7pm-7am baby sleep: Are these timings absolutely necessary??

Right, so I’ve been wondering about the guidance on this. It all says to get your baby to sleep from 7pm to 7am, this seems to be the ideal, but I can’t find anything online as to why exactly this is. Is it a scientific thing, or just to prepare them for nursery/school/parents going back to work, etc?

I’m not a morning person, so I don’t really wanna wake up at 7am & my work doesn’t always require me to. I usually have my little one go to sleep at around 8-8:30pm so he wakes up for the day at around 8-8:30am.

But am I doing it all wrong??

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I can’t speak on any official research but my now two year old always goes to bed between 9 and 10 and would sleep till 10am. She normally takes. 2hour nap from 3-5pm
I have more energy at night than in the morning and that’s what works for me and my husband’s work schedule.
She is an extremely bright and happy and smart little girl so… hey, so what’s best for you haha.

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You’re not doing it wrong, it works for a lot of people but there’s no reason you have to stick to those timings. I never bothered

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No idea, my LG is 14 months old and she sleeps 8pm-6.30-7am. We were told once she goes to nursery she'll be knackered and go tp bed earlier but that hasn't happened.
I wouldn't want her to go to bed that early personally

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My son does 9.30-7.30/8 with about 3 ish wake ups so no you definitely don’t need to do 7-7. 12 hours overnight sleep is unreasonable for a lot of babies anyway.

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Honestly I don’t think it matters too much, every baby is different. I’m the same as you, my son’s bedtime is somewhere between 8pm/8.30pm and he wakes up between 8am/8.30am. Everytime I’ve tried to enforce guidance it hasn’t really worked so I just go with what he falls into naturally. If your current schedule is working, stick with that xxx

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I would guess that it’s about the amount of sleep? 🤷‍♀️

We tried doing 7pm for my daughter. Didn’t work. She just screamed till 8. She’s two next month and since 3 months she’s gone to bed at 8pm and sleeps about 10.5-11hrs a night. It just works best for her.

I’d say the amount of hours is more important than the timings. Do what’s best for you and your family.

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I say do whatever time works best for your family :) we’ve had bedtimes between 6:30-9 throughout the last 3 years. Napping impacts when they might fall asleep. Though I will say that my son has always slept in. Waking around 8:30/9 so a slightly later bedtime has always been quite nice as no one needs to wake up early x

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No you are not doing it wrong. It's working for you and that's all that matters. My son always had a later bedtime and woke up later until he dropped all of his naps now he does roughly do 7-7 or somewhere around that but this happened naturally and I never forced it to happen.

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I only put her to bed at 7 because by that time, I am done and ready for my alone time lol

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I agree with I’m usually done by then and just need to chill she is now 3.5 years old and goes to bed usually by 7:30pm and is up for nursery at 6:45am (starts at 8) no nap now unless in car. But doesn’t affect her bed time. Before nursery she was bed at 7pm up between 7-8 am and she still napped x a friend of mine has child 2years old go to bed with them at like 10pm it’s each to their own and wouldn’t work for us x she fell into her own routine, I was when she was a baby keeping her up for feed at 9-10pm but she was so grumpy we quickly realise she wanted to be sleeping then and I was keeping her up 🤦🏻‍♀️

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Thank you all! Makes me feel so much better knowing others are going to bed & waking up later as well. Other mums always made me feel as though I was doing something strange by not sticking to the above timings. x

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No! Most babies don’t sleep for 12 hours overnight! The average amount is 10-12 but babies are all different and you’ve got some with low sleep needs and some with high sleep needs! X

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We've only just got LO down at 8pm bedtime but before that we had a 10-10 routine. Our work is long hours so we are night owls too. Honestly i wouldn't worry so much about whats right and wrong, each baby is different. Do whatever works for you.

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We have your timings and it works for us so I'm sticking to it too. No 7am wake ups for us although baby girl seems to be getting up earlier these days

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7-7 is the dream, but its definitely NOT a reality for most parents!

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This timing is just for people to work an sschool.. we sleep 9 pm to 9 am.. you jot doing it wrong you do what works for your family

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It’s because naturally we are programmed to sleep when the sun goes down and wake when it comes up but that doesn’t work for everyone

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If it reassures you, I'm literally off a call with a sleep consultant who did not recommend these timings as they don't work for my girl. We do a later bedtime and a 10 hour sleep as she is a lower sleep needs baby, and she was fighting second nap every day and increasing wake windows cos she didn't need it.

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my baby does 7-7 just because that’s what time she gets tired and goes to sleep, but if i could change that to 8-8 or bit later i would for the lay in🤣

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We're working towards 7am wake up and bedtime of 8pm as I go back to work in just over 2 weeks and will be doing nights so my husband will have her and we don't want her waking and needing a feed as he starts work in case I get back from work late.
Also means once she's in her room at 6 months, we can put her to bed and have some time for us in the evenings x

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Nope, it’s basically made up/based on very little as others have said. Overall sleep totals are what I would focus on if you’re struggling with sleep. If not just do a bedtime/wake time that works for your family! Your kid could sleep from 1am-10am if that’s what works for you all 🤷‍♀️

The sleep training industry sucks lol with the way they act as though so many things are facts or are necessary. Very little of it is based in actual science or reliable data.

