Until one day I was enlightened by a book called Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth, M.D., which taught me about the concept of «overtired» and the importance
of an early bedtime.
We have been big fans
of the early bedtime for our kids.
See Benefits
of an Early Bedtime for details.
Despite our best efforts to keep him on a schedule
of an early bedtime and naps every 3 hours, our days were inconsistent.
Trust me, I honestly do get it but it wouldn't be something that I would ask families unless I knew all the benefits
of an earlier bedtime.
Most children won't be too pleased with the idea
of earlier bedtimes when the new school year comes around.
Not exact matches
If you feel frustrated that your wife has a habit
of reading late into the night, you probably expected her to share your sensibilities for an
early bedtime.
In praise
of wide open windows and green trees,
of rain soaked ground and
early bedtimes for everyone,
of full bookshelves and white jammies with the little feet for the baby,
of smudged glasses sliding down a boy's nose and ringlets and a pixie who can't stop plotting and a baby who takes us all in.
Between getting them back into the groove
of school schedules and all that goes with that (
earlier bedtimes, homework, etc.) and pulling together everything that their teachers needed, I felt ready to turn back the clock and do summer vacation all over again.
At first it was going to be for an
early dinner, but then we realized that didn't really want to go to dinner at 6:00 and then come home and do the bustle
of the
bedtime routine.
Less late night boozing and
earlier bedtime resulting in a clear mind and head in the morning wo uld enable another Arsenal blogger to blog coherently instead
of posting drunken hogwash here?
Set a consistent
bedtime — Kids who have a consistent and appropriate
bedtime learn the basics
of «sleep hygiene» or good sleep habits
early in life.
Sometimes even adjusting
bedtime to be 15 minutes
earlier can make a world
of difference.
Consistently making swaddling part
of your
bedtime and / or naptime ritual
early on will help create the association that once the swaddle is on, it's time for sleep.
are dream feeds the feedings that take place during the late night /
early hours
of the morning after the
bedtime feed?
If your baby could be in the habit
of going to bed a little too late and is experiencing disturbed sleep in the night, they'll be overtired and even though waking is the issue introducing
earlier bedtime may help your baby to sleep later in the morning.
If that window
of time is too long, your child may be overly - tired at
bedtime, which can lead to
early rising.
In this last table, solid foods are served most
of the day, while milk is given only in the
early morning and
bedtime.
In fairness, many
of them aren't really secrets — the nighttime routine and
early bedtime, for example — but common strategies for baby sleep training recommended by many experts.
Daylight savings is also an excuse to practice one
of the most powerful techniques in baby sleep training: the
early bedtime technique (EBT for short).
One
of the most surprising yet effective techniques to help babies sleep longer at night is to set an
early bedtime — maybe 45 minutes to an hour after dinner at the latest.
And the idea
of letting kids catch up on sleep on weekends doesn't work because some kids wake up
early anyway (as many bleary - eyed parents will attest), or they sleep in really late and then are even less likely to be sleepy at an
early bedtime during the school week.
Blackout curtains do a great job
of making the room totally dark, whether it is still too light at
bedtime or a little too light very
early in the morning.
Many kids stop taking naps around this age, so setting an
early bedtime and good sleep habits will be an important part
of a 5 - year - old's daily routine.
Having babies and toddlers with
early bedtimes means you can take advantage
of early - bird dinner specials, and when they're a bit older, lazy brunches out are big hits.
Before
bedtime on Christmas Eve, we leave a mince pie, carrot and drink out for Santa and have an
early night, ready for the excitement
of the next day.
To shift the timing
of your toddler's nap, first look at your log and see if it's reasonable to expect them to go to sleep
earlier or later based on their current
bedtime and wake time.
Keep in mind that your toddler still needs up to 15 hours
of sleep a day, so it's important that you stick to routine that includes plenty
of naps and an
early bedtime.
We used to have a few
of these spread through the day including an
early morning read, a story before nap time, a story while supper was cooking and one or two (or three) at
bedtime.
The problem I run into here is that if I feed him at 4 pm and then do an
early bedtime routine, I would be feeding him again at 6 or 6:30 as a part
of his
bedtime routine, but since its so close to his last feeding, he often doesn't eat well.
