Help with 5 month nap schedule

[Jlamarie]

That makes a ton of sense! She definitely surprised me last night, I thought for sure she'd wake up for a night feed since I dropped the dream feed, but she slept all the way through, 7:20pm to 5:45am (well it would have been 6:45am had it not been Daylight Saving this weekend). I did top her off with 3 oz of formula just before bed and she happily took it and probably would have taken more had I offered.

We're off to a decent start today, her first AT was 2.5 hrs and she took a 1hr 27min nap, which is awesome! She just went down for nap #2 after another 2.5 hrs of AT. I'll keep this for the next few days and fingers crossed naps will be back to normal.

I think you also mentioned alternating CN days, and I'll keep this in mind and see how we get on this week.

Thank you so much!!!

[Jlamarie]

I'm back again with a few more questions!

It's been about 5 days and we're still getting UT naps for nap #1 of the day, which then sets off the whole UT/OT cycle. I've held the 2.5 hr AT all week, which she still fights and fights, yet won't sleep longer than 1 hr 15 mins. She's still STTN, no dream feeds or night wakings at all, but still waking up too early for us (anywhere between 6am - 6:45am).

I'm wondering if the 6am WU is just our new normal now? Or could she possibly need even more A time first thing in the morning?? She's 5 months + 11 days. She's also teething - her 2 bottom teeth just broke through the skin this morning, and she's been an absolute nightmare to get down for the night, even with lots of extra cuddles and some Tylenol. Should I just chuck the routine out the window for now and rely on APOP to help this lil girl get some sleep? AND we started solids last weekend (just doing 1 TBS of puree at lunchtime), so maybe it's all just too much?

Here's a couple days worth of EASY. Thanks in advance for any help!!

Weds:
WU: 6:50am
E: 7am
A:
S: 9:20-10:37am
E: 10:50am (BF)
E: 12:00pm (solids, 1 tbsp)
A:
S: 1:09-2:35pm
E: 2:45pm (BF)
A:
S: 5:00-5:25pm
E: 6:00pm (BF)
E: 7:00pm (bottle top-up)
BT: 8:00pm

Thurs:
WU: 6:09am
E: 6:27am (BF, tried to treat this one as a NW)
S: 7:00-7:20am
A:
E: 9:15am (bottle top-up)
S: 10:00-10:37am
E: 10:50am (BF)
E: 12:00pm (solids, 1 tbsp)
A:
S: 1:00-1:37, woke up for 10 mins and fussed/cried, back to sleep 1:50-2:27pm
E: 2:35pm (BF)
A:
S: 4:30-4:53pm
E: 6:00pm (BF)
E: 6:30pm (bottle, she was fussing hard and chomped down on me, so gave her expressed milk instead)
A:
BT: 7:35pm

Fri:
WU: 6:45am
E: 6:50am (BF)
A:
S: 9:04-10:15am
E: 10:30am (BF)
E: 12:10pm (solids, 1 tbsp)
A:
S: 1:14-1:56pm, woke up & fussed, back to sleep 2:08-3:45pm
E: 3:50pm (BF)
A:
E: 6:30pm (bottle, as we were out to dinner!)
BT: 7:05pm (I thought she'd be insanely OT, but went to sleep perfectly and didn't make a peep all night!)

Today so far:
WU: 6:09am
E: 6:25am (BF)
A:
S: 8:40-9:54am
E: 10:00am
E: 11:20am (solids, 1 tbsp)
A:
S: 1:00-1:23pm (she's been just beside herself today going to sleep, not self-soothing at all and working herself into such a frenzy! I ended up nursing her to sleep, but then I sneezed and woke her up  )
A:
E: 2:30pm (BF)
A:
S: 3:54-4:33pm (same story - wouldn't self soothe, screamed her head off any time I set her down in crib, ended up rocking her to sleep for fear she was in pain from her teeth)

[becj86]

Its definitely possible she needs more A time - I think you're close given you're getting 1:15 naps fairly reliably so an extra 10-15min should do it. A bit more of a push in the first A time should help bring WU later in the morning for you.

9:54amE: 10:00amE: 11:20am (solids, 1 tbsp)A: S: 1:00

This 3hr A time is probably too much but if she had trouble settling with pain, its understandable.

What exactly is she fighting? Going to sleep or staying awake? If its going to sleep, its another argument for increasing A time. UT babies fight going to bed because they're not tired yet.

I think I'd increase A time and APOP if you have to since she's struggling to get to sleep. Increasing the A time might be enough to get her settling better again but if not, APOP through the teething and the self-settling will come back.

[Jlamarie]

Thank you!!!

In the morning, she’s fighting to stay awake...yawns her head off, rubs eyes, gets a glassy look to her and practically is asleep on me by the time I set her in her crib for her 2.5 hr AT. It’s why I’m so confused, she seems sooo tired in the morning but then takes an UT nap. Then today & yesterday I couldn’t tell if the fussiness at the other 2 naps and BT are due to teething or her needing even more A time.

I’ll try for 2 hrs 40 mins tomorrow morning and see how we do for a few days. Hopefully the teething pain calms down since they broke skin.

Really appreciate your advice!!

[becj86]

That first A time can be really tricky - I'm thinking her sleep in the early hours of the morning is probably not the best which makes her seem OT and you think she needs less A time which perpetuates the cycle with more poor sleep in the early hours of the morning. When you push that first A time enough, she should bring the WU later and sleep a bit better at that time. Would she go straight back to sleep if you gave her a little feed at 6am? She may just not quite be ready to get up for the day but hunger may be winning the battle?

