Any thoughts on how to straighten out this crazy schedule?

[Confused New Mom]

Hi All,
My daughter will be 5 months tomorrow, about 4.5 months adjusted (she was born 2.5 weeks early).  We were doing EASY okay until life happened -- 5000 mile road trip, grandparents who would rock her to sleep an hour before bedtime, nursing problems, etc.  And now we have a hot mess.  As far as I can tell we *should* be on 4 hour EASY.  But she doesn't seem to have an appetite in the mornings, and doesn't nap for very long.  Every morning I start out trying to get us on a schedule using clock/cues and by nighttime I have an overtired mess on my hands.  Today is pretty typical, so I'll post what today has been like below.

Other info: She can self-settle.  She's just transitioning out of the swaddle because she's starting to roll -- that has been relatively smooth.  I probably overfeed, but she's in the 4th% for weight, so that's why.  Anyway, here is today so far:

Wake: 7:50 (she woke at 7:30, then went back to sleep for a bit)
Eat:  8:00 (crappy -- wasn't hungry even though she last ate at 3am)
S: 9:50 -- I put her down when she started rubbing her eyes at 9:30, minimal fussing, but didn't actually fall asleep until 9:50.  Woke a few times and put herself back to sleep but woke for good (happy, chatting) at 10:35.
I've tried keeping her up later; she falls asleep faster but wakes after 30 minutes max.  I've tried putting her down earlier, seem to have same issues.
W: 10:35
Eat: 11 (because she was fussing so I assumed hunger given crappy first feed, but again she didn’t eat well)
S: down at 12:25, minimal fuss, asleep 12:35; movement at 1:03, 1:15 woke and fussed (angry jabbering at 40 min mark; tried feeding and she was ravenous; fed her half asleep at 1:20)
E: 1:20 (in middle of nap)
A: 1:45
E 3:20
S: 3:35 (ish – fell asleep while feeding, woke briefly when I put her down, went right back to sleep)

She was overtired for this last sleep, which confuses me because that's a *shorter* awake time and I thought they got longer as the day went on?  We had a low-key day today.  Just a walk, playing on a blanket in the playroom yard, some books... nothing big

If previous days are any indication, she will wake for good around 4 and refuse any more naps.  I'll end up putting her to bed early, at like 6:30.  She'll wake every couple hours angry and crying, each time wanting to eat, and then fall into a good sleep finally around 2 or 3 and sleep until 8-ish.

I know there's lots here that needs fixing, but I don't know what to fix first!

[LaraAndrea]

A couple questions first...
How many night feeds does she take? Does she feed well at night?

[Confused New Mom]

So, this has varied a bit (she was sick and nursed more) but in general, she'll feed at 10 and 3, and she'll feed very well.  Better than in the day, actually.
If she goes down overtired, she'll wake more, and she also woke more when we took away the swaddle. 

[Confused New Mom]

p.s. but after 2 or 3 a.m., she usually calms down into a good sleep and sleeps until 8, no matter how overtired she is when she goes down

I should also say that since posting this, she woke around 4 and I decided to let her fuss for ten minutes before getting her... she fell back asleep!  This is a first!! Maybe I need to be on a 3 nap a day schedule and try to push the awake times toward 3 hours to accommodate it?  Then the big thing still to fix would be the feeding times

[LaraAndrea]

The 4h EASY is designed with the idea of 2 longer naps 1.5-2h and one short 40 min cat nap.

That being said this is a common age for nap disturbances and short naps are not unusual at this stage. I definitely found it important to figure out difference between baby's mantra cries and real crying. I found that if I intervened during the mantra cries I did more harm than good as she was just working on settling or resettling herself.

Have you been feeding at the extra NW or just sticking to the 10 and 3 (with exception to sick baby)?

I also struggled with feeds when I first moved to 4h EASY, as a mother to a smaller baby EBF I understand the worry RE baby getting enough food. Interestingly enough this is the stage when my baby finally started eating better. I found when I stretched the daytime feeds 4h apart, in no time my LO was eating more per feed. I am sure not all babies will respond the same but I am sure Tracy had something in mind when she suggested 4h EASY at 4 months.

