Another Sleep Question

[ladymoreta]

Would I be crazy to try to get DS on a 10:00 bedtime? Is that too late? DH gets home at different times depending on the rotation, but it's almost never early enough for a 7:00 or 8:00 bedtime to give him much time with DS. I stay at home, so DS can sleep later (if he will).

Confession - we already tried it last night, and it was a rough night. But as I mentioned on my other sleep thread, we've yet to establish a good schedule anyway. I'll get something working by Friday, and get a semi-decent night's sleep, then DH's schedule changes the next week and we start all over again. So, being Monday, I'm once again sleep deprived and trying to figure something out that might work better long-term so I don't have to do this every week. I think the 10:00 bedtime would be great for all of us, as long as it's not too much to expect from an 8 week old.

[JC76]

There are many mothers on here with much more experience than me, so this should be taken with a grain of salt, but I've got Zoe on a 9:30/10pm bed time routine and it works fine for us. I didn't do it intentionally, she just kind of found it on her own. We start her last bottle around 9pm and she's usually down with 30-45 minutes after that. Then she sleeps until 7:30/8am. I was feeling guilty about it too, since so many seem to put their babies down by 7pm. But I asked her Ped who's got a million years of experience and he said it was totally fine. I think it works for us mainly because it's her natural rhythm, but from my perspective the double benefit ,is that DH gets to see her more when he gets home from work. If she was in bed by 7pm, 90% of the time he would never see her.

So I say go for it. If he doesn't come around it might be that it just doesn't work for his natural body clock. But it's worth a shot - it can work!

[HouseofWool]

Laurie - if it works for him, then it is fine. If he is grouchy and cranky all the time, then it isn't. Babies are pretty simple in that regard. Figuring out what is right is tricky, because each one is different. Try it for a bit and see if it works. If it doesn't adjust bedtime by small (say 30 minute) increments to find out what works for him.

[Pollyanna]

All babies vary on when they like to be put down for the night. I have always found that when they are very little like this a later bedtime works best to get a late feeding in. By the time they hit 6 to 9 months old all of our kiddos were ready for bed by 7pm. I could keep them up later but it they would never sleep later. So if they go to bed at 7pm and wake up between 5 and 6am putting them to bed at 10pm did not give me any extra sleep hours in the morning, they still wake up between 5 and 6am. Your routine will change a lot in the next 6 months, do what works best for your family.

[SuzySunshine]

Like several have said every kid is different. Adele would stay up late and still sleep great. Robert has to go to bed between 6 and 6:30 in order to not be Mr. Crabby the next day. He still gets up to feed twice/night but is much happier during the day so I can live with it. Unfortunately that does mean that DH usually only gets to see him on the weekends but he understands that I don't want to be home all day with an unhappy baby.

You have to do what is best for your family if that means keeping him up and it doesn't affect him that's great. If he isn't happy unfortunately dad is the one that pays the price by not seeing them as much.

I agree - try it and see if it works.
Jack has always had a late bedtime so that DH can see him. His bedtime is around 9pm. It is hard not having much of an evening or time to myself though, so be prepared for that. Some nights I am pretty much ready to head to bed at the same time as him!

[Cumberland]

My Step SIL puts her kids to bed around 10 or 11. Then they all sleep til 9 or 10am. My SBIL goes into work to get his crews started from like 6am- 9am then comes back home and they all have breakfast together. It works just right for them. When your kids start school ( which probably seems like light years from now) it would be different, but whatever feels right probably is.

[ladymoreta]

Thanks everyone! We'll try it! If it's not working by Friday, I'll just start something new next Monday...