Set naps for a 5 month old - has anyone gone down this route?

[lynners]

Thanks Bec 

Unfortunately just had an NW at 9.50, just before DF,  Suppose I should just stick with routine and see what happens.

[becj86]

Unfortunately just had an NW at 9.50, just before DF,  Suppose I should just stick with routine and see what happens.

This could be DF becoming habitual... may not be, but could be.

You're seeing some good progress with the routine, I'd say stick with it a few more days.

[lynners]

Yes will definitely stick with routine for a few more days.  Unfortunately we had another NW at about 2 ish.  He managed to settle himself in about 15 mins but there were a few times I was thinking we might have to settle him and then he'd calm down again.  He did at least sleep through to tll 7 when we woke him.

I think you could be right Bec about the earlier wake up being because the DF is becoming habitual.  Other than once, every time we have had a pre-midnight wake up it has been close to DF time.  Could it be mixed up with OT too?  Was hoping to be able to drop the DF in the next month or so.  I imagine that will make it trickier if it has become habitual?

Yesterday I woke LO from both of his naps.  My thought is when we are back at school I will have to do that with the first but can let him wake on his own (or by noisy school kids) for the second so maybe I should be letting him sleep as long as he wants on the second nap over the holidays - especially if the two NW's could have been OT related. 

[lynners]

Boo.  Well so much for decisions re. letting LO sleep as long as he wants at naps.  Even though routine went well yesterday we only got 40 min naps at each time and had to apop like crazy to get a 30min CN - thank goodness DH was home to look after DS1. 

First nap he seemed UT when woke, 2nd nap definitely OT. Very hard to push him to 7.00 BT rather than doing an EBT like I would have if we were following A times.  At least he settled easily in cot for BT.  We'll see how the night goes...

Kara, scruffymax how long did it take your LO's to settle  in to set naps?  Did you have NW's as you were settling?

[scruffymax]

Hi Lynners, sorry you had a rough day    I've gotta say, my LO didn't really grow out of 40 min naps until after 6 months.  At the 5 month point, I was trying a set routine from a different book that either (a) just didn't suit my bub or (b) my bub was still developmentally in the catnap stage, as it was never consistent whether we would get 40 min naps or 2hr naps.  I'm sorry, that's probably not what you want to hear!  I'm pretty sure it was around the 6-7 month mark that things really settled down.  My LO has almost always been a good night sleeper (much better than day sleep for many months) and she doesn't seem to really be affected overnight by OT.

I have learnt by trial and error that if my LO only short naps the morning nap, I put her down 30 min early for her afternoon nap; and if we have a really rotten day (2 short naps, or only one nap) I put her to bed 30 mins early, and she seems to catch up overnight.

I guess you are in the position where you don't have to do the school run for a few weeks(?) so can try a few different things if you want and see what works best.  I'm sorry, I can't tell you exactly what you should do, can only give you my own experiences.

[lynners]

Ok so I thought I'd post now as we'll probably be rather otherwise engaged over the next few days

Even after our rubbish day yesterday we had a good night.  Although we had an NW at 9.50 (which is probably this habitual DF related issue - got a question for that later if you're around Bec or Erin), he then STTN and had to be woken at 7 

This morning we only got a 40 min nap but after your post scruffymax I decided to put him down a bit earlier for the next nap hoping that as with your LO it won't disturb the set routine pattern.  He's now been asleep an hour and a half and I plan to let him sleep til he wakes - unless it feels scary long.  Anyway feeling very good about it - all good on Christmas Eve.

Re our NW just before his DF this really happens more often than not now...can anyone give advice please...
To help with this do you think I should bring the DF forward to 9.45 to catch him (most times) before he wakes up.  I know Tracy's advice is to reduce the size of feed and bring DF time forward in increments when stopping the DF any way so would I just be preempting this? 