2h is around the avg AT for your baby's age and up to 2.5h at 5 months. Not all babies fit the avg mold, but most will. But as yourself and other posters have mentioned, not all AT will be the same. Some may be shorter or longer. It does seem that most babies on this site seem to like longer AT later in the day. That is by no means the rule, my LO always liked longer AT in AM.

[Confused New Mom]

"The 4h EASY is designed with the idea of 2 longer naps 1.5-2h and one short 40 min cat nap."

Right... but I guess when she's used up all 3 naps by 3pm I try to insert another.  I guess what I should do instead is try to keep her from using them up so quickly?

What is a mantra cry? 

I try not to feed at night wakings unless it has been long enough that I think she may be genuinely hungry.  So for instance last night I had last fed at 6:00 and when she woke at 9 I fed her.  Then I fed her again at 2am.  Then she woke at 5:30 am (odd for her, but I think it has to do with the swaddle transition) and I went in and fed her in an attempt to get her to sleep longer.  She ate really well at all those feeds.

Thanks for the help!

[LaraAndrea]

Right... but I guess when she's used up all 3 naps by 3pm I try to insert another.  I guess what I should do instead is try to keep her from using them up so quickly?

Nap transitions are super challenging b/c you get to the exact stage you are at now. When baby is still short napping the timings don't quite work out.

When she does all short naps you can try to squeeze in an extra short cat nap to avoid OT at bedtime. You can also try an earlier BT, ir combination of those things.

Ultimately we want her to learn to nap a bit longer for her first 2 naps.

As described by another poster ... "A Mantra cry is a cry that a baby lets out when tired that, literally, sounds like a mantra - monotone & rhythmic, over and over again."

[Confused New Mom]

So I started another thread on this too, but now the train seems totallly off the track.
Yesterday I was euphoric!  Everything went exactly as it should, and I got (more or less) two two hour naps with a two hour awake time. It was a thing of beauty.
Today I tried to replicate it and nothing works!! She took a crap nap.  I gave up resettling, waited two hours, put her down again, and she's just been fussing for the past half hour.
Finally at 12:30 (2.5 hours after last nap) she went to sleep.  It's not possible to go from a 2 hour awake time to a 2.5 hour awake time in one day, is it?

Could feeding solids have anything to do with the bad naps?  The only thing I can think that was different yesterday was that I didn't get a chance to feed her solids in the  morning because I had errands and the timing (right after breast feeding) didn't work out for me to do it.

I was so happy... and now I'm just lost!!

[LaraAndrea]

Hang in there!
It can take a few days to see a consistent change, even if you had a day if success.

It is possible more adjustments will be necessary (certain AT  during the day being different) but if you don't stick to it for a few days you may not know for sure what your next steps should be. It can take a couple of days to see pattern.

I am so glad you had that good day. That means we are moving in right direction.

As for solids, I can't say for sure if there is a relationship. If baby had some gastro upset due to food or was hungry maybe.

[Confused New Mom]

Thanks!  I will keep logging everything and I think I will stop feeding solids for a couple days just to rule that out as well.  For now, keep with roughly the A-times that worked yesterday, even though it's taking her 2.5 to fall asleep today?

[Confused New Mom]

p.s. Lara, what is your take on how to respond to the fussing, etc?  Others are saying that I shouldn't ever let her cry; now I'm just totally confused.  Because letting her fuss some has what has gotten me some success with sleep/naps....

I posted on the other thread that I feel like I just need a plan: something very specific to try for the next nap/next early waking, like put her down after x amount of time if she's showing tired signs, or only go get her if she's doing x when she wakes up but not if she's doing y.  Otherwise I'm just going to become more and more of a wreck.   Here's the last 3 days:

