Early to Bed = Happy Baby?

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.