4 1/2 Month typical Activity Time

[davieroj]

My 4 1/2 month old typically has an Activity time of 2 hours before she becomes cranky and ready for her nap. Is this typical of this age? I was told by my new mom's group facilitator that at this age she should be awake for longer than that.

[Nikki~Nathan&Danielle]

Hi, 2hrs sounds pretty good at this age.  All babies are different - some may be able to stay up for 2.5hrs at this age, but if your baby gets cranky at that point, then that is her personal limit I would think.  If you're happy with her nap lengths and she's happy while up then I wouldn't look at changing anything at this point.  If she was waking grumpy and not taking long naps, then we can look at tweaking her routine.

[davieroj]

Thanks! This is so helpful! I just realized that I have been measuring "awake time" from the time she wakes up from her nap to the time she goes back down for the next nap - perhaps I should be starting awake time AFTER she finishes her feed?

[Deb_in_oz]

hi - awake time is from when they wake up until you put them back to bed 

at 4 1/2 my dd2 could only do 1hr 30 A time - it took us until 5 mo to reach 1hr 45-2hrs and 5 1/2 + months to firmly be at 2hrs + A time. it really depends on temperment and development and how well they eat and sleep (so many factors) that there is really no "should" apart from expecting that a baby over 3 mo woudl be more alert and start extending A time beyond 45min - 1hr but how fast they do it really depends on those variables

[davieroj]

Thank you Debinoz! Totally unrelated but I noticed you live in Sydney! My husband and I met in Sydney Australia during College and 9 years later named our first daughter Sydney! We really enjoyed our time there and hope someday to return with Sydney! Thanks again for your help!

[Deb_in_oz]

you are welcome!  i always loved the name Sydney for a girl and then we moved here so knew i woudl never get to use it