9/19

A: 7:50
Eat:  8:00 (crappy)
Nap: down when she started rubbing her eyes at 9:30, minimal fussing, but didn't actually fall asleep until 9:50.  Woke a few times and put herself back to sleep but woke for good (happy, chatting) at 10:35.
A:10:35
Eat: 11 (because she was fussing, but she didn’t eat well.)
S: down at 12:25, minimal fuss, asleep 12:35; movement at 1:03, 1:15 woke and fussed (uhappy jabbering at 40 min mark; fed at 1:20, sort of slept through this)
E: 1:20 (in middle of nap)
A: 1:45
E 3:20
S: 3:35 (ish – fell asleep while feeding, woke briefly when I put her down, went right back to sleep)
A: 5:15
E: 6:10
S: 7 (down, didn’t sleep until 8, probably due to swaddle issues)
E: 9, 2, 5:30

9/20

E: 5:30
A: 7:45 (??)
E: 8:50 (3hr 20 min, ate well)
S:  9:35 (9:30 down, minimal fuss, started rubbing eyes at 9:15) woke 10:15 but stayed quiet, went back to sleep after about 10 minutes)
A:11:25
E: 12:50 (this doesn't seem right.  I think it would have been more like 12:30)
S: 1:30 (I got stuck at the mechanic, couldn't get home to get her down, she fell asleep in her carseat.  We got home and I fed her and put her down, and she slept until 3)
E: 2:00
A: 3:00
S: 5:30  (5:05 down, few sleepy signs, fussed a bit, finally nursed to sleep
A:5:48
Bed: 7:20 (down in 5 minutes)

9/21
E: 6:00
A: 7:15 woke
E: 8:50
S: 9:30 (down at 9:00, started rubbing eyes 8:30-8:45)
A: 10:00 (screaming, wouldn’t settle)
E: 12:00
S:  12:30 (down at noon)
A: 1:00 (screaming, wouldn't settle)
E: 2:50
S:  3:11 (3:00 down – started to fuss before I put her down. 3:33 woke. From here, took her for a long walk in the stroller, then a car ride, etc.  She finally fell asleep around 7, then woke at 8:30, fussing that escalated when I did my usual, which is to go in and comfort every few minutes.  Woke again at 10:30, 2, and 4:30, but just to eat.)

[LaraAndrea]

I think you are right that you need a specific plan. Consistency is key! Especially when making routine changes.

I know BW does talk a lot about flexible routine and following sleep cues but BW also recommends some structure when developing/adjusting routine.

Keep in mind that baby also learns "to be tired" at certain times even if that is not the case. So the sleep cues that used to be so reliable become less so. Frustrating I know!!!

So pick an activity time for now... There will be an adjustment period no matter what you choose. I don't know much about adjusted age... But 2.5h is normal for a 5 month old. So you can start there if you like. Keep in mind (even if this is the perfect AT for your LO) your baby will need to adapt. You may see spots of success, but you may also end up with an OT baby.

If you are happier with set plan then you will need to be prepared for the adjustment period and stick with it. You may need to help settle a few OT naps and  You may need to have earlier bedtime if you get a bunch of short naps.

BW does have some gradual options as well but when routine is really wonky it can take a long time to get to goal state.

This is notoriously a rough stage. But I found once through it and on a good steady/successful routine I learned so much about my LO and I had the tools to make the appropriate judgements and age appropriate routine tweaks. With the help of the wonderful people here at times

p.s. Lara, what is your take on how to respond to the fussing, etc?  Others are saying that I shouldn't ever let her cry; now I'm just totally confused.  Because letting her fuss some has what has gotten me some success with sleep/naps....

Yes BW does not support leaving baby to cry... But the "fussing" you are describing may just be mantra cries, which BW does support. A real cry will escalate from fussing, sound quite upset, have tears etc. The mantra cry is part of the self settling process... What do your instincts tell you?

[Confused New Mom]

Thank you!!! Just having someone to bounce ideas off of helps.

This is my plan for today.  I will try for 2 hours 10 minutes awake time, putting her down at 2 hours.  That will be a little more than before without being a ton.

When she wakes up early and moves beyond jabbering to something that sounds upset or hungry I'll either feed or shush/pat.  Otherwise I will try to see if she resettles.

She woke up happy, so that's a good start!

[Confused New Mom]

Okay, so now I have more questions.

1. The end result of shush/pat is supposed to be sleep, right?  So if she wakes up from a nap crying and I shush/pat and end up with a child who is calm and wide awake and looking at me like "whatcha doin, mom?" then I just get her up?  If this is the result does that mean that I put her down too early?

