Does My 2 Month Old Infant Have To Be On A Sleeping Schedule?
My daughter has trouble falling asleep at night, some nights it’s 10:00pm and some nights it’s 1:00 in the morning. When she does finally fall asleep she usually sleeps 11-12 hours with one feeding is this o.k. or should I make her bedtime a certain time everynight even when she’s having a tough time falling asleep?
I survived the 80’s and the rigidity and I’m a believe that unless you have to crawl out of bed at a certain time for a specific reason the first few months of an infants life should be dictated by their schedule. That’s not to say some gentle cajoling on your part like not playing too much with her and keeping the lights low to “set the stage” aren’t in order however the rest of her life will be a set schedule, school, potty training etc., why stress yourself
She’s only two months old, so her schedule is going to be messed up for a while. You can start training her to know the difference between night time and day tim, though, by making sure you use low lighting and keep the house quiet at night while you keep the shades open and the house (somewhat) noisy during the day. You could also look into the different sleep training methods, but do *not* let her cry it out at this young of an age. Before 6 months of age, babies cry for a reason, not just because they don’t want to sleep.
My daughter is two months old and has a awesome schedule she’s adapted herself. At 8:30 or 9 play with her as much as possible to make her tired. Then give her a warm bath then feed her. 11-12 hours at one time may be a bit too long. Wake her up after 8-9 hours and change her diaper and try feeding her then put her back to sleep. My daughter goes down between 8-9 every night then wakes up at 5:30 eats then goes right back til 8 or 9.
Your daughter may be too tired at that time of night to fall asleep very well.
its not k put her on a bed schedule
I personally did what I needed to do for my own sanity.
You may try bathing you infant around 8:00pm then baby massage is a great way to get them to relax right before nursing your infant to sleep.
Does she ‘have to’…no Will her being on a schedule make both of your lives easier later on…yes. 11-12 hours of sleep at 2 months sounds too long…I would discuss this with her pediatrician.
Mine does the EXACT same thing!! Well, she is 4 months now… but she’s been doing this since she was 1.5 months. She’s a little fussy starting at about 9-10 pm until she finally goes down. I figure, I like that morning time to myself while she’s still sleeping, and luckily I’m a night owl so the late bedtime is OK for now.
I’m the last of my friends and sisters to have babies, so I have them as my resource. The general consensus is that when they start eating solids, it’s much easier for them to go to sleep. Plus- as they approach toddlerhood, they realize the difference between night and day more readily. For now I just go with the flow, I let her determine her schedule– and I design mine around hers. This has made life much easier. I figure, when the food changes– then I’ll try to make the window of sleep earlier, using “dinner” as my nighttime indicator!
BTW- don’t worry about the 11-12 hours… consider yourself lucky- I asked my ped about it, she said as long as she’s eating enough– 8-12 times in a 24 hr period. My girl usually eats closer to 8 times but sometimes more. She is gaining weight normally.
Good luck, hope this helps.
From the day I brought my son home from the hospital, I kept him to a strict 8PM bedtime schedule….I would bathe him directly after dinner and rock him in my arms with a bottle at around 7:30PM… by 8PM, he was almost fully asleep and all I needed to do was lay him down. He was a side sleeper so I proped rolled blankets up on his backside and off to dreamland he would go… He woke the next morning at 6AM which was fine as I had to get him ready for the sitters so I could go to work—sorry I was a single mother while my husband was away —vacationing at his best friend who basically ruined our marriage.. another story… ANyway, as my son grew older, I still kept his bedtime at 8PM until he was 9 years old when he was able to stay up until 8:30PM… 99% of the time, however, because he was so USED to the 8PM bedtime for all those years, he would stand up and say goodnight and go to bed pretty close to that 8PM time every night until he was about 13 or so… and even then he was in bed before 10PM every night–INCLUDING weekends. he just got used to going to bed that early… By the way, the quicker you get the child on a permanent schedule, the faster they will be sleeping through the night… my son started sleeping through the night at 5 WEEKS OLD….