Easy schedule for my 5.5 month needs some tweaking?

[Chloevalentine]

Wondering if I can tweak los schedule a bit to get longer naps. He's 5.5 months old and has been taking 30 min naps mostly for 5.5 months lol. Are schedule is off a bit as my toddler is home from school on winter break.

430-530 he wakes to feed back to sleep until 7
A 7
E 8/9 depending on when he woke usually 3.5 - 4 hours before first feeding or if I have to do school drop off I'll try to feed beforehand which can only be 3 hours after
S 9/930-10 this can be a 30 min nap or up to 1.5 his naps are all over the place. When school drop offs take place some times he falls asleep in the car at 9 and sleeps 30 mins in car. If I can manage to keep him up he'll go down in crib closer to 915/930 so first A time is about 2-2.5 hours
A 930/10- 12/1230 usually about 2.5 hours a time but lately he's going down at 2 hrs A time
E 11;45/12
S 1230-130/2 next A time is either 2.5 hrs if he only napped for 30 mins or 3 hrs if he did a good nap
This nap he will usually do about 1-1.5 hours if first nap was short
E 330/4 feed
This is where that last nap gets tricky. If he wakes at 130/2 he won't be tired until 5 and that's too late for a nap so we just stay awake u till bedtime routine at 6

Sorry if that easy was hard to read. But he usually eats around every 3.5 hours and awake time from 2.5-3 hours longer before bed.
Im just trying to get more predictable longer naps. Any tips?

[Lindsay27]

I think your best bet is to try to push that first A time hun.  At 5.5 months we really had to push our A times to as close to 3hrs as we could manage so we could get through the 3-2.  If you aren't doing school run during winter break this might be the best time to really try to ramp up that first A, as you won't risk any car naps.

The other thing we did was a short/long/short routine, because I found that 3 naps was too much, but 2 was not enough.  So if you do get a short first nap, do about a 2.5hr A time for the next one and hope for a long nap, and then add a short CN in late afternoon.  That said, I think that pushing that first A as much as possible is really going to get you through and push the whole day later, so hopefully you can achieve 2 good naps.

[Chloevalentine]

Ok I'll give that a try! Today we did 2.5 hrs first A time he slept from 930-10. Then next nap was a long one from 1230-230 2 hrs after 2.5 hr A time. Winter break is over now. And with school runs a 1230 nap isn't going to work as we get In car at 1245. If he wakes at 7 he will probably try to sleep in the car at 9 and it's so hard to keep him awake which means he'll sleep 9-930 and then be ready again at 12 which only allow for a 40 min nap ugh. This is going to be tough. And he's only doing 2 naps now even if that means 2 catnaps as I can't get him down for another past 4

[Chloevalentine]

Easy today:

630 bed last night. He wakes a few times shortly after falling asleep not sure if it's from teething
530 feed back to bed
A 730-10 wake this is late for him
E 915
A 1130-220
S 10-1130 after 2.5 hr A time
E 1
S 220- still asleep at 325!

The only issue is that when school drop offs start again Tuesday I can't keep him awake in car and he usually falls asleep for 30 mins 9-930 which will kill this good routine.

[Chloevalentine]

He slept from 220-335! So we had 2.5-3 hour A times today 3.5-4 hrs Btwn feedings which was great!
He ate at 4 so that I can feed him again before bed. Should I do 3 hrs before bed. So bring him up for bedtime routine at 630 feed and asleep by 7? That's more like 3.5 hours. Any tips for keeping lo awake in the car?

[Chloevalentine]

One more thing ...tonight after bedtime routine and feeding lo was still awake usually he falls asleep eating because his naps are bad and his A time before bed is so long that he crashes so tonight I put him down awake and he rolled over into his belly and fell asleep and so far no call backs! It was s good day! He's still in a large bassinet next to my bed as the aap recommends up until 6 months which is 2 weeks away but he's outgrowing the bassinet and now that he likes to sleep on his belly rolling over in it isn't easy and he's also in a sleep sack which makes it harder. I'm thinking that I might need to put him in his crib in his own room which is where he naps. I'm also wondering if the sleep sack is a good idea with him rolling over. There aren't any arms but it still gets twisted up on the bottom it's just cozy as we don't keep the heat high at night.

Sorry for all the posts 😉

[Lindsay27]

Yes unfortunately the school run might mix things up but it is one of those things you can't control and just have to roll with if he falls asleep in the car, eventually he won't any more so the only thing that will fix that is time.  It will just take a bit of trial and error to find a good A time following that 30-min nap.  He is showing you that he can do good naps though which is great, much like my DS who didn't get on a good routine until 6 months as well.

As for the bassinet, if you feel comfortable moving him you can probably go ahead, knowing of course what the recommendations are.  We moved DD at 5 months.  As for the sleep sac, again it is probably whatever you feel comfortable with.  We've used one also that we introduced post-swaddle and the rolling doesn't seem to affect her too much, and from a safety perspective I haven't noticed much of a problem.  Ours also doesn't have arms and the bottom is quite lengthy to allow her lots of freedom to move, but the top is fitter to her so that it doesn't bunch up near her face or anything like that.

[Chloevalentine]

Today he woke at 6 am which was great compared to 4/5 am but he also wouldn't ho back to sleep like he normally does so it was an early start. His first nap he didn't fall asleep until 850 almost 3 hrs opposed to the normal 2.5 but only slept 30 mins then next nap fell asleep at 1230 which Is over 3 hours wouldn't fall asleep earlier and then only slept another 30 mins! Third nap at 3 and he's still asleep at 425. Wondering when to do bedtime? And why were the naps so awful today.

[Lindsay27]

Looks just like a little bit of OT, perhaps the first A of 3hrs was a bit too long?  How did BT go?  I assume if he napped until 4:30pm (or later) he could have made it to a normal 7pm BT.

[Chloevalentine]

I did try to put him down at 2.5 hrs A time but it took him a while to settle crying and trying to roll over to get comfy. Yes he did go down at 7 fine and woke at 5 so I fed him and he fell back until about 630/40. He was hungry so I fed him at 3.5 hours which was tough as we were then late for my toddlers school which made it a bit stressful. I was able to keep him awake in car abd as soon as we got home I changed his diaper and put him down he fell right asleep at almost 930! So 3 hr A time again hope he doesn't wake in 30 mins from ot but I had no choice. This is really tricky as far as feeding and getting to bed around school drop offs and pick ups.

[Chloevalentine]

 Yesterday was a good day he woke at 6:30/40 had A times of three hours each so two naps one at 9:30 and one at 2  and into bed and asleep by 7! Today he woke at 5:30 and I was unable to resettle him. This gets tricky he will be up for nearly 4 hours before we get back from school drop off! Ugh he slept in his crib in his own room for the first time last night but maybe that's why he wouldn't resettle because either.

[Lindsay27]

Sounds like a great day yesterday! Unfortunately yes, when WU times variate it can throw the day off and you just kind of have to go with it.  My guess is he will probably fall asleep during school run and you will probably have to try for a short/long/short routine today.

[Chloevalentine]

I kept him up and he slept in crib from 915-1105!! Now if I can just get him to wake up in the morning at a reasonable hour lol

[Lindsay27]

Ugh I know, we were plagued with EWs around that age/through the 3-2 as well.

[Chloevalentine]

Is that what it's from? It's tough screws up the whole day. He took a 1 hr 45 min nap abd second nap was only 30 mins! So he was up from 2 until bedtime I took him up at 545 fed him and to bed but he already woke once I guess that's why he wakes shortly after bedtime it's ot! At least I know now. With the two good naps and going to bed awake he fallls asleep and stays asleep.