11Pm Bedtime for a 6Month Old Too Late?

That was about when my son went to bed when he was that age, however his last nap was from 1-3 and sometimes from 5-5:30 in the car on the way home. That long of a late nap is definitely going to push her schedule later.

I'm not against late bedtimes. My 5 year old goes to bed between 11-12, but he is up by 8:30 every day, on his own. He wakes me up on the weekends. If this is a schedule that works for you, then stick with it. She is getting plenty of sleep. If you need her to be up earlier, then maybe you could try gradually moving the nap up to 4-6 and getting her in bed by 9.

While 11 seems extremely late to me, she is still getting an appropriate amount of sleep for her age, and if seems to be working for everyone, then I would not worry so much. And I do think that 10 is too late to wake up, but since she is going to bed so late, then she would have to sleep that late to get a decent amount of sleep at night. If it is not working well, then I would try adapting the schedule slowly, in 15 minute increments. But if you so this, you will have to adjust her ENTIRE schedule, not just her bedtime. Good Luck!

Not too late at all.

If the schedule that she is currently on works for you and your family, there's no reason to change it. What's important is that she's getting the amount of sleep that she needs.

It's more important how many hours of good sleep they are getting than what time they go to bed.
All 3 of my kids are on similar schedules. When they were babies they chose their schedules and this is very close to what they went with. It works for us. I homeschool, SAH etc so we don't have to be up before the sun to get everywhere where they need to be.
The only problem we have with it is that hours for a lot of things don't sync with us and we have to argue that a first thing in the morning doctors apt is not when my kids are "at their best" because they aren't even up yet so we'd have to wake them LOL But that's societies problem not ours ;)

Well, if it works for you, that is great!

S.:

If it works for you - then it's right for YOU.

My daughter - she would go to bed at 9PM and sleep to 6AM....
Greg? urgh - he was ALWAYS my best sleeper - slept the night through at 6 weeks - bed at 9PM and like his half sister - up at 6AM...
Nicky? If he had his way - he would go to sleep at 1AM or maybe 2AM and sleep until 11AM...

So if it works for you - keep it going. You will be able to adjust that over time. At six months - it's another huge growth spurt - she needs sleep. Let her sleep. Just keep the schedule....adjust by small increments over a week and you will get it to where you want it but it still works for your family...

EDIT: The last nap of the day - is WAY too late in my opinion. However, if she's not up until 10AM....small changes will work. patience...

it's not the WHEN that's important at all... it's the HOURS.

Infants need 12-16 hours of sleep a night
Toddlers need apx 12-14
Elementary aged kids (prepuberty) need 10-12

You'll find the WHENs vary very regionally. In southern Italy, bedtime is typically 1AM. Why? Because everyone gets up around 7ish (for work and school that starts at 9) then EVERYONE GOES HOME and naps from about 1pm-6pm.(or 2-5) Kids go back to school, adults go back to work. DINNER is at 10pm. Adults are getting 8 hours, kids are getting their 12+ hours.

In the US dinner USED to be "universally" at 8pm (like it's "universally" at 6pm NOW). Bedtime was 9-10. School started at 10 and was out at 2pm. Then women entered the workforce (wwii) and everything changed. (school days got earlier and longer). School days have CONTINUED getting longer in conjunction with WORK hours. Remember 9-5? Who works 9-5 anymore??? Almost no one. Instead, it's drop the kids off at daycare at 630, to be at work by 730. Schools are starting between 7am & 8am and going to 4pm.

The "8pm" bedtime was from a holdover (our generation) where school started between 830 & 900 am.

Nowadays MOST parents are starting to put their kids to bed at SEVEN. Why??? Because kids need 12 hours of sleep, and they have to be in school by 8, which means up at 7... if they're NOT ALREADY up at 6 for daycare.

Your daughter is getting the HOURS she needs. If you need her on a different schedule for your own life/needs... it'll take a bit of work, but you can switch her (be prepared for some exhausting cranky weeks). If NOT... you have 4-5 more YEARS before you have to worry about an 8pm bedtime.

Just fine if it works for you.
The baby is the decider when it comes to these things. Meaning they know when they are hungry, thirsty and tired (at least at that age. Toddlers seem to think they will be missing out on some great fun!).

I worked with what my baby needed at that time.

I was a SAHM so I had that luxury. I went with it and I really didn't have
a fussy, over-tired baby.

Now I can impose a bit of structure & rules as he is an almost 3 yr old.

So I was sleep deprived but got through it and it was what worked for him.

I did not want a bright-eyed, fully awake baby at two in the morning. Eek.

My last feeding for my baby at that time was "dream feed" at 10:45pm then to drift off before bed w/a clean diaper. Still needed to get up in the middle of the night most nights for a feeding & change before back to bed. But sometimes he slept until 5 am. Awww.

