Many people will tell you the “right” bedtime is between 7-8pm because of the natural circadian rhythm and while that’s not wrong, it’s also not the only important thing to consider.
There are two things to consider when trying to decide when to put your baby to bed for the night.
#1 natural circadian rhythm (melatonin production)
#2 sleep pressure
Up until around 8 weeks babies are primarily waking out of hunger. Around this time their sleep/wake circadian rhythm starts to emerge. This means that their body is beginning to produce hormones that regulate sleep and they can begin sleeping longer stretches. This cycle becomes more regular by 3 months but can take up to the first year to fully mature.
This cycle also means the emergence of melatonin production, which is linked to darkness in the evenings. For this reason, it can be helpful to keep bedtime around the 7-8pm hour when baby’s will naturally feel tired.
However, we also need to consider sleep pressure.
Sleep pressure is created during awake time. Baby’s need to be awake for the appropriate length of time to build up enough sleep pressure to sleep well overnight.
So, how can we take into account both circadian rhythm and sleep pressure to find the right bedtime?
Always make bedtime one full wake window after the last full nap. Don’t cut a wake window short or stretch it longer just to have bedtime land at 7:30pm (or any other specific time)
You can make an effort to manage naps in the daytime so that they end one wake window from your desired bedtime (between 7-8pm)
Realize that sometimes bedtime is out of your control. Sometimes the day doesn’t go as planned and a late or early bedtime is needed based on how naps went.
Realistically, bedtime can land anywhere between 6:00pm-8:30pm from the age of 5 months onwards. The variation can come from being near a nap transition (late bedtime), having just dropped a nap (early bedtime) or just having an on the go day with short naps.
One of the best things you can do for you baby is to alter their bedtime to adjust for the day they had.
Now, go get some sleep!
That Sleep Mama
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