2. She fell asleep in the car before she was scheduled to go down.  She woke up when we got home and I put her down, calm.  She played quietly for 20 minutes then fell asleep for 15 and then woke up, wide awake. Does this mean she wasn't ready to go down, or just that the 10 minutes in the car sufficiently recharged her that I should have left her up longer before trying to put her down for real?

3. Her feeding schedule is messed up and she's always had reflux -- the happy spitter kind.  I've noticed that many times when she wakes up crying she's also spit up significantly.  Other than trying to time her feedings so she doesn't eat right before she goes down, is there anything I can do about this?

[LaraAndrea]

. The end result of shush/pat is supposed to be sleep, right?  So if she wakes up from a nap crying and I shush/pat and end up with a child who is calm and wide awake and looking at me like "whatcha doin, mom?" then I just get her up?  If this is the result does that mean that I put her down too early?

For my LO yes... If she woke early and I could not resettle her in 15 min, then I threw in the towel. I could usually tell if I had a hope. She would intermittently put her head down and close her eyes (so I knew she was tired). But if she woke up as you described, it usually was not worth the stress of continuing. So generally any nap 40-80 min is usually considered UT unless of course baby is unwell or hungry etc. The exception to  cutting short the shush pat would be if you have never sleep trained and baby is still learning independent sleep.

. She fell asleep in the car before she was scheduled to go down.  She woke up when we got home and I put her down, calm.  She played quietly for 20 minutes then fell asleep for 15 and then woke up, wide awake. Does this mean she wasn't ready to go down, or just that the 10 minutes in the car sufficiently recharged her that I should have left her up longer before trying to put her down for real?

This is the worst you basically answered your own question. I was always nervous to drive alone with my LO near nap time. I used to have to make this awful noise that she hated to keep her up to avoid her falling asleep.

I don't know too much about baby reflux, aside from keeping her upright for a period of time after feeds to avoid spit up.

[Confused New Mom]

Still lost...
So today I tried my best to keep her up longer.  Last night I put her to bed at 6:30 because of all the catnaps.  She woke at 8, I shush-patted her, and she woke to feed at more or less her usual itmes.  She woke at 7:25.  I kept her up till 9:35; she went down calm and happy; played and fell asleep at 9:50. woke happy at 10:27.  I took this as an indication I didn't keep her up long enough, sp intended to  put her down at 1 for nap 2. In spite of my best efforts she fell asleep at 12:40 and woke crying at 1:20.  Kept her up as long as I could again, until 3:37; she woke crying at 4.

not sure where to go from here.  When she wakes crying I shush pat which only seems to make her totally wide awake

today:

9/23 (ate overnight at 10, 2, 5)
A: 7:20-ish
E:8:40
S: 9:50 (Down at 9:35, calm, but took 15 min to fall asleep)
A: 10:27 (relatively calm)
E: 12:30
S: 12:40
A: 1:20
E: 2:30 (seemed hungry.  Ate well but spit up a lot)
S:  3:37 (down at 3:33)
A: 4:00

[LaraAndrea]

I know it seems hopeless right now but you are smack in the middle of the "4month sleep regression" it is a very important developmental time for baby as they leave the newborn sleep phase and move into more adult sleep cycles yay!!

Well doesn't seem so exciting for us, but now baby likely has a 40-45 min sleep cycle and they have to learn how to connect them. This is partially out of our control.

 We can help by providing routine/trying to find appropriate AT and help settling, when they accept it (my LO was like yours "oh hey mamma, what ya doing patting me on back"... I eventually shifted to back or tummy rubbing)

With good routine and independent sleep skills some babies will show improvement in couple weeks, others could take longer.

You are doing pretty much all you can. Stick to your current routine for another couple days if you are not getting slightly longer naps or seeing signs that your baby wants to settle for longer nap  (head down, eyes closed, less alert etc.) Then you can try another AT push.

You are doing great! Sometimes the only answer is baby being a baby.

