What time is bedtime?

[bluegrassmom]

My 5 month old has had a 9 pm bedtime since she was 2 months old and it has worked great, but now she's been getting tired and ready for bed by 7 pm. That would be great except that with my husband's and my schedules, we often don't get home until 8:30 or 9 pm. She takes 3 naps a day, around 9 am, 1 pm, and 5 pm and wakes up in the morning between 7:30 and 8. I do have to get her up at 6:30 two to three times a week so I can get to work. Does anyone have any ideas on how to handle the fussy, crying, "don't put me down" period that I have to deal with every night when she gets tired?

[Liana]

Aside from putting her to bed? ;)

I'm trying to get to bed myself, so this will be short, but 7pm sounds like a "typical" bedtime for a baby of her age. Where are you with her when she gets into that fussy state? Obviously if you're at home, I'd say get her to bed! But if you're still out and about, you may just have to put up with it (once the usual distractions like toys, holding, stop working).

[bluegrassmom]

My husband farms with his dad and we don't eat supper until 8 or 9. We often are at his parents' house for supper and if we stopped going, we wouldn't see his family much. We also have church until 8 pm twice a week. I guess we'll just stick with an evening nap before bedtime for now.

[bluegrassmom]

One question--is it okay to put my baby to bed at 7 pm on the nights we are home (about 3-4 a week) and keep her up later on the nights we can't get home until later? Or will that throw her sleep schedule way out of whack?

[fuzzy]

I haven't really experimented with different times but,I think that as long as you keep the routine the same I don't think you should have that hard of a time having different bedtimes.I also think though that you may find instability in naps..some day she might require more sleep than others.I hope this helps:)

[bluegrassmom]

thanks for the advice! I'm going to try putting her to bed earlier on nights we're home.

[BestworkingmomEVER]

my 5 year old gets to stay up til 9pm if its not a school night or in the summer. during school he is in bed at 8. my 14 month old is in bed at 7 almost every night. if she has had a long nap we let her stay up til 8 at the absolut latest.