[*Kara*]

Once I started with set naps at 5.5 months, it was about a week or so to really see good consistent naps... and yes, there were pre-midnight OT wake ups   Most often within 90 mins of BT.

[becj86]

To help with this do you think I should bring the DF forward to 9.45 to catch him (most times) before he wakes up.  I know Tracy's advice is to reduce the size of feed and bring DF time forward in increments when stopping the DF any way so would I just be preempting this? 

I'm really just guessing as I never did the DF successfully. My first instinct was to try W2S an hour before the waking but then I don't know if you could do the DF without disturbing his sleep because the idea of doing it 3-4hr after going to sleep for the night is that he's in deep sleep and won't be disturbed... I wonder if you could do the DF an hour earlier as a kind of W2S Just my musings... anyway, I think you could go a few different ways depending on what you think will work:
* DF as a W2S - risk hunger waking earlier - probably end up starting your day early
* W2S and no DF - risk hunger waking and needing a NF, also risk disturbing sleep and getting extra NW's
* W2S and DF at normal time - risk disturbing sleep and getting extra NW's
* Bring DF earlier and reduce - as if weaning DF... Its probably a reasonable time to be weaning the DF but may be a little early You know him and his appetite best.

[Erin M]

We went through periods with pre-df wakings with ds -- most likely because due to our messy school-run shortened naps, he was often OT -- if we were anywhere near df time (even as much as a 30-45 minutes early), I'd just feed him and put him back down and he'd generally sleep.  It never messed with the rest of our night at all -- it was just too hard for me to settle and then have to get him up again, especially since he often took a long time to settle. 

[scruffymax]

if we were anywhere near df time (even as much as a 30-45 minutes early), I'd just feed him and put him back down and he'd generally sleep.  It never messed with the rest of our night at all -- it was just too hard for me to settle and then have to get him up again, especially since he often took a long time to settle. 

That was us too - LO would occasionally wake before DF and we'd just feed her when she woke.  We dropped the DF around 7 months when she was well established on solids, eating meat etc.  Probably could have done it slightly earlier but I was too scared!  From memory we gradually reduced the amount and made it slightly earlier, until it got to the point where the amount was so small that it ended up frustrating LO that she was only getting a small amount and she would get upset that the bottle was empty so quickly - at that point we bit the bullet and dropped it and she was fine.  We were doing a bottle of EBM not BF so it was easy to know exactly how much she was having.  She has the odd bottle overnight now, eg if we put her down at grandma's house and then bring her home at 10pm we give her a bottle before putting her into her cot, or if we get the occasional teething NW I have found from experience the only thing that settles her is a feed and then put back to bed (the joys of a 100% independent sleeper who does not respond to patting etc!)

[lynners]

Hi ladies,

Hope you've all been enjoying the holidays.  We've ended up bringing LO's DF forward by 15 mins which has caught any wake ups so far    If he does wake up any earlier though, but still close to DF, we will just feed him as he too takes a long time to settle.

Still sticking with set-nap routine.  Great day yesterday for Christmas - 1 x  1 1/2 hr nap and 1 x 1 3/4 hr nap. STTN and had to wake at 7.  Today back to 2 x 40 min nap but managed a 40 min CN too.  If he still manages to get through the night though on these rubbish kind of days I think we are on to a winner.  I am certainly appreciating the predictability of the day too!

Thanks again 

[scruffymax]

Glad things are going pretty well, and well done on getting great sleeps during the craziness that is christmas day!  At least you know he can do good sleeps on this routine IYKWIM?

[lynners]

Just an update.  Everything going really well with the set naps  Most days getting two good naps, but even when short napping is able to consistently sleep through until 7.  I'm having to wake him then but I think it has really helped set his body clock.  TBH it's just so nice to not be 'A time chasing'.

Might not work for everyone but definitely works for DS2.

[becj86]

Awesome

[*Kara*]

YAY!  It worked great for DD at this age too   Though, I haven't woken her in the AM