Confused! Need some clarification with initially putting baby down to sleep

[Islaclaire]

Hi all, I really need some help I'm so confused and its probably a really basic thing! I've recently read solving all your problems and think its is certainly help my husband and I help our 5.5mth old self settle. We started her on the 4hr routine yesterday so it's pretty text book at the mo...
E-7am
A-7.30
S-9
E-11
A-11.20
S-1
E-3
A3.20
S- catnap 30mns 5.15-5.45
Bathtime
E-6.30
S-7.15
Df- 10
A-12.30 - 3(but we've only done 2 nights)

So it's going reasonably well! But both my husband and I are confused with how much intervention to give if she's calm when we put her down, she's wound down and happy but is fidgeting in her cot, rolling around, playing with her hsnds. Do we shhh pat or simply say sleep time and leave the room until she starts to grizzle? It's not really clear to me! Any help would be wonderful


Thank you xx

[jessmum46]

If she's calm, playing etc I would absolutely leave her to it and only intervene if she cries and it escalates to an 'I need you' cry.  That said, playing when you put her down suggests to me she needs some more A time - the textbook 4h EASY is appropriate for a 4 month old but generally needs adjusting as LO gets older or you get UT behaviour or short naps.  Did you want to post an actual day with times you put her down, time she actually went to sleep and how long she slept for?

To give you an idea, my LO was handling nearer 3h A time by 5.5m (she's always been on the high side of A times) but almost all 5 month olds will be able to handle more than 2h

[Islaclaire]

Thank you so much the reply! As I said we've only bee. Doing this for 2 days so today she...

Awake - 6.10am
S- 6.20am (shhing & pu/pd)
E-7am
A-7.30 playing on matt and went for a walk with dad)
S- 9.10 - 45mins but shhh and pu/pd for half an hr and she slept another 40mins
E-11am
A-11.20
E- tasting small amounts of solids at 12
S- we put her down at 1pm but she played in her cot for 20mins them got grizzly and we shh'd and when we started crying pu pd she went to sleep just before 2pm and slept until 3
E- 3pm
A - 3.20, played on matt in garden, in swing, went for walk
S- catnap at 5.15 until 5.40 in pram
A - bath time 6pm
E - 6.20 - 6.40 wind down cuddle
S- played in cot for about 25 mins, i said goodnight and left the room and when she started to grizzle went in and shh'd until she went to sleep at 7.15

She's still asleep now

Also at 5mths do I still give her a dream feed?

Thank you thank you! X

[Islaclaire]

Last night she slept from 7.15 until 5.30am!!! With a dreamfeeds at 10.15!! I'm stoked this has never happened before!

Although she started getting antsy at 6 so we waited until then and I fed her then...probably should have left her until 7?? But she seemed hungry??

I think you're right about her needing more A time

[Papaya]

Just jumping over from your other thread hun   So did she go back to sleep that morning at 6.20? And was up for the day at 7? So yes, I think she was UT for that first nap. I would stretch out that morning A time as Katherine says, to more like 2.5hrs. Stick with that time for 3-4 days and see how she goes - if you're still getting 45 min naps she might need a bit more, but best to do it gradually

At 5 months I would expect LO to need a DF, and possibly another NF (so at 5.30am, I would feed again and put her back down). I think from memory we dropped the dreamfeed when my LO was around 8 months.

[Islaclaire]

Thank you!

Yep she was up from 6 after I fed her yesterday she was looking tired by about 8.15 so I put her to bed and she only slept for 45minutes and when I tried to get her back down she cried until 10.15 when I got her up. So I was a little disheartened at this point thinking I'd wrecked everything! But in the end yesterday looked like this

Awake 5.30
E - 6
A - 6.30
S - 8.15 until 9 sh/p and pu/pd until 10.15
E - 10.15
A - 10.30
E - taste solids at 11.45
S - 12.45 until 2.45 when I woke her
E - 3pm
A - 3.15
Bathtime 6pm
S - 7pm
Df - 10.15
A - 5.30
Nf - 5.45
Put back down to sleep but is wide awake now... We've tried shhing her but she's just lying there bright eyed and bushy tailed so we're going to leave her in her cot while she's happy.

I just don't know how to structure the day now because she's been up too early! I feel awful because I'm so happy she is sleeping through the night but at the same time I feel like I'm causing other problems getting her up to early and then she's OT by the morning nap

We're getting there though! Any advice to tweak it would be fab xx

[Islaclaire]

Also do I count awake time from when she wakes up or when I get her up?

For example this morning she woke up at 5.30 and I fed her and put her back in her cot but she wouldn't sleep and played in her cot until I got her up at 6.40. Now I'm not sure when to put her back down for a nap. It's 8.20 and she's starting to look tired so I might start winding her down.

[nevinsmama]

HI there, A is counted from eyes open to eyes shut. I see you are working with a 2.5 hour A if I understand correctly, so yes, maybe WD is in order....Playing in cot is pretty low key so should be OK with the slightly longer A, in my

[nevinsmama]

"in my opinion" Sorry about that, DS elbow bump

[Islaclaire]

Thanks for the quick reply (I absolutely love this forum!!)

Yep I did the wind down and she was fast asleep by 8.35! Fingers crossed it'll be a decent nap

Thanks so much again x

[nevinsmama]

Fingers crossed for you,  short naps can about make you crazy! You are welcome

[jessmum46]

Keep us posted!

[Islaclaire]

Bit of a nightmare today ladies we seem to have regressed

Wu - 5.30 nf but her back in cot where she laid awake
A - 6.40 bf
S - 8.30 - 10am
E- 10.30 and tasted solids at 11.30
A - until 12.45...struggled to settle her after she drifted off in the car for 5 mins at 12.10
S -12.45 - 2 shhh/p pupd until 2.30 but was awake
E - 3pm
A 2 - 5
S - cn 30 mins
A - bath time 6, wind down bed 6.45 but didn't settle until 7.30
S - 7.30
Df - 10.15
A - 3.30!!!!! And dh has been trying to settle her without any luck for an hour!!

I'm not sure what to do she's a real mess she's teething I think do she might be a bit upset with hat but I can't help thinking its because she was overtired from yesterday??

Any advice how to get back on track? I really don't want to give up!!

[Islaclaire]

Sorry about typos!!! On phone trying to type

[nevinsmama]

Hi, I hope your night improved and LO got settled down!  Did you try to feed at the 3 AM waking? If it was me, I probably would have fed. It seems at this age that even if some good longer nights sneak in that sometimes they do still need more at times. Assuming she got settled back down within a "reasonable " time I would try to stick as closely as possible to what Papaya outlined for you. I also notice that she dozed off in the car  those used to really throw us off trying to resettle or move to crib or whatever. Sometimes I would just keep driving for DS to preserve the nap.

Maybe keep the last bit extra low key if your night was really choppy. Hope this helps!! (Oh, and adorable avatar!)