[Jlamarie]

It's been a few days and I think 2 hrs 40-45 mins is our magic number! Her naps have extended back to 1.5-2 hrs, which is so great! We're still having EW's, really anytime between 5:30-6:45am, so some days we have 3 naps and some days I drop the CN and we have an early bedtime. The teething pain seems to have subsided for now at least; still getting a really cranky baby in the afternoons who needs a lot of extra shushing, but maybe that's more leap related?

Would she go straight back to sleep if you gave her a little feed at 6am?

I've had little success in this department. If it's really early, say 5:30am, I can get her to drop back to sleep but the past 2 days she's woken up at 6:00 and 6:15am and she's up for the day. I'm really, really hoping that now that we have the day sleep figured out (fingers crossed) the WU time will start to move forward?? Or do I need to be offering more food during the day now that we don't have a dream feed? She'll start solids 3x a day this weekend (currently at 2x a day).

[becj86]

So what you can do to move the morning WU later is just push that first A time a touch - say 10mins extra, resettle the likely OT waking at 30min into the nap and that will both push your day & hence BT later and should also make her want to sleep later in the AM.

You really need to keep the calories up to her, a lot of babies wake more in the night when they have too much in the way of solids and not enough milk so concentrate on milk as her primary food as solids is about tasting and fun at this point. You could cluster feed before bed when she's fussy through the afternoon as well. I offered milk as a drink with solids meals to my DS when he was a little older than your DD because I found he was still really hungry.

[Jlamarie]

So every time I put her to bed after 8pm, it results in an even earlier wake-up. What do you make of that? It seems so counterintuitive!

Last night, for example, her BT was 8:30pm due to a late CN at 6pm. This morning she woke up at 5:30am! I fed her, as I’m sure she must be hungry after 10 hours since her last feed (right?), and she took a full feed and then fell asleep on me for about 10-15 minutes, waking up at 6:15am as soon as I tried to lay her back down.

She currently seems to be treating 5:30am as her WU, instead of 6:15am, but I’ll try pushing this A time a bit like you said and see how it goes.

These CNs just seem to always bite us in the end here. Is it better to just skip them and do early bedtimes?? If she’s doing 3-4 hours of naps during the day, technically she’d be rested enough for bed, right?

[Mommyadel]

My little has a hard time with the first activity time as well. Sometimes depending on the morning he will be awake at 6:45/7am and fall asleep in the way back from dropping my daughter off at 9am.. which results in a 30 min nap. Even through he shows signs of tiredness I push him through to the 3/3:15 hr mark for him. Personally for me ... there was days I just put him to bed early and skipped the catnap. I would focus on keeping the calories high and focus on the cereal rather then solids or purée as there is a lot more nutrients. Also for the cereal I mix in 1 scoop of formula with 2 oz of water and cereal to the right consistency.  But this might be too much for u as u are only doing one tbsp. my guy was never a big bottle drinker so the transition was easy. He only gets 1 bottle a day now and that's his dream feed, the rest of the time he gets it in his purée or cereal.

If she is doing 3/4 hrs of sleep during the day that is more then plenty. I would try an early bedtime. For example if the last nap was at 3.... than aim for an eb at say 6 she might be ot and need some resettling but give it a go. Until you extend the naps which u doing very well.. then maybe try for the earlier bedtime. I think if she does a 30 min nap and a 1-2 hr nap tans the last nap ended around 3 then she should be able to go the full activity time before bed putting u at around 5:45-6pm. If she wakes resettle by any means possible. Does that help?

[becj86]

Yes, I'd have done BT at 6ish rather than a CN. A very short night of 9hr can be a consequence of OT from too long a day. It could also be a continuation of her wakinh earlier and earlier in the AM/cold. If the CN will push your day longer than 13.5-14hr max, do BT rather than CN. 

[Jlamarie]

Hi! One more question from me (maybe just reassurance??), and then I think we've got this nailed.

She will be 6 months tomorrow and she seems to have made a GIANT leap in A time this past week! We blew right past 3 hrs and are now at 3 h 15 mins. I really thought that was far too much for a barely 6 month old baby, but any time I put her down for a 3 hour AT, I get an UT nap of 60-70 mins and then we get an EW the next day. If we're closer to 3h 15m, she'll take a 2 hour nap! We're also down to 2 naps and haven't needed a CN in about 5 days.

Is it really ok for her to be awake that long? I was reading some of the example EASY schedules and her A time is the same as some of the 9 month examples. Does the increasing A time slow down a bit after this? I feel like I can barely keep up with her before she's ready for another push.

Also, thanks so much for all the advice this past month. It's such a relief to have this site as a resource!!

[becj86]

Yep, absolutely fine. Some babies do a little more A time than 'average' and some do less. Yours is just doing a little more though sounds like she likes long naps and long A times so in reality, she's getting the same amount of nap time just consolidating it a bit more. Sounds like you've navigated the 3-2 nicely, well done!

The increasing of the A time does slow down a bit after 6 months, its an average of 15min every fortnight through from 3 months to 6 months and then it slows to 15min every 3-4 weeks between 6 and 9 months. Keep watching her cues and taking reduction in nap length and EWs as signs the A times need a nudge and you'll increase as she needs it and it will be fine. Yes, things will get hairy from time to time with teeth, developmental leaps, etc. but mostly it will be smooth.