We did it!

[becky1969]

We've now reached the magical 3 hour awake time!!! I've been dreaming of this day for months now. 3 hours is such a long time, it makes doing things SO much easier! Plus we get to drop the cat nap most nights, which makes family life a bit nicer!!!

The funny thing is we'd been holding steady at 2.5 hours awake time since about 5 months old. It didn't seem like he could do more. However, his morning nap had really started to get short - 30-45 minutes. I thought it was because we were weaning the swaddle. But, in the middle of a move, I swaddled him so I could get some stuff done, and it was STILL a short nap! I kept him up longer, and lo and behold he went 3 hours and took a good 1.5 hour nap! The little monkey! This same thing happened at 12 weeks - I thought he could only do 1hr15, but really he needed 1hr45.

So pretty much overnight we've gone from 2.5 hours awake to 3 hours! Some times he still needs to go down early, but most of the time he's pushing to the 3 hour mark. Hooray for us!

So my next question is: Now are we on a 4.5 hour EASY? Both naps tend to be about 1.5 hours; both naps add up to about 3 hours regardless.

[*Natasha*]

What does his current routine look like now?
That is great news Becky well done. My DD couldn't handle a 3hr awake time in the AM until she as 8months so you are doing great.

[becky1969]

Well, he just turned 7 months but he's already 31 weeks, which is nearly 8 months in terms of weeks. Maybe that's why he's doing it now!

Here's our current routine:

Awake 7 am
E 7:30 (bottle)
Solids 8:30
S 10-11:30

E 12:00
Solids 13:00
S 14:30-16:00

E 16:15 (try to get this bottle in early since we have another before bed)
Bath 18:15
Bedtime routine: books, bottle, song, bed
19:00 bed

10:30 dream feed (hope to be dropping this SOON!)


You could have knocked me over with a feather when he started doing 3 hour awake times! It's also made bedtime SO much easier. From about 5 months old he started doing this weird wake-up only 30 minutes after going to sleep. I started a bunch of props ( ) to get rid of that wake-up, none of which worked but now I'm stuck with them!

Now that we're doing 3 hour awake time before bed, no more 30 minute wake-up! Duh! I wish I would have thought of longer awake time before! I sort of experimented with longer awake times, but I wasn't brave enough to go TOO long. He always seemed so tired before bed. Now I'm working on eliminating those props, and I feel confident they'll be history in no time. I'm not afraid of the 30 minute wake-up anymore, so I'm able to work on prop elimination without worry!

[Harvey and Theos Mam]

Well done, i am looking forward to the day Theo goes to 3 hrs awakes time. lol

He can do it sometimes, but after he has his good nap in the morning. But i have just now droppped the DF and he is going from 6-6 and i was very shocked at how easily he did it.

Good luck with dropping the DF, i just whittled it down in 15 mins increments every 3 days.

[becky1969]

Thanks Harvey & Theo's Mom! I know, isn't that 3 hour mark like the holy grail? LOL! I've been anxiously awaiting this day! Now it's here, and it is so freeing! We've been able to go out a lot more b/c I'm not stuck with only an hour after feeding, changing, etc. woohoo! And LO seems happier too. He's sleeping so much better.

[Zoey]

Lol Owen is doing 3-3.5 hour A times, and I think it really becomes more of a routine then an easy really.  Still always stick with play after eat, then sleep but with feeds, solids, no cat naps - it kinda just goes into a nice routine. 

Congrats!  It like a whole new world!

Zoey