[Katet]

I notice you follow times a lot. With my boys i had one that did ok with timed and one that it was a diaster... temperament is a big factor. With my spirtied/grumpy child his sleep would change if it was a sunny day or rainy, if we stayed home or went out for an hour or went out for 3 hours, if it was a day he did 2 poops of a day he did one his signs of tiredness changed dramatically. I found with him it was 100% him getting to know the pre nap ritual.  Some days hed yawn and rub eyes after an hour and id try a change of activity and he'd give clenched fists and hed sleep 1 hour... some days hed last 2hours plus and sleep 2hours and othrr days he'd catnap for me... by 9mo he was much more predictable.
That was all a  nightmare for me as I was an older Mum who was a type A with a love of organisation... I struggled so badly with PPD because of the sleep that I had counseling and that hrlped me find the mental ability to stop clock watching and realise my child worked best by me learning to see his tiny communication cues. Something I am eternally grateful as I parent him as a teen.

My other son was completely different for the first 5 months hed sleep at the drop of a hat, He was so textbook..which was ironic as I was
as he also we flexible and the fell into a ' routine that duited me and his brother that was loads of cat nsps and a big nap... all 'wrong' for textbook lol ...by 9mo that went to pieces and it took a while to work out he was awake and lying in his cot from 4 or 5 am but didnt tell me he was awake until 6 or 7am.

What Im trying to say is to really look at the at the communication from your baby rather than follow the clock. Use the clock as a guide but look for facisl signs clenched fists, turning head from stimulus as signs and then time is a guide to think bored or tired. Textbook babies trive on routine and clock watching works sadly as I was told (true too I think) the more type A Mums who need a textbook baby rarely get them.

[Confused New Mom]

Thanks for the encouragement, Lara.  I just feel like things are getting worse instead of better.  Seems like she's getting less sleep at night, waking earlier *and* napping worse.  I will keep trying.

Katet, I'm trying to do a combo of signs/clock because for a long time I just did signs.  Problems with that are what led me to research standard wake times in the first place. She's A/B temperament (8 B and 12 A on the test) and she has or had very distinctive sleepy signs.  It was rubbing her eyes three times.  The first time could be an accident, any longer than the third and I was in trouble.  But by following that she was going down after an hour awake at 4 months old and not sleeping longer than 20-30 minutes, so I knew something had to change.  So I read up on awake times and tried to follow that.  I'm logging the times super carefully but I'm change up the time I put her down a little (not a lot) based on her signs.  Only now her signs seem to be changing as well.   Now it's just fussiness.  Or sometimes nothing. Yesterday at the mid-day nap I fed her when I thought I still had a good window before I needed to put her down and she fell sound asleep while eating and didn't wake when I put her down.  And last night I didn't put her down even though it was past her standard awake time by the clock because she seemed alert and happy.  I put her down the minute she started to fuss but it was already too late... it took forever to settle her.  I think both her signs and her awake times are in flux right now.  I'm trying to be attentive to them but I haven't figured it out yet.

[Katet]

Sounds like she is a bit like my eldest, where the only thing that worked was him getting older. I know from having my second it wasn't that I didn't find the magic routine it was just that he was so influenced by what was going on around him he wasn't predictable. Thinking about it even now at 14 he will go to bed at 10pm and wake at 6 am one day the next go at 8.30 and wake at 7.30 am and another night it might be 10-7am and it's not related to the day he had as days like yesterday 5 hours out in the sun playing sport he was up until after 10pm, up at 7 then today.... he used to be really predictable but now he's in a growth spurt with puberty he's unpredictable... honestly as a teen he's like as a baby lol. 

[Confused New Mom]

Okay, I have still more questions.
I've been assuming I need to push her awake times based on her age.  But there are sleepy signs and there are sleepy signs.  Moderate sleepy signs are rubbing eyes.  But if I ignore that, she'll fuss and arch her neck (she likes to sleep with her head tilted back) and rub her eyes.  If I get to extreme sleepy signs, even if it's way early to put her down, I should put her down... right?  This morning she woke at 7:45 but was really showing a lot of sleepy signs after only an hour and 45 minutes.  I delayed as long as I could but put her down at 9:37 and she fell asleep within seconds.
She woke after 20 minutes, 30 minutes, 50 minutes.  The first two times I was able to hold her tightly and shush her back to sleep, the second time she wouldn't settle and was super agitated so I picked her up and nursed her and she fell back asleep.  We are now at the 2 hour mark and she's still sleeping.

