Author Topic: 4.5 Month Bedtime and Nightwaking!  (Read 1694 times)

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Offline eogan0622

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4.5 Month Bedtime and Nightwaking!
« on: January 19, 2018, 14:28:25 pm »
Good morning everyone!

My 4.5 month old has been a pretty easy and sweet baby since birth! He's been a decent sleeper as well, and has been able to go to sleep independently for awhile- usually fusses and moves around and then falls asleep.  I'm struggling right now with figuring out his A time before bed, and how to nail the right bedtime after his last nap! 

As many 4-5 month olds are, his schedule can be somewhat unpredictable- sometimes he takes long chunky naps, and some days they are 45 mins- 1 hr.  So it's hard to write out a standard "EASY", but here's what the past couple days have looked like.
*Note: He sleeps swaddled, in his crib, he does use a paci but doesn't require it to fall asleep, and he is EBF

Thursday:
645a: WU
8-1030: S
1030: E
1215: E
12:40-4:10: S (He did wake up around 1:30, I was able to hold him and get him back to sleep)
6:00- Bathtime/bedtime routine/BF
6:30: Asleep
-->NW: 830/945/145/430

Wednesday:
7:15a: WU
8:00: E (isn't very into BF when he first wakes up for some reason)
8:45: E again because he barely ate at 8
9-1030: S
11:15: E
12-12:30: S in carseat (I have a toddler in school and have to pick her up)
1:45: E
2-3: S
3:30: E
4:30: E
4:45-5:45: S
6:00: E
7:00: Bathtime/Bedtime routine/BF
7:30: S
-->NW: 930/1/545

*Questions
1) 2 naps don't seem like enough- my daughter wasn't on 2 naps until around 9 months! But when naps are long, not sure how to fit it all in.  My biggest issue/question is that when he wakes up from a nap at or after 4pm, should I try to get him to nap again around 530/545, hoping for just a quick 30 min cat nap, and then put him to bed 2 hrs after that? Or should I just not try to get him to nap again and put him to bed around 6/630? Because I also have a toddler, that 530 nap can be hard to nail between dinner/cooking/meltdowns/etc- but I am willing to try if you think this would help.
2) Dream Feed- I've been doing a DF with him since we put him in his crib at 9 weeks.  I used to just sneak in at 10 ish and feed and put him back in.  The past couple weeks, however, as he's been going down to sleep closer to 630, he's been waking up for a feed anywhere between 9-10.  Sometimes I try to catch him before he wakes up- IE if he hasn't woken up by 930p then I do the DF then.  However he is still waking to eat somewhere between 12-2 and then again 5-6.  Do I cut the DF? adjust it somehow?
3) He's not rolling back to belly yet but seems very close- so I preemptively want to try to transition into Merlin suit- will try for naps first but wondering if this could be causing NW? He moves around (scooches) a ton while swaddled, lifts and slams his legs down, etc...

Thanks in advance for all the help!


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Re: 4.5 Month Bedtime and Nightwaking!
« Reply #1 on: January 20, 2018, 10:01:43 am »
Hi there
You might get more consistent naps if you increase the A time a bit so that each A time is 1.45 to 2hrs (probably closer to 2hrs) . I notice one of your A times is only 1hr 15, you did get a good length nap there but you also mentioned that sometimes you get 45 min naps and sometimes long naps.  Adjusting the A time could give more consistency.
Here's a reminder of the guidance A times:
https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=84884.0
Looking at increasing approx 2hr 30 at 5 months and 3 hrs at 6 months (obviously depending on the individual).

12:40-4:10: S (He did wake up around 1:30, I was able to hold him and get him back to sleep)
That's a super long nap! I would probably be tempted to cap it at a max of 3hrs if not earlier.  You can probably create more consistency ion the routine by capping all naps at a max of 2hrs but you might prefer to let him sleep longer and go with the more flexible routine. That's kind of up to you - if it works it works, if not try something else.

1) 2 naps don't seem like enough
At this age we'd aim for 3 good naps of 1.5 or 2hrs.  Obviously a super long nap could make it hard to fit a third nap in the day or could mean 2 naps are enough.
We wouldn't expect LO to move to 2 naps until 6 months usually, with a 3hr A time.

2) Dream Feed-
The times of the feeds don't sound problematic.  There could be a growth spurt when LO needs to feed more at night.  The feeds you mention are all a good length apart though (ie more than 3hrs) and it's normal for a LO this age to need more than 1 night feed.

3) He's not rolling back to belly yet but seems very close- so I preemptively want to try to transition into Merlin suit- will try for naps first but wondering if this could be causing NW? He moves around (scooches) a ton while swaddled, lifts and slams his legs down, etc...
Mine also used to slam his legs down and he was never swaddled at night.  I think it's part of self soothing sometimes.
I'm not sure what a merlin suit is, perhaps someone else could help there, but it does sound like you need to move out of the swaddle before LO rolls.

Hope this helps a bit.


Offline eogan0622

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Re: 4.5 Month Bedtime and Nightwaking!
« Reply #2 on: January 25, 2018, 12:17:35 pm »
Thanks for your response.  I've extended his A time a bit to 145-2hrs and his naps have evened out a little- we've been able to squeeze in evening naps and bedtime has been going smoothly.

However....

Night wakings seem like they are getting worse and worse! I thought good sleep during the day would mean good sleep at night! LO has been getting up every 3 hours. I try to give him a paci and shush him but it doesn't work.  If DH goes in it's even more ineffective.  For instance, here was his day yesterday.

7:05: WU
9-1130: S
1:30-3:05: S
4:35-5:05: S
7:00: asleep for the night
NW: 8, 845, *DF 945*, 12:15, 2:40, 6:30 (WU for day)

So, I feel like the DF isn't even doing anything.  Before, this DF had been getting him to 3/4am.  But not it's only getting 2 hours! At that 12 am feed (this has been the past 5 nights)...he doesn't eat long, only about 5 mins (vs 10-12 mins at later feeds).  Should I try harder to soothe without feeding? Is it normal for him to be waking every 3 hours at this age?  Last weekend he was only waking once around 2:45....

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Re: 4.5 Month Bedtime and Nightwaking!
« Reply #3 on: January 25, 2018, 19:56:29 pm »
If you feel the DF is not helpful you can stop it and just feed when LO wakes for a night feed instead.
It's normal for LOs this age to need to feed every 3hrs or for there to be one longer stretch between E in the night (longer means 4hrs or 5hrs) but LOs who are going through a growth spurt will need to feed more frequently.  I wouldn't try to put him back to sleep without feeding if it's been 3hrs, no.
You could try tanking up before BT perhaps?
Please feel welcome to post on the BF board for more experienced support.