Is It Bedtime Yet?

Truth: When you become a mom, you will find yourself silently asking this question on the tough days (let's be real - every day). But as a first time mom, one of the most difficult new tasks was figuring out when bedtime even was! If this sounds like you, not to fear. The secret is listening to your baby, and you can pretty much adjust to any schedule.

0-6 Months

When you have a brand new baby, it seems like all structure goes out the window. However, you may start to realize that your bundle of joy takes cat naps on a pretty good schedule. At this age, the only thing you can really do is follow baby's wake windows. @Takingcarababies on Instagram is a GREAT resource to learn more about wake windows. Basically, when babies are so little, they sleep about every 90 - 120 minutes. Typically with my son, it was every 90 minutes. You should follow the same routine each waking cycle, and it will start to get easier for your baby to realize when it's time to go back to sleep, because even from such a young age they can pick up on routines. It's important for you to pick up on their sleepy cues; this would be anything your baby does to indicate that they are tired, like rubbing their face. This is important because it will help you tune into how long they typically can stay awake before they are tired and adjust to their needs. It's all about getting to know them!

I also remember Myles getting his days and nights mixed up a few times when he was really young. This was tough, but you can fix it by making sure baby gets a lot of natural light during the day time and that their sleeping area is kept dark. Another thing to remember is that babies all take different amounts of time to stop feeding at night; while one baby might not need a bottle at night by 3 months, some still may wake up to eat for a while. Listen to what they need and adjust any kind of sleep schedule accordingly. As babies' wake windows get longer and longer, they will generally take 3 naps per day. Here's an example of a schedule Myles followed (although he was still waking up at night, and it didn't always get followed):

7 am - Wake up

9:30 am - Nap 1 (usually 1.5-2 hours)

1:30 pm - Nap 2 (usually 1-1.5 hours)

4:30 pm - Nap 3 (cat nap! ~45 mins)

8:00 pm - Bedtime

7-11 months

Around 7 months old, we sleep trained Myles. He went through a phase around 5-6 months where he was awake every 45 minutes just to play and hang out, and then he was a terror during the daytime because he was such a sleepy guy! So, by 7 months Myles slept through the night. Once he started getting adequate sleep, it took about a week for us to get him into a 2-naps-a-day routine by watching his sleepy cues. From about 7 to 11 months, his schedule was as follows:

7 am - Wake up

10:30 am - Nap 1 (usually 1.5 - 2 hours)

2:30 pm - Nap 2 (usually 1 - 1.5 hours)

7 pm - Bedtime

Being on a more solid schedule WITH a full night of sleep felt awesome, and this worked well for us for a few months. Myles was finally well-rested and in a better mood on a daily basis.

11-19 months

Once Myles hit 11 months, I started noticing it was very difficult to get him to take both of his naps each day, and he even started waking up SUPER early in the morning (we're talking 3-4 am) every day and not wanting to go back to sleep. Teething likely played a role in some of the wakings, but it also became evident that 2 naps was just too much at this point. Once we finally figured out what time to put him down to switch to a 1-nap schedule, his nighttime sleep adjusted again and he was back on track. This is the schedule he still follows now at 19 months old:

7:30 am - Wake up

12:00 pm - Nap (usually 2-3 hours)

7:30 pm - Bedtime

At this stage, Myles is a champion sleeper... Yay! That means that we are often able to adjust his schedule to do more fun activities. Dropping a nap honestly gives you so much more freedom. For example, on the Fourth of July, he was up until 10:00 pm and did a really awesome job of not being super cranky. Sometimes he can even skip his nap if we have something exciting going on. The point is, now that he's into a great routine it is easier to relax about it because we know that there's always tomorrow to get back into the schedule.

The schedule does not have to be all-consuming, and that's one of the things I love most about @Takingcarababies - she emphasizes that it won't always be perfect, and it's okay for your babes to nap on the go or even on their mama sometimes. I have definitely had my fair share of being #NapTrapped! Hopefully these sample schedules can help you if you are struggling to know when your little one should nap. The countdown to bedtime always feels worse if you don't know when it's coming.

#TruthMom