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Mine wakes at 7am, sleeps 1-2pm and bed at 8 xx

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You’re not doing anything wrong. My 8 month old goes to bed between 9-10 and wakes up between 9-10.30. It’s what fits our routine better. As long as they’re not in nursery, I don’t see the issue. My baby is thriving; he still gets the right amount of sleep and is a happy boy.

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My son does 8pm-6am, occasionally 7. But it works for us 💜

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Not necessary at all. There's no science to it. It's supposed to make life easier for parents, particularly if back at work, but if it doesn't work for you and you're trying to make it work it just makes it harder!

You're not doing anything wrong. You're doing what's right for you and your little one and that's absolutely the right thing to do!

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My boy is 2. He has never been in a habit of going to bed at 7. We eat dinner all together, so naturally we’re not all done getting him ready for bed after. He goes down around 8:30/9 but then wakes around 7:30 sometimes 8, which suits me much better. I don’t get much of an evening but I prefer this to being up at 6:30am!

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It’s fine if you don’t have to wake for work or them to nursery.

Will have to adjust when it comes to school but other than that it’s fine.

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I have 2 kids so bed time routine is the same for both of them but if my eldest doesn’t want to sleep at that time then she’s allowed to stay up as long as she doesn’t wake her younger brother.
Also no matter if she falls asleep at 6:30 or 8:30 she’s still up at the crack of dawn so it’s not worth fighting with her 🤣🤣

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7-7 is a load of crap. Not all babies can sleep that long. 8-6/7 is much more do able for most babies and toddlers. If they’re sleeping and happy then there’s no problem at all!!

Have a look at @dozesleepcoaching on IG. She’ll fill you with confidence and practical, sensible advice

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Help! First time mum -

I have a 4 month old and now all of a sudden when he’s been asleep for 1hr30/2hrs he will wake up screaming (high pitched) I’ve tried winding him sometimes that helps, I’ve tried bicycle legs & bringing his knees up but that doesn’t seem to help but he brings his knees up himself sometimes but nothing happens. I’ve noticed since the 4 month mark he has started to struggle passing wind downwards! Any tips?

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12

Hour night wakes and 5am get up

Can anyone shed some light as to why on earth my child doesn’t want to sleep??? My eyeballs are bleeding!!

Never been a good sleeper, but the problems always changing. He’s nearly 9 months old.

Beginning of the month he dropped to 2 naps. We could put him to bed at 7pm and he’d get up for the day at 6am, with multiple wake ups every 2/3 hours.

Now we put him down at 7pm, he can do a good 4/5 hour stretch, but come 1/2am he’s up every hour then getting up for the day at 5am. This then completely messes up the day because I can’t keep him awake long enough to even get to 7pm, let alone later.

He has 2 naps, roughly about 1hr10 each but it changed based on when he wakes and trying to get him to a reasonable bed time.

What could be the reason for this? 6am is fine, but 5am is not 😩😩

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1

5

Don’t want to leave my first born😭😭😭

Anyone else extremely sad and anxious to leave their first born😭

He’s 2 and we have never not put him to bed or be here for when he wakes up😭

I’m so sad and anxious about leaving him

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Help meeee

!!All advice welcome!! My 5 month old (nearly 6mo) is just not sleeping . Not for naps and not at night . She can’t connect her cycles . We started sleep regression at 3 months but in like how is this nearly been going on for a further 3 months . Like surely not . She has 10 min naps in crib ( which take so much effort ) and maybe 20/30 min naps in my arms/pushchair . She wakes minimum every hour at night with guaranteed false start 20 mins in . I combo feed. I breastfeed her until almost asleep then place her in the next to me crib give her the pacifier and put my hand on her cheek/face for 20 seconds and she drifts off . It’s not really getting her to sleep that’s the issue it’s she just won’t stay asleep . She doesn’t even need to feed much at night usually 1-2 breastfeeds . The rest is comfort wakes needing her pacifier or my hand on her cheek . I’ve looked into sleep associations and independent sleep and I broke the feed to sleep association and rocking and do bedside comforting instead for most wakes which has now lead to my hand being a sleep association on her face . I’m just so exhausted my husband is working mon-fri 9-9 and it’s just me . I haven’t had more than 4 hours in a row since her birth . I can’t get anything done during the day . She is so clingy and cries if I leave room /put her down etc. I love her so much but we both need rest . If anyone has any tips or a routine that could help PLEASE tell me I’ll try anything 🥲❤️❤️

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Feeding to sleep

FTM here! 👋

Are you guys feeding your baby to sleep?

I just read feeding to sleep is creating bad habit and baby will always cry etc when awake at night expecting to get bottle before falling asleep again. 🤔
It said should feed the baby, give a bath (or not) and then put to sleep.
I do other way around - bath, pjs/lotion, rock to sleep and feed at the same time and then baby falling asleep.
Am I creating a bad habit? Been doing it all the time really. 😳

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5

Feeds

How many times a night are your little ones getting up? My daughter is every 90-110 minutes. I am absolutely exhausted and don’t know how much more I can cope

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12

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