Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child
91
Why Early Bedtimes Are Important
August 8, 2022

Found in age groups

Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child

5th Edition: 
A Step-by-Step Program for a Good Night's Sleep

Buy now

Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child

5th Edition: 
Chapter 1 (only 16 pages!) outlines everything you need to know about your child's sleep.

Buy now

Introduction

A Healthy Child Needs a Healthy Brain, A Healthy Brain Needs Healthy Sleep

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.

Blog 91Why Early Bedtimes Are Important

Some statements are easy to understand and easy to study, for example: “teething causes sleep disruptions”. This popular myth, and others (Blog Posts 36 and 37) are clearly identified as false statements in scientific publications.  

Other popular, but false, beliefs arise from an incomplete understanding or a simplistic point of view. For example, healthy sleep might be viewed only from the perspective of sleep duration. Thus, a parent might incorrectly conclude that early bedtimes are not that important because they believe that their child will sleep in longer in the morning and/or take longer naps. Stated another way, a parent might believe in the ‘myth’ that a later bedtime associated with a later wake-up time and/or longer naps is equivalent to an early bedtime associated with an earlier wake-up time. With this mind-set, the timing of the sleep period or the consolidation of sleep is ignored. But sleep quality is more than just sleep duration (Blog Posts 6, 8, 11, and 15).  

In the past, “Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise” was a popular proverb. But today, modern parents may struggle with long commute times and may conduct business online at home. Or they may be distracted by digital devices at home. Thus, early bedtimes for their babies and children are especially challenging.  

Here are some reasons why early bedtimes are especially important:

  1. Often, when children have a late bedtime, the later wake-up time (and/or longer naps) does not fully compensate for the late bedtime, so the night and total sleep duration is short.

  2. Mental health problems or obesity (Blog Post 81) are more likely to occur with late bedtimes even when night sleep duration is normal due to late wake up times, or total sleep duration is normal due to long naps.

  3. Frequent bedtime routines are valuable, unrelated to sleep, and they are also associated with longer night sleep duration (Blog Post 10). However, I asked the authors whether longer night sleep durations were more associated with frequent bedtime routines or early bedtimes. Answer: “the biggest drive of nighttime sleep is what time a child goes to sleep.”

  4. Consistent bedtime routines produce longer night sleep durations (Blog Post 87). However, I asked the authors whether longer night sleep durations were more associated with consistent bedtime routines or early bedtimes. Answer: “[Early] bedtime is a more direct and stronger predictor of [longer] concurrent sleep durations from 3 to 24 months, above and beyond bedtime routine”

  5. Parental sleep-related cognitions are important for children, unrelated to sleep, and some sleep-related parental cognitions predict longer night sleep duration (Blog Post 88). However, I asked the authors whether longer night sleep durations were more associated with parental sleep-related cognitions or early bedtimes. Answer: “[Early] bedtime is more strongly correlated with [long] sleep durations than maternal cognitions.”

  6. Over A 15-month period, assessment of night sleep duration showed a significant dose-response trend for subsequent changes in measurements in four domains: hyperactivity/inattention, conduct problems, peer relationships, and prosocial behavior. Children who increased their sleep duration had a concurrent decrease in measurements, less hyperactivity/inattention, fewer conduct problems, better peer relationships, and more prosocial behavior.  Nighttime sleep duration at baseline was a predictor of measurements at follow-up but not vice versa.  “Among 2- to 6-year-old children, both [more] nighttime sleep duration at baseline and an increase in nighttime sleep duration from baseline to follow-up were associated with lower emotional and behavioral difficulties at a 15-month follow-up (Blog Post 75). However, I asked the author whether the quality of night sleep (Blog Post 15) might be more important than the duration (Blog Post 6) and specifically on the importance of an early bedtime as a contributor to better quality sleep (and longer sleep duration). Answer: “This is a great point, and I couldn’t agree more.”

  7. Early bedtimes are associated with taller children (Blog Post 23).

Moving the bedtime only a few minutes earlier, over time, may produce dramatic results; it’s as easy as ABC:

A. Begin soothing and bedtime routines when drowsy signs (Blog Post 9) begin to appear or just start 10-20 minutes earlier than you customarily do this.

        and/or

B. Do not allow a late afternoon or early evening nap to occur.  

Start this on a weekend when both parents are available to help distract and soothe your child through a possible rough patch.

and/or

C. Control the wake-up time. Nobody wants to wake a sleeping child. But if your pre-school child is falling asleep late at night and waking up way too late in the morning, then start waking your child in the morning around 7:00am to reset his sleep-wake cycle to be in synchrony with his circadian rhythm.

The importance of small differences in sleep duration cannot be overstated (Blog Post 6). A few minutes of extra sleep in the early evening might make a world of a difference! Please don’t get stressed if circumstances make it impossible to get ideal early bedtimes on weekdays. Remember, a bedtime that is a little too late is still better than a bedtime that is way too late.  Maybe your child can get some catch-up sleep on weekends.

Late bedtimes coupled with late wake-up times and/or long naps are not a substitute for early bedtimes.

For more expert child and baby sleep advice, subscribe to my blog now.

Comments

  1. Hello Dr Weissbluth, I have been listening to the audio version of Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child, and used your methods to get my very tired 6 month old sleep trained in 3 nights. She was sleeping 12-14 hours at night starting around 5:30 or 6 pm (which is when she gets drowsy in the evening) Around 7 months she started teething and waking earlier and earlier in the morning. First at 5 am, then 4 am and now (at 8 months old) usually between 3 am and 4 am. When she first started waking early, I thought she was ready to get up for the day because she had already gotten around 11-12 hours of sleep. But with the wake times getting even earlier, that now seems unlikely. Do you have any advice on how to stop these early wakings? Daytime naps have decreased as well, from 2 hour naps 2-3 times a day to just 1-1.5 hour naps 2 times a day.

