If you have not already done so, please read Blog Posts 1 through 5 that describe how sleep is important and beneficial. I will post specific information for parents and children based on my book, “Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child.” Please do not be put off by my book’s length. This is a reference book. Read only the topic of interest to you.
The earlier bedtime is not a single tool for a single situation. It appears at different moments in a child’s development, for different reasons, and produces different results depending on the context. Here are the five circumstances in which moving the bedtime earlier is the right response.
1. At 6 Weeks of Age
At 6 weeks of age — counted from the due date, not the birth date — the brain’s night sleep rhythm begins to emerge. The longest single sleep period starts to lengthen and anchor in the evening. This is not a parenting decision. It is a neurological development, and the appropriate response is to meet it: begin offering an early bedtime, sometimes as early as 5:30pm, and watch for the drowsy signs that signal when the brain is ready for night sleep. The baby’s brain is asking for an earlier bedtime. The parent’s job is to listen.
2. During Nap Transitions
When three naps consolidate to two, two to one, and one to none, total daytime sleep decreases. Each transition removes a source of rest that the child has been relying on, and the resulting increase in cumulative sleepiness by the end of the day requires compensation. A temporarily earlier bedtime — sometimes by 30 to 60 minutes, sometimes more — bridges the gap until the child adjusts to the new nap structure. This is not a permanent change. It is a temporary recalibration that protects the child’s overall sleep bank during a transition that would otherwise tip into overtiredness.
3. To Prevent Pre-Sleep Arousal
On any given day, an unusually early wake-up, a missed nap, or a nap that ended too soon can push a child toward pre-sleep arousal by early evening. The solution is not to wait for the usual bedtime — it is to move bedtime earlier, catching the child before the neurological arousal state sets in. A child who is put down 20 to 30 minutes earlier on a day when sleep has been disrupted often falls asleep more easily and sleeps longer than one who is kept to the usual schedule. The drowsy period is the guide, not the clock.
4. Reset After Acute Disruption
Illness, travel, a late night for a special occasion — these are part of real family life and do not require alarm. But they do create a sleep debt that should be repaid. A reset bedtime — earlier than usual for one or two nights — pays back that debt and returns the child to baseline. The previously well-rested child recovers quickly and completely when the reset is applied promptly. The longer the disruption goes uncorrected, the more days the recovery requires.
5. To Correct Cumulative Sleepiness
When sleep problems have persisted for weeks or months — chronic night wakings, short naps, early morning rising, persistent pre-sleep arousal — the underlying cause is almost always cumulative sleepiness, and the bedtime is almost always too late. An earlier bedtime is not the only element of the solution, but it is nearly always a necessary one. In these situations, a temporary super-early bedtime — sometimes as early as 5:00 to 5:30pm — may be required to break the cycle before the bedtime can be gradually moved to its longer-term appropriate time.
In all five situations, the mechanism is the same: meeting the child’s biology where it is, rather than where the family’s schedule would prefer it to be. The biology doesn’t negotiate. The bedtime can.
— Marc Weissbluth, M.D.
Hi Dr Weissbluth
Thanks for another great blog about the benefit of an early bedtime. I followed your advice with my first daughter (who is about to turn 5) and she still has a bedtime between 5:30-6:30pm every night!
Earlier this year I had my second daughter and after a few rough months where I repeatedly re-read many sections of your book and blog, she is now- at almost 7 months old- following the same trajectory as her sister. Her bedtime falls anywhere between 4:45pm and 5:30pm every night.
At first, I thought that perhaps there was a bit of luck on my side with my first child in terms of how well she slept after I applied your advice. However, having experienced it all again with my second child, I can say with certainty that your advice and all the information on the development of sleep which is outlined in your book is spot on!
What wonderful news — thank you for sharing this comment. Hearing that your children are sleepinging well means the whole family is doing well, and that is exactly what this work is for.
My sincere goal is to raise awareness of accurate, research-based information about children’s sleep, so that more families can find their way to restful nights and calmer days. You are now on the right path, and I am confident your children’s sleep will continue to improve. Please read Blog Posts 247A-C to understand how you are helping her build a better brain; more than a million new nerve connections are made during every second of healthy sleep!
To help encourage other parents who may be struggling with the same challenges you faced, would you consider writing a narrative account of your sleep journey and posting it here as a comment? I would use it as a Blog Post. Parents often find it most meaningful to hear from other parents — what the problem looked like, what you tried, what worked, and how your family came through it. If you are willing, please include the role the father played, as father involvement is one of the most important and underappreciated factors in helping children sleep well.
If you feel comfortable doing so, an honest Amazon book review would also be a tremendous help to families who are searching for guidance and trying to decide whether this approach is right for them.
I wish you and your children sweet dreams.