Comments on: Early Bedtime vs. Late Bedtime For Babies and Toddlers: Which Is Best?

By: Danielle

Danielle — Fri, 27 Sep 2019 17:06:56 +0000

In reply to Ali. Hi Ali, Thanks for your comment! Your daughter's sleep sounds roughly average for her age, so if she seems happy and well-slept, and the schedule you have is working for your family, there's no reason to change it. Some families find that their children sleep better on an earlier schedule, but it really depends on the child and your family's schedule. I hope this helps!

By: Ali

Ali — Thu, 26 Sep 2019 00:30:22 +0000

My little girl is nearly 18 months old.
She sleeps well. But I’m wondering if i should move her bedtime. She sleeps from about 9/10pm for around 12 hours at night. And during the day she goes 4 hours awake and then has a nap that usually lasts 2 sometimes 3 hours. And then goes 5 hours awake until bedtime.
Should i be changing this?

By: Danielle

Danielle — Thu, 26 Jul 2018 19:53:53 +0000

In reply to Heather Babish.

Hi Heather,
Thank you for commenting on The Baby Sleep Site! I’m sorry to hear you’re having some trouble adjusting your daughter’s schedule. I’m not a sleep consultant and can’t really help with specifics, but I do know we don’t usually recommend dropping a nap while also changing the schedule, since this can result in overtiredness, and thus more trouble sleeping and actually shorten the night. We also don’t usually recommend switching to one nap until between 15-18 months-old. You might like our article on why that’s the recommendation here: https://www.babysleepsite.com/baby-naps-2/12-month-olds-one-nap-transition/

Because you have a naturally short-sleeper and a couple of different sleep concerns, I’d really recommend talking to a sleep consultant to get some more specific help. You can ask questions on our Member Chat or any of the articles in our Members Area if you just need help deciding what to tackle first, or you may want to consider one of our personalized consultations. Good luck!

By: Heather Babish

Heather Babish — Tue, 24 Jul 2018 21:52:10 +0000

My 13 month old has always gone to bed late. Earliest is 10pm. She sleeps about 9 hours at night and will occasionally sleep 10. (She also occasionally only sleeps 7 or 8). I have never put her to bed earlier than 10 because she never sleeps more than 10 hours. I’m ready to make her bed time earlier. We started trying to transition to 1 nap and putting to an hour earlier but after a few days she started waking earlier, still only about 9 hours at night. Amy way to get her to sleep longer at night? Her 2 daytime naps usually total about 2 to 3 hours depending on how long she slept at night. Her total sleep time in a day (24 hour period) is never more than 13 hours. Any suggestions? I feel like if I mover her bedtime earlier she will just wake earlier (as happened when trying thr 1 nap thing).

By: Neosha

Neosha — Sat, 09 Jun 2018 01:52:05 +0000

In reply to Sara.

@Sara – Thank you for stopping by our sleepy little village and for sharing with us! This age can definitely be a tough one for a toddler’s sleep as they tend to hit another sleep regression around this time. Late bedtimes are definitely much more common at this point as wake times tend to be a bit longer at this point. This article briefly discusses this regression and gives a few tips on getting through it – https://www.babysleepsite.com/sleep-regression-2/2-year-old-sleep-regression/ Hang in there, Sara!

By: Sara

Sara — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 14:12:11 +0000

My 23 month old has a 7 sometimes 8hour awake time after the afternoon nap which ends at 3!!! This is seriously frustrating and and don’t know what to do, she’s just not tired, buzzing around, tried to exhaust her but nothing works, is this just the way she is? Nap ranges from 2-3 hours, tried to cut it to 1 hour and she was still up 7 hours later! Help!

By: Janelle Reid

Janelle Reid — Sun, 08 Apr 2018 00:46:44 +0000

In reply to Carol.

@Carol, thank you for visiting the Baby Sleep Site. I am so sorry you are all exhausted! That is tough. 🙁 Here is an article that may give you some tips to help your son stay in his bed if you haven’t tried all of them: https://www.babysleepsite.com/toddlers/limit-setting-toddler/ If the problem persists, let us know! Our team of sleep consultants would love to help – we have worked with children your son’s age and some older as well. You can email us directly if you are interested to contact@babysleepsite.com and we can help you figure out the next steps. Hang in there!

By: Carol

Carol — Fri, 06 Apr 2018 13:25:10 +0000

My 4 1/2 year old son, who used to be a great sleeper, now wakes up during the night and comes into our room. He says he cannot sleep without an adult. As I don’t want to start having him sleeping in our bed, I walk him back to his room. This goes on for several hours till I give up and sleep with him in his room. We are all exhausted.

By: Janelle Reid

Janelle Reid — Thu, 22 Feb 2018 19:12:42 +0000

In reply to Kelly.

@Kelly – Thank you for your comment! It sounds like you have a great routine going with your 12 week old. In the next few months you will likely be able to start bringing that bedtime back a bit, but it sounds like he is giving you great stretches of sleep! Here is a link to a sample schedule for a 4 month old – I know he is not there, but this will give you an idea of what you will be working towards transitioning him to in the next month or so if you need to make changes: https://www.babysleepsite.com/schedules/4-month-old-schedule/
Having one longer morning nap and then more catnaps throughout the day is pretty normal, for now I would just continue to make sure he is not awake for too long (about 1.5-2 hours at the most) before trying to get him to sleep again. As he gets older you should see those naps lengthen out and he will not be taking so many each day. That said, I would continue to do what you are doing unless in the morning he seems super drowsy and it’s challenging to keep him awake. If this is the case I’d offer the nap sooner.
I hope this helps! Thank you for using the Baby Sleep Site as a resource for sleep!

By: Kelly

Kelly — Wed, 21 Feb 2018 06:22:22 +0000

Hello,
My 12 week old has just gotten into a sleep pattern of:
bedtime at 11pm in his crib, solid sleep till 7-9am. Then I feed, change and play with him for an hour/hour half, and then he falls back asleep in his boppy for 2-3 hours. After that his naps are only 30-45 mins. Should I be playing with him in the morning, or just feeding and changing him and put him back in the crib?