# The right bedtime for a 8 month old



## Teddy'sMom (Mar 17, 2007)

My 8 month old son gets up between 5:30 and 6:30 in the morning and takes 2 naps, one around 8:30 and the next around 1. Both naps last between and hour and an hour and a half. At 6:30 he seems very tired for bed. He basicly nurses to sleep, but I try to put him down before he is completely asleep. He sleeps in a crib. Basicly the schedule is working for us.

The only problem is that he is getting up quite a bit during the night and often doesn't seem too hungary. Now that he is pulling up, he sometimes pulls up the standing and starts to cry until I come in and nurse him. This can happen several times before I even go to bed and then continue through the night.

A friend of mine thinks that his 6:30 bedtime is too early and he is not tired enough at night. I am afraid to try moving his bedtime because when I have tried it before he gets over tired and has a hard time falling asleep.

*So my question is, when did your 8 month old go to sleep at night and how can I tell if my son is going to bed too early?*

Thanks so much for any help!


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## Peony (Nov 27, 2003)

I have always watched for signs that the DD's are getting tired, DD2 is 10m now and her signs are far easier to spot then her sister's used to be. She rubs her eyes, stops wanting to crawl and destroy the house, she wants to be cuddled... When that occurs vastly varies, anywhere between 7- 11pm. She wakes up between 7:30-8am, and takes several naps a day. Being the second child, she has to nap on the go and some days they happen and other days it's just at naps for 20 minutes here and there.


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## DisplacedYooper (Aug 10, 2007)

Ben usually falls asleep between 8:30 and 10, wakes between 7:30 and 8:30, and naps twice during the day, once around 11-1ish and once in the late afternoon/early evening.

I nurse him to sleep when he starts rubbing his eyes, etc. In his case, just because he is tired at 6:00 doesn't mean he's ready for bed! An hours' nap and he's raring to go again...


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## luminesce (Aug 6, 2006)

DS is 5 1/2 months. His bedtime is somewhere between 9:30 and 10:30, though lately it has been on the late side, sometimes near 11. His nap times vary like crazy because he resists sleep a lot. He wakes up around 8-10AM and will take a nap in the morning after he awakes if I can lay back down with him for a bit. And then he takes another one in the afternoon. But, if we end up doing 20 minute naps throughout the day, he will sometimes take naps as late as 6 or 8PM. But, overall, he seems to get all of his naps in no matter how we space them and bedtime stays about the same time.


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## Izzy's Mom (Apr 15, 2002)

I remember that my boys as infants both seemed to need to go to bed early. I read a book called Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby (or something like that!) and I really found it helped me identify the baby's natural sleep cycle and the cues they give as to how much sleep each child needs and when. Which doesn't really answer your question, except to say that if YOU think your baby is tired at 6:30 he probably is. Not sleeping through the night can be for many reasons, and do not mean you should move his bedtime to a later hour.

Good luck!!


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## wendylady (Jun 14, 2006)

Your schedule sounds good for him. Sounds like he's getting a good amount of sleep. The nightwaking could be attributed to lots of things (developmental spurts, separation anxiety, teething). I doubt the early bedtime has anything to do with it. And remember that this will probably change soon. I find that babies just go through phases with sleep. It gets better, it gets worse. You just kind of have to roll with it. And remember when things are really bad that they'll probably be better in a week or two!


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## tempestjewel (Apr 18, 2005)

My 8-month-old DD goes to bed around 9 PM and gets up around 8:30 AM, but we nurse throughout the night. I honestly don't know how often she eats, because I wear my nursing nightgown to bed that gives her easy access, and she just eats when she wants. I too look for signs that shes getting tired- she pulls at her ears and grabs at the back of her head, and starts getting super clingy. Nightwakings definitely can coincide with developmental spurts, or with teething.

Have you thought about bringing baby to bed with you when your son is waking frequently? That way it doesn't disturb your sleep as much.


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## bobandjess99 (Aug 1, 2005)

Ya, it's so hard to know why nightwaking happen, like the pp said.
My dd, at 8 mos, went to sleep around 10-11pm. I am a nightowl/anti-morning person, and so what was important to me was that she sleep in in the morning, so we went to bed late and got up late, basically, the exact same as your schedule, except pushed back about 4 hours, so we would sleep from like 1030pm to 1030 am, instead of 630 pm until 630 am.
Whatever works for you.

At 8 months, the walking milestone can REALLY interfere with sleep patterns, as can teething issues, crawling, etc. I always found that doing *something* new made my dd sleep WAY, WAY, WAY better than anything else. Not necesarily "tiring her out" per se, but just having some sort of new experience to process. Just taking a walk down the block so she could see new, interesting things for example, would help her sleep better than a day in which we just did the normal routine stuff. It was like if her mind has something new to process, she would sleep so much better.
Although, at that age, she was waking up easily 4-5 times a night to nurse, so by no means was she "sleeping through the night".


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## Peony (Nov 27, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *DisplacedYooper* 
I nurse him to sleep when he starts rubbing his eyes, etc. In his case, just because he is tired at 6:00 doesn't mean he's ready for bed! An hours' nap and he's raring to go again...

I had to laugh at that because that's what DD2 is doing right now. It's after 7pm, she is napping, when her sister comes in from swim class in a bit then she'll wake up and probably be up for a few more hours.


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## SublimeBirthGirl (Sep 9, 2005)

I'd be curious about how often he's waking up and how easily he goes back to sleep. My 1 y/o is up every 2 hours all night, as was my 1st for 19 months.


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## theretohere (Nov 4, 2005)

My 4 month old goes to bed at 7ish, wakes up for the day at 7. My 3.5 year old goes to bed at 7:30. I'm a big believer in early bed times, but I think 6:30 might be a little too early.


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## hammerwest60610 (Mar 18, 2007)

My 8 month dd goes to sleep around 7 / 7:30. She wakes 2, sometimes 3 times between 7:30 and 6:30 in the AM. She'll nurse or sometimes go back to sleep on her own, but mostly nursing...sounds like your schedule is ok. We start with a bath, then lots of nursing and rocking until she's asleep. Dark room. Very quiet. Seems to work at least for now.


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## kaspar (Nov 9, 2005)

my guy is 8 mos old. usually he is up around 8 am, napping is totally random these days (we seem to be moving from two to one) and then we start his nightly routine (solids, bath, nurse to sleep) at 6 pm and he is usually asleep by 7:30 (although you never know!) these days he wakes once or twice in the night to nurse.

what i have heard is that if you put them to sleep earlier, they sleep longer. i have heard so many mamas say "if i put him down at 6 pm he sleeps till 8 am, but if i put him down at 7 pm he's up by 7 am" doesn't make sense to me, but it seems to work that way...


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