So I put her down overtired, right?  Seems OT, but I'm confused because her A time was so short.

In case this is relevant: this morning she rolled from back to front for the first time, twice.  Would this make her more mentally tired or something?

p.s. Afternoon nap exactly the same as the first.  She got angry tired after an hour and a half awake so I stopped fighting it after an hour and 40 minutes and put her down.  Repeat of above, except she woke for good, happy, after an hour.  And am I creating a new dependency by nursing her back to sleep when all else fails?

[LaraAndrea]

It does sound like your LO is starting to accumulate some OT.
And yes... Learning new skills can affect sleep for sure!!

You have a few options...
You can take a step back, follow those earlier sleep cues and let her catch up on some sleep. As PP said some babies thrive on the clock others are super sensitive and need a bit more adjustments.

 It does not mean you will be out of the woods necessarily she could still be learning to connect sleep cycles so you end up with some 40 min naps again, better than 30  

You could persevere with your chosen AT but make adjustments to the timings if those naps depending on when your LO wakes and make use of early BT if needed.

As for feeding to sleep... A couple thoughts on this.... Yes it can become a sleep prop for sure (but that can be fixed in future). You have to decide what is more important right now. Some mammas will use a prop like nursing to get baby onto a solid age appropriate routine, then address that prop later. My thought on that, is that your routine is not awful and you are not too far off age avg AT, so maybe only nursing to sleep so LO can catch up on some sleep occasionally, but not making a habit of it may be another option.

I feel like a rambled through those last thoughts... Do they make sense?

It probably does not help, but I don't know anybody who fully escaped short naps and UT/OT loop around this stage (I am sure these unicorns exist somewhere), so don't be too hard on yourself!

The most important thing is that mamma and baby are happy, and mamma doesn't go too crazy!

[ZanesOTmom]

Hi there. I just wanted you to know I'm following your thread as our LOs are very similar. He was also small for his gestational age (under 5th percentile I believe) and only 3 weeks older than yours. I'm also like you that I thrive on having a definitive plan/routine. It wasn't an easy road but we finally got to a place I can accept And grateful for, EWs and all. UT/OT loop is a constant battle and I've had to APOP several times a week. I wish you all the best. Everyone here is great and really helped us get to where we are (still work in progress of course).

[Confused New Mom]

Thanks to you both for your support!  I appreciate it.

I think there is something else going on beyond the sleep regression.  Yesterday she wanted to nurse constantly and was very fussy -- she's usually a very happy baby.  Sucking on cold things seemed to calm her down, so I wonder if maybe she's teething.  She woke up a lot wanting to nurse in the night too.

I'm going to just put her down when she seems tired and nurse her as much as she wants for awhile, I think.  Poor little girl seems to be going through a lot right now.

[LaraAndrea]

Poor thing!!
She could be having growth spurt, teething, illness. I hope she feels better soon!!!

[Confused New Mom]

Just wanted to update and get more thoughts.  I've been keeping a good log of her naps (see attached graph). 

I've been treating awake times as the holy grail, trying to get them just right, but it's very hard.  She has clear over-tired signals (eye rubbing, fussing) but it's very hard for me to see any tired signals.  Seems like she goes directly from laughing and playing to fussing.  I know when I get it right because she goes down happily with no fussing and goes right to sleep, but it's really a crap shoot whether I achieve that.  But I'm wondering if I'm focusing on that TOO much.  Today I hit her window perfectly for nap one but I missed her window for nap 2 and put her down when she started fussing; she fussed a few minutes and went to sleep, but she's having a great nap.

What jumps out at me from the attached graph is that all her good naps seem to coincide with a wake time of about 1hr 50 minutes.  Some bad ones coincide with that too, but no good naps have occurred keeping her up past 2hrs. 

