How much sleep during the day for 5 month old??

[kellyhushhh]

Okay i think the time change has a lot to do with my ds early wakings,   Ds was sleeping 7pm - 7am with no dreamfeed, i dropped the df as i think this was disturbing his sleep. When i stopped the dream feed his night waking reduced  but the last few weeks he has been waking between 5am and 5.30am and will not go back to sleep, he is wide awake and smiling :roll:

However i am also wondering whether ds could be sleeping too much in the day??? ( he is 5 months old)

He takes a nap in the morning for 1.5 - 2hrs. The time he takes his nap varies depending on what time he wakes up, recently it has been 5am on and off until 6am when i finally give up and feed him.  So i have been putting him down between 8am and 9am.

Then he has a nap early afternoon, this nap can soemtimes be 45 mins or sometimes 2hrs.

Then he has a  catnap depending on when he woke from the afternoon nap anywhere between 4pm and 5pm, today though he was awake at 1.30pm and just would not go down for the catnap.

I just feel in a total mess, i dont think i can handle these 5am wake ups for much longer.
Somedays his nap time totals 4.5 or 5 hrs and other days can be as little as 2.5 - 3hrs.

So my questions are...

 :?: Should i re introduce the dream feed?  Baring in mind ds is already having 40 ounces over 4 bottles, should i make the bottles 8 ounces each over 5 bottles instaed of 10ounces over 4 bottles.

 :?: Should i adjust his naps, is he sleeping too much??

 :?: when do they drop the catnap??

 :?: How much formula is too much?? Ds is having 40 ounces plus a few teasppons of pears morning and lunch.

 :?: should i do wake to sleep?

I have been reading lots of other posts and these 5am waking seem quite common.

I have always had a bedtime routine, bath, massage bottle and bed, never any later than 7pm.

Why all of a sudden does he wake at 5am, i thought they were meant to get better not worse.

His awake time is two hours and i always try to put him doen for a nap afetr 2 hours but soemtimes im sure he could stay awake longer, like this afternoon he was awake from 1.30pm until 6.45pm, granted he was a tiny bit niggily but he went down and was fast asleep at 6.47pm!!

Sorry i have really rambled here and probably dont make sense but im just hoping someone can give me some advice and let me beleive things will get back to how they used to be?

Thanks to anyone who can reply to me
Kellyxx

[Taylor's Mommy]

Hi Kelly,

you are quite right, the 5 am wake up around 5-6 months is extremely common.  I am on the march/april thread with about 20 other moms and we all pretty much have experienced it.

 :?: what does he do at 5 am?  does he cry so you go to him and he is giggly?  or do you just hear him babbling so you go to him to try to get him to sleep?  some days T just babbles so we leave her and eventually she falls back asleep (sometimes after an hour! :shock: ).  when she cries DH usually goes in and tries to re-position her and she usually goes back to sleep.  I have tried not to feed before 6 am unless I am quite sure she is hungry.

it sounds like your routine is nice, but I would suggest that on teh days his sleep heads towards 4-5 hours, try to cut it down by waking him from a nap, or even putting to bed a little earlier (say 6:45) as to avoid the catnap.  Taylor was usually getting about 3-3.5 hours of day sleep at 5 months.

to answer some of your Q's:
the catnap can go off and on for a couple of months between the ages of 5-7 months (some babies even still take it up to 8-9 months).  with us, we went 2 weeks with no catnap recently, and then the last 2 days she has taken the cat nap.

you can try wake to sleep, but from what I've heard it doesn't really help much with the 5 am wake up thing.

I don't know if I've offereed a lot of help, but I can say jsut be patient and thigns will eventually go back to normal.

one last thing: it is also quite common for babies to wake between 10-11 pm for a feed and 5-6 am for a feed.  I recently read this in a well known sleep book, and has made me feel soooo much better about Taylor recently waking at 6 am for a feed and then going back to sleep for anothre hour.  I kept fighting feeding her, but after I finally stopped stressing about it and just fed her, our days have been soooo much better (this has been going on for the last 2 weeks).

HTH!

[shem2005]

I have also dropped the DF in the last 2 weeks and my DD is 5 months. My DD sleeps 7-7 and has roughly a 2.5 hour sleep in the morning, 2 hr in the afternoon and then a catnap of 45min to 1 hr.

So my DD sleeps alot during the day but it does not seem to effect her nighttime sleep.

[scarletts mum]

Hi Kelly

My 4.5 month old dd was recently doing the 5am waking thing (oh joy!) and we just left her, she was just waking and talking away to herself, so we didnt go in.  I knew she wasnt hungry and eventually she just went back to sleep.   

Hope it works out okay.

Lizzie

[kellyhushhh]

Hi Andrea, thanks for your reply, in response to your question...