    1. Currently, when do you start your bedtime routine?
      When are lights out?
      When do you leave the room?
      When does she actually fall asleep at night?

  2. We start the routine around 5:30 usually. She nurses, takes a bath, gets dressed, sometimes a little massage, I sing a lullaby, nurse her a little more and I put her down. Lights are out usually about 5:55. I lay her down and leave the room right away around 6. She usually falls asleep right away.

    1. How is her mood and behavior between 4-5pm when she is by herself with toys and not in front of a screen or interacting with you?

  3. Around 4 her mood is pretty good and she likes to crawl around and play with her toys and try to get into stuff. As it gets closer to 5 she is usually fussy and will still play if I’m there playing with her but is not as interested in her toys

    1. This is evidence that her sleep tank is going to empty. For 4-5 nights, move all your bedtime activities earlier so that you are leaving the room (expected fall asleep time) at 5:30pm. Do not go to her in the morning until about 5-6am, but if she is asleep, don’t wake her. Listen to the section in my book, ‘Sleep Begets Sleep’ to understand why this works.

      MOVE THE BEDTIME EARLIER
      This may seem counterintuitive if your child is having trouble sleeping, but dramatic improvements occur even when children get very small amounts of extra sleep. Hyperarousal in your child causes difficulties in falling asleep and staying asleep. Early bedtimes dampen or eliminate hyperarousal. Early bedtimes will not necessarily cause your baby to wake up earlier in the morning. More sleep at the front end at night makes it easier for babies to sleep in later in the morning and/or wake up better rested.

  4. Dr Weissbluth, thank you very much for taking the time to respond. We will give the 5:30 fall asleep time a try.

Add comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related blogs

These blogs are related or mentioned in this blog.
6
Blog 6
  | December 21, 2020
 | 2 Comments

Sleep Duration

When children, like Soldiers, get more sleep, even if it is only a few minutes each night, there are many benefits. It may take some time to see the benefits, but sometimes, the extra sleep produces benefits immediately, even overnight.
Read full post
8
Blog 8
  | January 4, 2021
 | 8 Comments

Circadian Rhythms

An early bedtime may prevent sleep problems from developing in the first place. Even just a slightly earlier bedtime alone might completely or partially solve a sleep problem. An early bedtime might be especially beneficial because it is more aligned with the brain’s natural circadian rhythm.
Read full post
9
Blog 9
  | January 11, 2021
 | 12 Comments

Drowsy Signs

The brains in babies and young children produce drowsy periods followed by sleep during the day and in the evening. Watch for drowsy signs before your child falls asleep. Drowsy signs are your signals to start soothing your child to sleep for a nap or for the night. Begin to soothe your baby to sleep as soon as your baby starts to become drowsy.
Read full post
10
Blog 10
  | January 18, 2021
 | 2 Comments

Pre-sleep Routines

Parents should experiment to see what soothing method works best and then try to be somewhat consistent so that your child learns to associate certain behaviors with falling asleep. But it is not necessary that Mom and Dad have the same soothing style. The goal of soothing is to create a calm and peaceful state compatible with transitioning to a sleep state.
Read full post
11
Blog 11
  | January 25, 2021
 | 2 Comments

Sleep Consolidation

To repeat, after your child has fallen asleep at night, your child, while asleep, or after waking, may make non-distress sounds. What are non-distress sounds and why do they occur? I am talking about harmless sounds that all babies make, that do not indicate distress and, if you feel comfortable, can usually be safely ignored.
Read full post
15
Blog 15
  | February 22, 2021
 | No Comments

Sleep Quality

When you consider healthy and high-quality sleep for your child, you think about different elements such as naps, sleep consolidation, sleep schedule or timing of sleep, and sleep regularity. Sleep quantity, hours asleep, is important, but that’s not the whole story. Too much low-quality sleep, junk sleep, is unhealthy.
Read full post
23
Blog 23
  | April 19, 2021
 | No Comments

How to Motivate a Parent

Mothers spend more time at night caring for their child than fathers. Some mothers do all the bedtime and overnight care in order to protect the father’s sleep in order for him to work during the day, or they believe that the father cannot do this care as well as they do, or the father does not want to help care for the child at bedtime or overnight.
Read full post
36
Blog 36
  | July 19, 2021
 | No Comments

Six Popular Myths About Children’s Sleep

Teething disrupts children’s sleep - This myth is extremely popular in part because it is the oldest myth and if many generations of parents pass this down to their adult children and everyone knows it to be true, then it must be true.
Read full post
37
Blog 37
  | July 26, 2021
 | No Comments

Six Popular Myths About Children’s Sleep

Growth spurts disrupt sleep - As a child grows in length, the bones get longer in either a fairly gradual or continuous fashion or instead, there are periods of no growth alternating with periods of rapid growth, or growth spurts. Different researchers have published papers supporting both points of view.
Read full post
75
Blog 75
  | April 18, 2022
 | No Comments

More Sleep, Fewer Emotional and Behavioral Problems

Emotional and behavioral problems (EBPs) “include poor social interaction, abnormal cognitive functioning, delayed school readiness and problems in later childhood, and persistent mental health problems and obesity in adulthood.”
Read full post

Stay updated with new blog posts

Get access to free lullabies when signing up!
Get notified when new blogs are posted
Loading
Notify me
About Marc
The first month
The second month
Months 3-4
Months 4-12
magnifiercrossarrow-left
linkedin facebook pinterest youtube rss twitter instagram facebook-blank rss-blank linkedin-blank pinterest youtube twitter instagram