when to start a schedual?

Question

why would a parent put a 5 1/2 mo old to sleep at 5pm, she was still sleeping at 11pm, won't she be up all night?

I know babies need lots of sleep, but when can you start keeping them up or waking them up to get them on a schedual?

Parents will not ever wake her if she is sleeping, if she falls asleep in the car she is kept in car seat until she wakes up. Is this normal? Do most parents do this?

Answer 1

Each parent has their own way of scheduling. Some parents can devote all their time to whatever the child wants to do. Most families are on schedules therefore... most infants get on them also.

Your right in that the earlier to bed, the earlier to rise. Some babies sleep a LOT! I wouldn't think that a 5 month old would sleep longer then 8-9 hours just for the fact that it needs to be fed... nor would i think that the parents wouldn't start wondering why their child was being so lethargic.

To each their own though. I know that with my children, schedules were a huge part of keeping me sane! It helped me a lot with my first child as it made it easier to understand what I needed to provide for my child... be it feedings, sleep, entertainment and also to notice possible problems/sickness. With the second.... I had a 3 yr old running around and a schedule was all I had to allow for naps and time with my toddler.

My best advise is if its not your child and the parent doesn't come looking for advice (unless your REALLY subtle about your opinions) they probably don't want it and will get heated over you pushing your thoughts on them as they will take it as criticism.

Answer 2

I read in a book not to really start a schedule till they are 2 yrs old but my daughter is 9 mos today and I have somewhat of a schedule for meals but if she wakes up late well the time changes and she naps when she is tired. I normally tell when she is tired so I get her a bottle and feed her then she falls asleep. Most of the time its about the same time for her nap either a hour earlier or 1 hour later. but your child will do what she wants for her own schedule you can have some control but when they need their sleep let them sleep sometimes my daughter don't like to take long naps and when she does i let her sleep. but at night if you put her to bed Early she might wake up Early my daughter does when she just falls asleep on her own. so try to keep her awake longer in the evening.

Answer 3

We started our son on a schedule at 1 week old (no need for demand-fed parents to thumbs down me on that, its what we did and it worked fantastically for us). By the time he was 6 months old his bed time was 6pm and he would sleep til 7am, not waking up all night.

Answer 4

My sister in law has the baby go to bed at 9pm to insure she sleeps mostly through the night, the baby wakes up like clockwork at 6am then she has a nap at noon and then back to bed at 9pm, it is a everyday routine and it works for her great.

Answer 5

my daugher is almost 6 months, she goes to bed around 8-830 sometimes 9 and wakes up around 7. it just depends on the baby, but 5 is way to early unless you want to be up at 3am and the baby is ready to play.

Answer 6

parents choose a variety of approaches.
personally i also did not wake my kids up.
but i changed the stimulation level. if they woke up in the night, there was nothing exciting to catch their attention and they could go back to sleep.
if they woke up in the day i may start playing wtih them or moving them around to get them fully awake instead of encouraging them to go back to sleep.
that's how the gradually learned to sleep when i did.

Answer 7

put her to sleep at 8 pm and a nap at noon or after lunch