will letting my lo wake up as and when he desires throw him off schedule?

[centrestage88]

Dear ladies
I read that a fixed BT and WU time helps baby get into a regular routine. However, in my desire to get my 5 month old into some consistency, I have had to forcefully wake him up every morning at his fixed WU time. (730am). I feel absolutely horrible to him to be doing that and it pains me to have to wake him up when he is sleeping so soundly. Even with a fixed BT and WU time, his naps are inconsistent and erratic.

If I just fix his BT but allow him to wake up on his own accord every morning, will this make his daily routine unpredictable every day? Is it better for me to fix both his BT and WU time?

I'm a very routine person and would like my lo to be on a predictable rputine as much as possible, but I feel so guilty and bad for forcing my little one up every morning.

[Kellyjs]

Oh that's an amazing problem to have! I wish I had that! Not to disregard your question at all, but oh I would've loved a 7.30am lie in. I've told DD since she was tiny that since mummy doesn't work anymore we don't have to get up at the crack of dawn, but she's never listened 

To answer your question.. Yes, sometimes fixing a BT and wu time can regulate a LO somewhat. I think many on here just work in the vicinity so say roughly a 7-7.30 BT and between 6.30-7am wu. You can be strict about it, I was, probably that's why she never lies in now 

When you leave him in the morning how long does he sleep for? Some are happy with a later wu and later BT, others like myself prefer an evening to ourselves.

The other thing to consider is what time he's going to bed at night? I mean if he's not going to bed until 9.30pm, yes it might be mean waking him at 7.30, whereas if BT was 7 or 7.30pm, I think I would wake him if it were me.

Would you like to post your easy so I can take a look and see where things are going wrong for you nap wise? Ideally the last few days as an example rather than what you're striving for. To include any NW's, how long to resettle, nap duration and need to resettle, temperament on waking up from a nap etc. I think that'll really help me answer your question for you properly xx

[clazzat]

I always found that it was easiest to wake them up to get them started for the day and have everything run to a predictable schedule - any time I decided to leave them to sleep for a bit longer I found that it created havoc for the rest of the day and it really wasn't worth the extra doze in the morning.  Like Kelly, though, I have now found that mine don't lie in in the mornings even when they can - which is a trade-off I don't mind as they go to bed early and I am an early riser anyway, but I think it has made a difference in the long run.

I have one friend who managed to make it work with letting hers wake up whenever they felt like it, but they were very very HSN babies and my friend was very happy to go with what they wanted to do and cancel plans if they were asleep.  Until they were about 18 months her children would nap for 2-3 hours until 5/5.30 and then go to bed at 8 and sleep through - mine would never have done that!

So it depends on whether you think that you could cope with not being able to tell from day to day what time naps were happening (would have driven me mad!) and also on whether your baby is HSN or not as to whether you can get away with not waking him.