Short naps with 5 month old

[Suse.pickles]

Am sure this has been asked loads but after some advice on how to get my 5 month old son napping for more than 1x 40min sleep cycle

I have previously increased his awake time between first wake up and sleep to 2 hours and worked for one day but not since.

Normally awake at about 7.30.
Then the plan has been to try sleep by 9.30. Aim to be down till 11 or 11.30, but has only happened once.
He normally wakes up after one sleep cycle and won't resettle. So then try the same thing 2 hours or so later.

What would be a standard routine for a 5 month old?

And does it change much when they go to 6 months.

Am slowing going to start Baby Led Weaning, so while it's solids they don't actually ingest much food in the beginning to my knowledge.

Any advice would be appreciated

[Suse.pickles]

Ps. Great bedtime routine - goes down no worries between 7-7.30pm every night, dreamfeed between 10-11pm and sleeps through till between 7-7.30am

[Lindsay27]

I think you need to push his A time a little more hun.  It increases pretty rapidly at this stage, so often by the time you get a longer nap it's time to increase again 

Most LOs 5 months old are getting 2 - 2.5hrs of A time, so I would try extending by 10mins or so and then holding that for a few days and see if that helps

[breezy82]

I have a similar problem with my 4 month old--- what if they give you tired signs like rubbing eyes, nose early before the normal time awake. MY LO gives tired signals after 40mins in the morning eventhough I know she should be up closer to an hour and half.  do you follow the ques to a T or try to extend if you know they are staying up long enough.

[Lindsay27]

As they get older, sleepy queues become less reliable and often can just be caused by boredom or under-stimulation if that makes sense?  Don't want that to come across wrong    I would try to extend to the normal A time, unless maybe they've had a really bad night...then it's possible the sleepy signals could be true.

[breezy82]

Great , thanks. Yes that makes perfect sense . I will slowly increase A time.

[Newbie mum]

Hi, just wondering how you are getting on with the naps. My DD is 5 months 2 weeks, sleeping well at night, easy to go down, and has started to sleep through the night or has one feed (fingers crossed I haven't jinxed it by typing that!) but fights naps and wakes up after 30mins like clock work. First nap after waking in the morning is usually at 2hours, this is when she looks sleepy and the timing is like clockwork. She naps easily in the pram (not fighting it) but not happy to go down in her cot bed (this will be her third night in it after just having changed from Moses basket). She has a dummy for naps and sometimes if I put it back in when she wakes she will go back to sleep.  I read someone mentioned 'wind down' time before naps, can anyone explain how long this should be and how I should do this. Help would be appreciated- thank you

[Isabella123]

Hi,
Just wondering how you are getting on with the short naps. We are at 5 months and having the exact same problem. First teeth have just poked through so wondering  if that could be related. Naps no longer than 30 mins and wide awake then.

[Lindsay27]

30min naps are usually a sign of OT.  If you get a short nap, remember to reduce the next A time slightly to try to prevent OT.

[soulstar75]

As they get older, sleepy queues become less reliable and often can just be caused by boredom or under-stimulation if that makes sense?  Don't want that to come across wrong    I would try to extend to the normal A time, unless maybe they've had a really bad night...then it's possible the sleepy signals could be true.

Really? I was not aware of this. My 4 month old (corrected age 13 weeks) did not nap at all today although he was showing signs of sleepiness. Whenever he managed to go down he would be up in 5 mins.  It was a rough day! So how do I know he is ready to sleep as he gets older?