Something I learned early in my parenting experience was that babies get tired early. So early bedtimes are great for them AND for me!
I love Elizabeth Pantley’s The No-Cry books, because she has such wonderful baby and kid friendly advice. But it also helps parents too!
This excerpt is from The No-Cry Sleep Solution: Gentle Ways to Help Your Baby Sleep Through the Night
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In their efforts to encourage their baby to sleep better, one approach that many parents use is to put their baby to bed later in the evening. They think, “If he’s ‘really tired,’ he’ll sleep better, right?” Wrong! This often backfires because Baby becomes overtired and chronically sleep-deprived.
In the majority of cases, a baby’s biological clock is preset for an early bedtime. When parents work with that time, a baby falls asleep more easily and stays asleep more peacefully. Most babies are primed to go to sleep for the night as early as 6:30 or 7:00 p.m. I often hear about how babies and toddlers have a “meltdown” period at the end of the day, when they get fussy, whiny and out of sorts. I suspect that it’s simply a sign of overtired children longing for sleep.
Amen to that! My babies went to bed around 8-9 pm. As they got older it was pushed back to 7 pm.
My only experience is with my daughter who is 6.5 months old, but I wonder how the early bed motto relates to how early the baby and family have to get up.
My baby goes to sleep (and I with her; we bed-share) between 9pm and 10pm most nights. It’s late compared to many babies, but she then doesn’t wake except to nurse 2x until 10:30am or later. She also doesn’t nap much. Usually just a couple of “cat-naps”.
I’m sure we’ll have to encourage an earlier bed time as she gets older and starts going to pre-school.
Hmm, that is an interesting point. It sounds like with your family’s schedule, it works for you!
I wish my younger daughter (2.5) would go bed earlier. Many a night we have gone to bed at 8, only to have Abby up until 11 pm (with Mom and Dad half asleep for the last hour). Attempts to put her to be at 6:30 or 7 pm end up with a kid who is wide awake again at 8 pm or 9 :o(
I think it is just our family… none of us seem to fall sleep easily or … except hubby!