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| New Zealanders Raising Kids in America |
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OK, here's a question for anyone who has an opinion. Is 8 PM an appropriate bedtime for a 7 month old?
My daughter takes one to two naps in the daytime (no more than 2-2.5 hours total), and is exhausted by 8 PM. She has a bath, a story, and one last bottle before going to bed.
She wakes up crying almost exactly an hour after going to bed, but usually settles herself back down again. She also seems to wake around 10:30 pm and 3:00 AM wanting a bottle.
She's doing a lot better than she used to (she used to wake up 4-8 times every single night crying), but I'm wondering if she shouldn't be sleeping longer between feedings at night. Am I putting her to bed too early or too late perhaps?
If you have any suggestions, I'd be glad to hear them. Thanks!
Chris
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| Posted by Chris on 04/03/2008 12:29 PM
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OK Chris. Her are my thoughts. Take them or feel free to shove them:)
I think 8pm is perfect and sounds like you have the perfect routine. We have bath, books (Set a limit right early on. We say 3 books) and bed. We never bath the kids any earlier or let them come downstairs in their PJ's. they know the routine and we have bno problems getting them to bed and sleep. What you are doing is perfect to me.
Now, i imagine you have her on solids now. My sister in law gives cereal before bed and bottle (well actually, breast milk) to her 6 month old to hold him through the night. I would imagine that Emma is not actually hungry at the times she wakes but has learnt that when she wakes in the night and cries, that her mummy comes and holds her and feeds her. i'm sure if you let her cry, that she also will fall back to sleep. Yes,that whole controversial "let them cry" thing.
Here's what I'd do. change things up and feed solids before bed and let her cry herself to sleep. It will be rough for you but it won't take long and she'll be sleeping through the night. Recommend "Baby Whisperer" to read.
Like I said, you can tell me to stick it:)
Raewyn |
| posted by Raewyn on 04/03/2008 01:59 PM
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I appreciate any advice I can get! I have left her to cry before, but she tends to keep waking up again and again if I do that. If I just get up and give her the bottle, she goes back to sleep again and sleeps for several hours straight.
Emma eats 3 solid meals a day, plus bottles in between. Her dinner is usually around 6 pm, then a top-up bottle at 8 pm. She's never been a great sleeper!
Thanks again for the advice! |
| posted by Chris on 04/03/2008 02:16 PM
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Hey Raewyn,
Here's an update for you - I gave Emma an extra helping of cereal before bed, and she only woke up for one feeding last night. That's an improvement! I had planned on letting her cry for a bit, but I had a migraine and a crying baby was the last thing I wanted to hear. We'll keep working on it, but it's a step in the right direction.
I'm very lucky to have a wonderful husband who always takes care of Emma on Friday nights, so I'll get a whole night's sleep tonight!
Chris |
| posted by Chris on 04/04/2008 03:26 PM
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| Great!!! I'm jealous. My husband would sleep through a nuclear explosion. I can NEVER count on him to get up in the night..or mornings too without an explosion under him! |
| posted by Raewyn on 04/04/2008 03:28 PM
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| I know I'm lucky - Barak's a great guy! If anything he dotes on Emma a little too much ... I don't want her getting spoiled! :) |
| posted by Chris on 04/04/2008 09:27 PM
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Hey Chris,
You sound like you are doing great and that things are getting better. One bizarre thing we noticed... when we brought our little guy's bedtime earlier (he's now 15months) he slept longer and better! I would have thought it would be the other way around, but I've heard many people say that this worked for them too. We now start bedtime around 6:30pm and by the time we've had a bath, stories, pjs, song, bottle, he's asleep by 7pm. Every baby is different, but you could always try doing an earlier bedtime for a week and see what happens... I guess it depends on what suits you... nights to yourselves and early mornings.. or sleep ins. I haven't slept past 6:30am for 15months now. How many years before he understands the concept of weekends?! :-) |
| posted by Lucy on 04/07/2008 11:36 AM
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Hey Chris,
Both my boys were horrible sleepers as babies, Phoenix I had to handle on my own being a single first time mum and it just being the two of us in the house it wouldnt bother me too much he was in the same room as me til he was 1 1/2 so i would just either just breast or bottle feed him to get him back to sleep, then when i moved him into his own room i would try to let him cry it out and he could cry for hours and i would give in sometimes. i didnt have a clear cut routine or method, which looking back was my down fall.
When angus came along i decided i wanted him to cosleep with us as i had read a really awesome book about it when i was pregnant, it was good in the fact that if he cryed i would just nudge him to my boob and he would feed and go back to sleep and i could pretty much sleep though it, at about 1 1/2 we put him in a cot in our room and he was bottle fed by then,it would take hours to get him to sleep but once he was asleep he would be out all night.
Now we still have a little power struggle every now and then with angus but hes been falling asleep by 7 or 7.30 and will wake me around 8 am. (Phoenix is currently in Hawaii spending time with my parents in law so i dont have to worry about getting up for school). Our bedtime routine is flexible but consists of bath before or after dinner then teeth either after dinner or bath which ever comes second then into bed, story, kiss and then hes free to read or play til he falls asleep. Which 9 times out of 10 lately he will read to himself and fall asleep.
We were having problems keeping him in his room in the evenings after storytime so we said you can play or do what you want as long as you stay in your room, and it seems to have worked and he doesnt even really seem inclined to play i guess it was more knowing that it was an option if he wanted to. Mind you i make sure to have him in his bed for story time by 6.30 so that if he does read or play hes not up all night.
Our method isnt very mainstream but it works for now and when it stops working we will probably try something else. |
| posted by Anna on 04/08/2008 12:42 PM
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Thanks everyone for all your advice. We're trying to be consistent with Emma, but every night seems to be different with her. Last night she woke up 4 times, other nights it'll only be once or twice. We have tried letting her set the schedule, and we have also tried keeping a strict routine, but she's just inconsistent. She's only 7 months old, so I don't want to expect to much from her, but nieces were both sleeping through the night well before this age. Oh well, we'll keep trying!
Chris |
| posted by Chris on 04/08/2008 05:03 PM
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| One further note about Emma's bedtime - we brought her bedtime forward from 9 pm to 8 pm a couple of months ago, but didn't really notice a difference in her sleep habits. I'm really hesitant to bring it forward any more than that because Barak's out of the house from 7 am to 7 pm, and Emma's still asleep when he leaves for work. Realistically, he only gets to see her for an hour a day, and if he's late home for any reason, he misses seeing her entirely. Hopefully as she gets older things will straighten out. At least she's not waking up 8 times a night like she used to! |
| posted by Chris on 04/08/2008 08:23 PM
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| Would you believe Emma has slept through the night for 2 nights in a row? I know better than to hope that she's finally got the hang of sleeping through the night, but I feel so much better after a good night's sleep! |
| posted by Chris on 04/10/2008 12:16 PM
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