Your child should go to bed at the same time every night — weekends included — ideally between 7:30 and 8:30 p.m. (Many parents, especially those who work outside the home, balk at an
early bedtime — but unless your child can and does snooze until 8 a.m. every day, a 9 p.m.
bedtime will deprive him
of much - needed sleep.)
For example, if your regular
bedtime is 9 p.m. and you travel from New York to California, where the time is 3 hours
earlier, you may be ready for bed when it is 6 p.m. in California because you've already been up for the usual amount
of time and your body is ready to rest.
8 month old boy (who's in transition from nursing to formula & solids) 8 am - wake, diaper, nurse for 5 - ish minutes 8:30 am - breakfast in high chair (4 oz bottle + solids) 9:00 - 9:45 ish - play time (independent play then reading books & getting ready for nap) 10am - 11:30 am - morning nap 11:30 - 12 pm - wake up from nap, diaper, get dressed for day, etc ** if we go out to run errands this is the time we leave, and and we will stop to eat lunch while out 12 pm - lunch (8oz bottle + solids) 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm - play time 1:30 pm - 3:30 pm - afternoon nap 3:30 - 4 pm - play time 4 pm - eat (8oz bottle + snack such as cheerios) 4:30 pm - 6:30 pm - play time (if he woke up
early from afternoon nap, then sometimes he still takes a short cat nap during this timeframe 6:30 pm - dinner with family (solids in high chair) 7:00 pm - outdoor play time (baby swing, take a walk, etc) 8:00 pm - start
of an 8oz bottle 8:30 pm - bath time, read books, finish rest
of bottle 9:00 pm -
bedtime.
Even at nearly 2 years old, it's not a perfect situation — she still sometimes cries at
bedtime, she still sometimes wakes up in the middle
of the night, and she still sometimes wakes up too
early and won't go back to sleep unless I lie down with her on a mattress in her room.
After all that, I would say an
early bedtime for the kids and a glass
of wine at home would be the perfect ending to a great fall day in Minneapolis.
For preschoolers who on average need 12 hours
of sleep in a 24 - hour period, you can increase that to 12 hours and 15 minutes or 12 hours and 30 minutes by moving your
bedtime 15 minutes
earlier.
If you don't want to deal with a late
bedtime or
early wake - up time, you may want to talk to your day care provider about changing the amount
of sleep your toddler gets during the day.
If you need more than one warning to get out
of bed, your
bedtime that night will be 30 minutes
earlier.
If
bedtime can not be
earlier because
of homework or activities, then I would suggest letting them nap.
In fact, a regular
bedtime, especially an
early one, was found to have the most significant positive developmental effects on children 4 years
of age.
Early bedtime routines can also be a challenge for some families with multiple children, especially when one child is in the midst
of newborn age, experiencing regression, or any number
of other challenges come dusk.
Which does mean an
early bedtime, but has battles
of its own (fighting off the late afternoon grizzles... timing it right so when the 7 pm need to sleep hits and we can drop everything... nursery NEVER getting the message that no, a two hour sleep at 1 pm is NOT A GOOD THING).
Susan Newman, social psychologist and author
of «Little Things Long Remembered: Making Your Children Feel Special Every Day,» said parents should discourage bad behaviors by taking away privileges such as dessert, or setting an
earlier bedtime.
So, even before daylight saving time begins, instead
of an 8 pm
bedtime, you might put your child to bed 5 - 15 minutes
earlier every few days.
So start your baby
bedtime routine
early enough to have your baby ready for bed when the first signs
of sleepiness show.
One
of the best things I did as a parent was set a
bedtime routine with my children
early in their life.
If she still has a very
early bedtime, it might be contributing to her lack
of sleepiness at night (at this age, kids need a total
of 11 to 13 hours
of sleep in a 24 - hour period), so you might consider moving
bedtime back an hour.
I traded nights out at the bars with friends in favor
of cozy nights at home with my husband and an
early bedtime.
Our dreams
of relaxing by the fire at night were replaced with an
early bedtime.
You may find that your toddler starts to wake during the night after months
of sleeping through the night, you may find that your child has nightmares or becomes scared before
bedtime or they may start to wake up very
early or not fall asleep until very late.