Author Topic: 4 mo not sleeping until midnight!  (Read 857 times)

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Offline AkashasMom

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4 mo not sleeping until midnight!
« on: June 11, 2015, 19:25:11 pm »
Hello,
Im a first time poster and am totally out of ideas as to how to help my baby girl! My 4 month old daughter sleeps well for her 3 naps/day and I aim for bedtime about 6:30 (usually about 2 hours after she wakes from her last nap). She will sleep for 1-2 hours, then wake and often be up and unsettled until midnight when suddenly she settles and sleeps.  We try continuously to put her back to sleep from about 8-12, sometimes she will nap for 30 minutes or so during that period but then she is back up again. After midnight she then sleeps until 6am to feed and would sleep until noon the next day if I let her. I have tried getting her up after the 6am feed (opening curtains, playing etc) but it hasn't helped, in fact she still naps until noon after that. I have also tried limiting her morning nap to 2 hours but it didn't make a difference either and she was just a tired mess all day. Would appreciate any advice!

Our day usually looks like this:

6:00 wake, feed, play
7:00 am nap
10:30-11:30  wake, feed, play
1:00 nap
2:30 wake, feed, play
4:00 nap
5:00 wake, eat
6:00 bedtime routine
6:30 bed
8:15 wake (I will try to settle her for the next 4 hours!)
9:30 feed
11:30 feed
12:00 finally sleeps after eating - like a switch goes off suddenly and she sleeps

Offline weaver

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Re: 4 mo not sleeping until midnight!
« Reply #1 on: June 11, 2015, 19:53:19 pm »
Hi there and welcome to BW,
I suspect she's getting too much sleep during the day, so she's waking up to play!

From what you've posted, her first A time is one hour, followed by a 3.5 hr (4.5hr?) nap, then another A of 1.5-2.5hrs with a 1.5 hr nap, then a 1.5 hr A, with a 1 hr nap, and BT is scheduled for an hour later, more or less.  Daytime sleep is a minimum of 6 hours, unless I am misreading you, whereas I'd have been aiming for around 4hr 45 mins at this age. So I think daytime sleep needs to be reduced a bit, but not drastically. An hour less will make a huge difference, I think. :)

On BW we are guided by average A times for particular ages, now some babies need more and some less, but the average A for a 4 mo is 1 hr 45-2 hrs. So I would definitely be increasing those A times, and that means, I'm afraid, that I would also be waking her from naps during the day as needed.  I would certainly cut her off at 2 hrs, unless you feel very strongly that she needs more sleep in the day though, as I say, I think she's sleeping so much in the day that she doesn't need to settle at night, iyswim. I would try to average the reduction in sleep out over the day.

You could have a look here for some sample routines for her age group
chronological EASY samples, 4-6 months
Remember EASY is not a fixed schedule but a flexible routine to fit to your baby's needs, so you can tweak it, but be guided by the average.
*Anne*, loving mama to a honeybee (2010) and a sweetpea (2012).  BF for 4 proud years.


Offline AkashasMom

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Re: 4 mo not sleeping until midnight!
« Reply #2 on: June 11, 2015, 21:46:42 pm »
Thank you for your detailed reply Weaver! I have tried to determine her A time by her sleepy cues, sometimes they occur just 1 hour after waking and I push her another 15 or 30 min, but I will try to extend it gradually - I think this will help give her more time to get tired out as I feel she has a lot of energy in her body when I'm trying to put her to sleep. I will also try to keep her nap time at 4.5 hours or so during the day - hopefully she will adjust after a few sleepy days!
Thanks again!

Offline Sorbai

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Re: 4 mo not sleeping until midnight!
« Reply #3 on: July 10, 2016, 13:06:03 pm »
Any luck with figuring this out?  My 4m old doen't settle before midnight. ... I'm going crazy