So do what works for you and your baby! :)

My infants, newborns, would usually pick this time to go to bed and sleep most of the night at a couple of weeks. If this is the case I'd say it sounds fine and gradually she will get earlier and earlier at going to bed or that nap will turn into bedtime and she won't wake. I would think at 6 months she should be going to bed earlier soon.

You have to do what works for you. However, that type of bedtime won't be appropriate once your child goes to school, IMO. Hopefully her schedule will regulate before then. You can get her on a schedule now, with a lot of work, but if you don't need to be on one, then I wouldn't worry about it.

At that age, our daughter was pretty much napping 3 times a day and she might end up going to sleep at 8 pm, but then would wake up between 11 and 12, get one last bottle, and then was out for the night. Babies really don't follow the clock like we do and don't have a sense of early, late, etc. - they just sleep when they are tired, wake up when they are done, and that's it. As they get closer to a 12 months, their sleep patterns get to be a little bit closer to what we would expect and as toddlers their schedule can be a bit more structured (i.e. bedtime at 7 to 8 pm, then up in the morning, with 1 or 2 naps during the day). It's the total hours of sleep that they get in a 24 hour period that is more important then when exactly they are up in the morning and down for the night.

You may enjoy reading the book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Dr. Marc Weissbluth, and/or "BabyWise" by Gary Ezzo. Babies do best when you put them down super early - rather than a nap at 6pm, put her down for the night then. Babies' brains are wired a little differently than ours, and they will actually sleep more successfully if you put them down around 6pm. Any later than that, and you're not going to have as much success in getting a good, long sleep. (I don't know why, but it's true.) Most babies that age are capable of sleeping 12 hours straight (if they are normal size, no medical issues). Our schedule was feeding at 6am, play time, then nap at 9am. Feeding at 10am, play time, nap from 12-2pm, play time, bath at 5, feeding at 5:30, bedtime at 6pm. After a week or two of this schedule, your baby will sleep all the way through from 6pm - 6am. Promise. ;)

My son did not really have a bedtime until he was a year old. Up until then he functioned on a fairly close to 3 hour schedule: wake and scream like you are starving to death, eat, have diaper changed, play a bit, sleep then repeat q 3 hours until approximately 11pm-12 am, then (thankfully) sleep until 6-8 am and repeat again. We put him in his crib after what we assumed would be the last evening feeding. My son could sleep anywhere and actually never napped at home in the crib - he slept - on a mat on the floor, in the stroller, in the carseat, while being carried, anywhere. I don't see a problem with a later bedtime.

BTW - DS was in daycare from 9 weeks of age so this 'schedule' worked for us either at home or at daycare. They followed his cues about sleeping and did not assign him a naptime. I would not worry at all that this will need to change before she starts school. You have years and LOTS will change before then.

Do what works for you!

When Isaac was that age I was working evening shift. For a few months I stupidly tried to do a "normal" schedule for him even though my schedule wasn't normal. Did NOT work for us! What did work was for me to put him to bed around 12:30 and we'd sleep until 9:30 (we co slept and he'd usually wake up at least once to nurse I think....) I think he usually napped right after I left for work at 1:30 and then again in the evening.

Each of my grandkids took an early evening nap for several months then they started to gradually move towards an earlier bedtime. As they get older and start taking one nap per day, around 10-14 months, then I would say an earlier bedtime could be a goal that is do-able. Right now it doesn't matter. If you're good to go then it doesn't matter what any of us think.

Do what works for you! If this is what is working, then go for it.

Our 3 yr old is up until 10-11 and wakes up at 5:30... no later than 6am. Sometimes she will take an hour nap around noon but most times don't. I couldn't handle being up at 3am for the day when she went to sleep at 8. So we let her stay up later. If my husband goes to sleep earlier than her, she will lay in bed with him and watch tv until I get home and then I put her to bed or she will fall sleep when I get home later and then I move her into her own bed.

I wouldn't worry about it and would let her go to sleep when she needs to. My son started sleeping that schedule around 2 months old, now he is 7 months and his bedtime has moved up to 9pm or so to around 7:30. He gradually moved it back earlier on his own and it works for us!

That was the schedule my son was on from the day he was born. He's perfectly happy and so am I

In my opinion - It is too late of a bedtime. Probably even 8pm is too late. At this age, babies sleep best and need to be in bed by 7 pm - or in my son's case - even earlier. Perhaps even at 8pm she is getting too overtired and then has trouble sleeping. There are natural biological times that are best for babies and toddlers to sleep and creates better quality sleep for them. However - if she is used to bed at 11 pm it is going to take you a LONG time to change that to a more approrpiate time. Never do it in big times - if you want to get her to a normal bedtime I would do about 15 minutes earlier every couple of days. She could be going down for the night near her 6pm naptime - I would just get her to about 6:30 and make that be her down for the night time.