5.5 months old - should I let her sleep longer?

[admitchell]

Three weeks on EASY and good results so far. Our routine is:
7am - wake up
7:15 - bf (I express)
08:30 - 08:45 - nap (2 hrs)
11:00 - bf
13:00 - nap (1 - 1.5 hr)
15:00 - bf
16:45/17:00 - nap (up to 1 hr)
18:30 - bath
19:00 - bf
19:30 - 19:45 - bedtime
22:30 - df

Maya would wake up around 2 am but falls asleep easily, with no help (it's nightfeeding time we had in the past). Then she would wake up anytime between 4 - 5:30am (another nightfeeding we had) and cry a little. I do P.U./P.D. and she falls asleep again but obviously is not ready to get up at 7am. I wake her up every day as I'm worried she would be too many hours without food (no solids yet). She must be very tired as she cannot make 2 hrs activity time and usually goes down 08:30/08:45, falls asleep within seconds and I have to wake her up again after two hrs. It makes me wonder. Maybe I should let her sleep longer in the morning, say till 08:00?
Please advice.
Agata

[AnnaBenwell]

Thats a fantastic routine!! I would leave well alone for now. But thats just my take on things. My Ds is 14 months and i must admit, i leave him till he wakes. Anna

[admitchell]

Hi Anna, at what time does your ds wake up then and at what time does he go to bed? Do you remember how it was when your baby was younger?thanks
Agata

[AnnaBenwell]

Yea it was a nightmare, untill i found this site and the book. I remember waking him at 7 everyday. It worked well for us at that time as i have 2 older 1's to get to school. My DS goes to bed between 6 and 6.30 As he's tired then and wakes between 7 and 7.30 Maybe later. I know im very lucky. You just need to remember all babies are different and as long as he is happy then you will be too. Love Anna x

[Grace's Mom]

May I ask how old your lo is?

Yes, I would agree that your routine looks really good.  1.5 - 2 hours is just right for a nap (if I am guessing correctly about your lo's age  ). 

Most lo's have 12 hour days and 12 hour nights.  So if your lo is going to sleep at around 8/8:30 and is able to sleep until 8am in the morning and it works with your schedule then I would let her do that, just make sure you adjust the rest of your lo's day so that she is still going to bed at 8/8:30 at night.  If you need her to wake at 7am then I would aim for a 7/7:30pm bedtime.

[admitchell]

Hi, Maya is 5.5 months old. I have to say 8-8 would be better for our family but I decided to stick to 7-7 for the time being as it works well with df at 22:30/23:00. Would df be still the same time if she went to bed at 8pm? I remember Tracy did not recommend later than 23:00.
We also managed to drop two nightfeeds and I'm worried it would be too long for her without bf if I kept her till 8am. What do you think?
My plan was to slowly change to 8-8 when she is around 6.5/7 months.
Agata

[Grace's Mom]

At night it all depends on your lo.  Mine did well with out food at night (for the most part...was very textbook when it came to night feeds) and now goes 14 hours with out food...crazy, yes!
Some do fine at night with just a dream feed and maybe one other feed but others just need a dream feed and some don't need anything. It all just depends. Just give what ever you decide to do a good few days..maybe a week of good consistency to see if things are working well or not.

Yeah, 10:30 or 11pm is about the time most do the dream feed.  With a later bed time your lo may not take quite as much food at that time but that's OK.  For some the df doesn't work....like us, we never did a DF and she just woke up around 5am everday....did a quick feed and went back to sleep for a few more hours. It all depends on your lo and what works best for your family.  If 8-8 will work best then I would go with that!

Melissa

[Grace's Mom]

Agata...how are things going?

-Melissa

[admitchell]

Melissa, thanks for asking. Sorry for replying a bit late but we travelled and did not have an excess to the internet for a few days.
Well, things are quite good! Maya is now over 6 months, goes to bed at around 19:30, gets her df at 22:30 and sleeps till 7-7:30! She does wake up maybe two times but soothes herself back to sleep. I don't have to worry about waking her up anymore as she does it herself between 7 and 7:30 . Some days she might wake up earlier but since I don't rush in she plays in her cot for a while (giving us one of two shouts "hey, is anybody there?") or has an extra nap but never longer than 7:30. I guess she gets hungry.
We travelled with an hour time difference and I have to say I was impressed with how quickly she adjusted to a new time schedule. As I said nights are pretty good. As far as naps are concerned she still does two + catnap. The morning nap is almost always very good and long (1.5 to 2 hrs) but the afternoon one is usually a straggle. She often wakes up after 45 min, obviously unhappy. In such a case I do allow the catnap to be even 1.5 hr. I tried to prolong the A time in the afternoon but she really has difficulties to last longer than 2 hrs 10 min. (OT big time, a lot of crying ). Not sure what to do. I wonder if I should start prolonging the A time and move to two naps only. What do you think?
thanks
Agata