When did your 4 month old go to bed?

[LynAnne]

Our DS is 4 month old on Monday (whaaaat?) and usually has his last bottle between 10-11 and goes to bed in that time frame. He goes down to bed awake and falls asleep quickly once the light goes off. He was sleeping through the night from about 7 weeks until recently when we got hit by the dreaded sleep regresseion! At the moment he wakes himself up about 3 times a night but settles fairly quickly, wanting nothing more than his dummy or a cuddle, definitely not another bottle! He wakea up for the day and a bottle at 6:30-7:30 and usually has an hour's nap about 9ish.

It's a routine that has been working for us but recently a few people seem to be making a point of the fact they think he should be going to bed earlier. I keep getting asked by family if he's going to bed soon about 7 or 8, when we are going to put him down for the night, if his early evening bottle was his last one etc. And when I tell them no, he'll get another bottle later they give me a disapproving look. Ugh.

I know all babies are different and our routine is working for us so I'm not concerned BUT I'm just curious as to when you put your 4 month down for the night.

 

[xdxxtx]

He got his last night feeding at 11pm and went to bed at MIDNIGHT. He would NOT go to bed any earlier than that at that age. In fact, he tried to hold out until 1 am much of the time. He was up at 5am, too, ready for his next feeding. When he turned 6 months old and dropped that middle-of-the-night feeding and started eating some solids, we slowly put him to bed about 5-10 minutes earlier every Monday night until he was going to bed at 8pm, so now all of my kids go to bed at 8pm, thank goodness.

My first- and second-borns were sleeping through the night from 10 or 11 on, at that point, but I do think a later bedtime like that is common among younger babies.

 

[jessmke]

My DD was in bed at 7pm at that age, but was still up 3-4 times a night for a feed.

 

[heychrissie]

I think my daughter was in bed by 8pm at that point and having one or two feeds in the night x

 

[cupcake.]

My little girl goes to bed around 7:30, wakes once to eat and used to get up around 7:30.
however her naps have improved significantly over this past week and she has been waking at 6am on the dot all week. Not my fave haha especially since the night bottle is around 4 which makes it almost pointless to go back to bed for 1 1/2 hours and try to fall back asleep to OH snoring and then his alarm goes at 5am... But I've read earlier wake up can be part of the regression so nothing to be done haha
I'm very much hoping she'll over time drop her night bottle so we can sleep through until 6 at least, because i do have a feeling that time is here to stay.

We started her bedtime routine a couple weeks ago and at first she'd wake between 1&2 for first bottle and then about 4:30&6 for second bottle and up for the day at around 8. Over time her first sleep session got longer and longer until she dropped to one bottle at night and earlier wake up for the day. She's had two days (not consecutive) where she slept until 5am so i think we're on track to sttn..

For bedtime, i could not get her to bed any later and i don't want to either. In fact i may move her bedtime up slightly so that she's in bed by 7/7:15. She's extremely tired then and i really enjoy having some time with OH in the evenings.

Before we started that bedtime we kept her with us in the living room until we went to bed, so around 10pm. But by then she'd already be asleep in my arms so at a certain point it just made sense to get her to bed when she'd fall asleep anyway.

 

[noon_child]

We just started a bedtime routine around 4months because she had stopped cluster feeding, was not interested in the feed that used to happen at around 9 and was crying a lot through tiredness but was not able to shut off if she was with us in a room with lights, TV, music, food or whatever. It also gave me a chance to go to bed early too as I'd be up every 2.5-3hrs to feed through the night. We started out trying 7:30 but often it took 2hrs to get her down. However when I moved it earlier to 6:45 she went to sleep quicker. She was a sleep fighter though and would not nap much, if at all through the day.

 

[LoraLoo]

Nellie falls to sleep for the night around 6.30/7pm whilst having a feed. I keep her with me til I go to bed at 9-10pm. She still wakes several times a night for a feed and we co-sleep. She wakes for the day at 6.30am.
She's 6 months.

 

[KatO79]

My 5 month old is to bed between 10-11 PM depending on how long his naps have lasted through the day. We used to put him to bed earlier but then he'd wake up super early and not sleep very well (although that was also partially due to the 4 month sleep regression!). It works for us now and he's up for the day most of the time between 6-6:30 AM.

By family do you mean people your parents' age or older? I think people tend to forget things like that the older they get. E.g. my son the vast majority of the time can't stay awake for more than between 1 hr 15 minutes and 1 hr 45 minutes at a time but my ILs and their siblings are 100% convinced that he should be able to stay awake for far longer at his age, like 3 hours, even though my health care provider and the mothers in my Mommy Group all say he's within the norm I'd just ignore your family and shrug it off, they are most likely remembering incorrectly what it was like with their own kids at that age. That's what I've been doing anyway!

 

[MindUtopia]

At 4 months, mine would go to bed about 6:30pm, but still had feeds during the night. So after the bedtime one, she'd often have one around 10/11pm and then around 3am. She'd wake for the day around 6-7am. They do need about 12 hours of sleep at night at that age plus daytime naps, but the exact timings don't matter too much.

 

[becsboo]

whatever works for you every child is different

 

[loeylo]

At that age Gracie was still up until 11pm but then slept until maybe 8am, then was up for maybe 1-2 hours, then slept for another few hours. It was great as I just got up at 7am (which felt like a long lie as before having her I was up for work at 5:30) then the housework was done before she got up, I could play with her for an hour and then she went back to sleep, when I could prepare dinner.

It took until really recently (16 months or so) until she started to go down earlier. Now, she falls asleep at around 7:30 and sleeps til 7am, and she sometimes naps once in the day.

Follow the babies lead!

 

[smileyfaces]

Nellie falls to sleep for the night around 6.30/7pm whilst having a feed. I keep her with me til I go to bed at 9-10pm. She still wakes several times a night for a feed and we co-sleep. She wakes for the day at 6.30am.
She's 6 months.

Exactly the same as this!! Sleep at 7ish but stays with me downstairs till I go to bed at 9pm and then we cosleep and feed through the night as and when required and he wakes for the day at 6.30am!

 

[Lucasmum]

Naps on and off from about 1800 till 2200 then awake till midnight last feedbis about 2330 put down in the cot drops off till about 0730 or 0800 feeds goes back off till 1030ish lazy little girl doesn't really sleep in the day at all after that

If the routines working for you stick with it bugger what anyone else thinks

 

[Starlight32]

It was around around 630 / 730 ish. It was just starting to get darker much earlier than which I think helped push bedtime forward.

We seem to be having later bedtimes now with it staying light longer.

 

[blablamana]

My son usually has his third nap from about 4:30 PM - 6PM.. then he is awake for about 2 hours and goes to bed for the night. We wake him between 12-1 for a feed and he immediately goes back to bed after that till about 7-7:30. We wake him at night because otherwise he is ready for the day at like 5AM.

Whatever works for you is fine, if baby is having sufficient naps your baby will definitely go to bed earlier as nap times decrease. Should work out fine