letting 6 mth old set his bedtime, possible mistake?

[tigerlilly]

My lo wont go to bed before 22.15 and will sleep through till 8.30-9.30 sometimes later he'll sometimes have two naps one short at around 1pm and the next one at 5ish.

Has anyone else let their lo set their own bedtime and has it been problematic? do you regret doing it? I'm so frustrated, should I continue to let him set his bedtime or go for routine? cc or cio aren't an option for us. I've tried to put him down at the same time everyday but he just screams.

 

[maisie78]

We've always let Gabriella set her own routine including bedtime and now at 8 months she has a really well settled routine with regards mealtimes, nap times (although she's not a good napper) then bedtime is 1730-1800. Started out around 2200 but over the weeks she was demanding her bed earlier and earlier and keeping her up made no difference to getting up time it just made her grumpier. I don't see the point in forcing it unless it really doesn't work for your family xx

 

[bookreader]

We have pretty much let LO set his own routine. I am not great with routine and it would stress me, but I understand why people do it.

He hasn't been a great sleeper, gets up lots through the night so we co-slept. the past week has been better, mostly been sleeping in his cot.

He goes down between 6.30 and 7.30 generally and just fell into that himself.
However that said, those are good times that many babies go down at and it suits us.

If he set his own time for midnight, that wouldn't work so well so we would mayne have to re think.

 

[HelenJane]

Iet my baby set her own bedtime and its been fine. Less stressful I'd say anyway.
They bring their bedtime forward by themselves and now she goes to sleep 7-7:30pm has done for a while. He'll get there mummy

 

[Pielette]

Are you frustrated because you'd like him to go to bed earlier? The only way to do that is to get him up for the day earlier, say 7am, 7.30am ish. You'd have to restructure his day with the naps.

It's up to each family really as to what works for them. If you and LO are both happy with it that's fine, but if you want to change it an earlier wake up is what you need.

 

[sarahh]

If its working for you and him I would just leave it as it is. If it isn't working for you, you could try and move bedtime earlier by 15 mins every few days so he gradually gets used to it.

 

[jessicaR4bbit]

You may find your baby will push back their bedtime without any prompting from you actually. Do you set the mood for sleep early enough? I find dim lighting, no TV/phones/PC etc after 6pm combined with bath, massage and reading time to work for us. Have you tried something similar?

Wear out your baby as much as possible during the day. Lots of play time and fresh air, and make sure he's napping enough during the day. 10pm may just be his ideal time for sleep, but if you haven't tried encouraging an earlier bedtimd it'd be worth a shot.

 

[Bevziibubble]

I've always let Holly set her own routine. She usually falls asleep between 9-10pm every night but occasionally can vary either side of that. It works ok for us.

I think you'd have to give your LO an earlier start to the day if you wanted him to go to bed earlier, so it depends how you feel getting up early!