What does he do at 5am, well he starts off babbling so i leave him too it but then after 5 or 10 mins it starts to a moan then i will go in give him his dummy then after another 5 or 10 mins its a come and get me cry, this is when he smiles at me!! There is no way i could leave him to play he would throw a fit!!

He has never woke at 10/11pm for a feed but do you think maybe i should reduce his ounces in his bottles during the day and maybe re intrduce the dream feed??

Wake to sleep... i tried last night... i went into his room at 4.10am, as it was he was already semi concious so i just put his dummy in and left the room... he still woke at 5am ish!!! So like you said, it doesnt seem to work

I fed him at 6.15am this morning and he had a two hour nap until 10.15am, do you think i should put him to bed at 6pm tonight or the usual 6.45pm/7pm???

SHEM.....Your shedule is exzctly what mine used to be!! I wish i had it back  :lol:

Lizzie... thanks for the reply, i have tried leaving him to talk to himself but he wont last any longer than 5 or ten mins


Thanks again for all your replys, im still at a loss as to what to do though

[scarletts mum]

Hi

Have you tried just consistently going in and just calming your lo and then leaving the room...? I did have to do that in the very beginning, if you keep at it, they do eventually get the message!

Lizzie

[kellyhushhh]

Hi Lizzie.... oh yes i have tried this!  :lol: In a way this is what i do and before i know it its past six o clock and i just think well i may as well feed him.  I guess i could get tougher and not feed until 7am but i just cant imagine going in and out of his room for 2 hours!!

If the 5am wakings dont stop then i suppose i will have to  try harder and hope he gets the message :lol:

Thanks again for your quick reply xx

i think im going to reduce his ounces in his bottles today and re introduce the dream feed, see if that helps, doubt it but who knows xx

[scarletts mum]

Hi

I would honestly keep going until 7.00am, I know its hard, but persistence really is the key with this.  They do eventually learn!!

Let me know how you get on.

Lizzie

[kellyhushhh]

Thanks Lizzie, i guess im just selfish but i am just so tired and i just think oh maybe tommrow will be better, but it never is!!

I will try my hardeest tommorow morning and see what happens.

Thanks so much for your help xx

[scarletts mum]

Hi

I know exactly what you mean, but certainly for us perseverance has paid off.  Scarlett sleeps from 7.00 till 7.00 now... although it was a rocky road!!

Let me know how you get on.

Lizzie

[Taylor's Mommy]

you could try reintroducing the df, but from what I heard, the 5 am wake up thing still can happen whether there is a df or not.  it is your call.  perhaps try for 3 days in a row and see what happens.

re. wake to sleep I do remember readign in Tracy's book that it could take 3-4 nights in a row for it to work, so no surprise that it didn't work after one night.

I would suggest 2 different things:
1. keep trying to get him down until 7 if you have the patience
2. try until maybe 6 to get him back down and if not, then feed at 6ish but treat as a night feed and straight back to bed until 7.

Lastly, you could try an earlier bedtime for a few days in a row and see if that helps.  One of themoms on the march/april thread swears by the earlier bedtime and says that is what got rid of the 5 am waking...she puts her lo to bed between 6:15-6:30.

HTH!

[kellyhushhh]

Hi Andrea,

Okay i have just put Jude down to sleep at 6.20pm, he had an 8 Ounce feed.  I,m just going to give the dream feed a go and see what happens.

What have i got to lose??

Thanks for your advice... 

[kellyhushhh]

WELL I PUT JUDE TO BED AT 6.20PM , I GAVE HIM THE DREAMFEED AT 10.15PM AND HE DOWNED 9 OUNCES AND WOULD HAVE HAD MORE I THINK.

HE WOKE AT 5.38AM AND I GAVE HIM HIS DUMMY AND HE FELL STRAIGHT BACK TO SLEEP UNTIL 6.35AM
SO I AM VERY HAPPY THIS MORNING BUT STILL TIRED AS I WAS AWAKE FROM 5AM ONWARDS WAITING FOR HIM TO WAKE UP!!!

THE THING IS NOW IM THINKING WAS IT THE EARLY NIGHT THAT MADE THE DIFFERNCE OR WAS IT THE DREAMFEED??? IM THINKING THE DREAMFEED HELPED A LOT BUT ALSO THE EARLY NIGHT.

IM NOT GOING TO GET TOO EXCITED THOUGH AS WHO KNOWS LAST NIGHT MAY HAVE BEEN A ONE OFF......... I SO HOPE NOT :?


ANYWAY FOR KNOW IT LOOKS LIKE IM STARTING THE DREAMFEED AGAIN, SO NO MORE EARLY NIGHTS FOR ME!! :lol: