asleep on her own. This way, if she wakes up in the middle of the night, she knows how to fall back asleep on her own and will not rely on you holding her, rocking her, or feeding her a bottle. Good luck and congrats!