Some other changes I have made: I'm working on not feeding her when she's getting tired.  If I have to feed early to do that, I do.  I also am working on cutting out night feedings.  She puts herself back to sleep great at night, or at least she does after midnight.  She wants to eat a lot between 8-midnight, and I let her.  But the past couple nights she's gone from midnight or 1am to 8am without feeding.  She wakes up occasionally but puts herself back to sleep.  I find it virtually impossible to get her to take a final catnap if I put her down in her crib.  But if I put her in the stroller and take a long walk sometimes she will sleep there, so I'm settling for that for the last nap of the day for now.

I should add that this has been a big week for her.  She learned to roll from front to back AND from back to front, she has some teeth developing, and we had to drop the swaddle because of the rolling.  Lots of changes for a little person.

[LaraAndrea]

It looks like you are really learning a lot about your babe! If there is anything positive about this sleep regression you learn a lot about your baby and yourself.

Sometimes you have to go with your instincts. Not all babies fit the same mold.

Sleep cues can be such a puzzle too. They also change, which may be what you are experiencing now. Eye rubbing/fussing was a regular sleep cue for my LO. Now, her cues are much more subtle and I cannot rely on cues alone.

Go with what is working for you now, but remember the "2week rule" although the 2 week timeline is not finite, it represents a very real sleep phenomenon. Whatever is working now is unlikely to continue working for more than a week or 2. Babies and their needs are constantly changing.
I found it hard to keep up the first 6 months, but it got much easier to be prepared for changes and to implement them.

[Confused New Mom]

yep! Just when I think I'm making progress, it all goes to heck.  Today is a hot mess so far, even though I put her down at meticulously the right time (1 hour 55 minutes after she woke).  She played happily for half an hour.

Here's to hoping that sleep is like everything else (milk oversupply, undersupply, etc etc) that I've worried about in her short life.  I'll just make sure to avoid sleep associations and have a consistent routine, and maybe the other stuff will work itself out with time.

[Confused New Mom]

So I'm still trying to comprehend this and I've been reading the 3-2 transition board. 

1.  Am I right in understanding that she might seem super angry tired and yet still need to stay up longer because she feels tired out of habit?  Right now it seems like I get a good nap like once a week and I'm wondering if that's just from OT accumulating so much.  So is the idea that I try pushing awake times 15 minutes and put up with OT naps for a week or so, hoping that she adjusts?

2. Most baby schedules out there recommend that the first nap occur 2-2.5 hours after waking, even when the awake time for the second nap moves longer.  But on this board it seems like people generally do the same awake times for both?  Is that correct?  Is there a big benefit to doing it this way?

3. I'm still confused on the average appropriate awake time for a 5 month old.  I know everyone is different, but I need a ballpark figure.  I'm treating her as turning 5 months on Saturday, since her due date was May 7.

[Katet]

By 5 months you'd work on her birthday rather than due date unless she was more than 5 weeks early, anything less than 3 weeks early would normally be considered term, so no adjusted age. So 5 months would be from her actual delivery date not due date, unless there was a medical reason why not eg failure to thrive.

From about 2-3months babies do get 'bored' with the same stimulation, so yes they can get cranky when they need a change of scene. So if the A time is considerably Shorter than that expected for a 5mo, then it's worth doing something like a walk around the house or garden, or sitting and singing a song or reading a story to extend it to around the average time, then look for tired signs.
Another rule of thumb is babies tend to fall asleep a bit earlier with motion, so if a walk in the stroller or car trip is 30mins before their sleep time and the fall asleep 15mins in, the you'd probably think you had the right time., but then some babies don't like to sleep in the car, so that doesn't always work.


Babies sleep in early months is strongly influenced by temperament and there are different schools of thought on routines from different parenting books/people. My DH is the accountant for an organisation that deals with post natal support, it has a sleep 'hospital' with 4 day stays to help parents with babies sleep. Their advice based on research is a bit different to BW, but it doesn't mean one or other is correct, just that babies are all different, low sleep need, high sleep need, and loads in between.
https://www.tresillian.org.au/advice-tips/daily-activities/3-6-months/

If she's doing

[Confused New Mom]

Kate, this is so helpful!  Thank you!