"A" time for different ages

[lmill068]

Is there any where to find out what the typical "A" time is for different ages?

[Missy Lou]

one of the other mods gave me this.  it's what i have always gone by.  i use the first numbers at the beginning of the month and work up to the higher number by the end. 

Newborn 50-60 mins
1 month 60 mins-hour and 15
2 months hour and 15-20
3 months hour and 20-30 mins
4 months hour and 45-2 hours
5 months 2 hours -2.25
late 5 months, early 6 months 2.25-2.5 hours
6.5- 7 months 2.75-3 hours. .some are getting more


right now my LO is 9 months and she is generally up 3 hours and then 3.5 right before bed.
melissa

[lmill068]

Thanks very much for taking the time to respond.

[Missy Lou]

no problem.  that's how i determine LO's A time.  but if those times don't work for your LO, don't stress.  mine always needed more sleep and couldn't stay up as long as others her age.

if there's anything else you want input on about LO's routine, let me know.
melissa

[angpang]

With the "A" times- just a - what may be- silly question! Is the A time a total of the time it takes to feed, any activity AND time to settle to sleep again, i.e if its 1 hr A time, they are back to sleep by the hour?!! It's just that my 4 week old doesn't seem to make those times, wondering if I'm reading things wrong?

[calebs mommy]

angpang- Yes, the awake time includes EVERYTHING.  Don't feel like you are doing something wrong if your baby doesn't make those times.  All babies are different and need different amounts of awake times at different ages.  Just think of Melissa's times as a guide- some need shorter and some need longer.  Just follow your babies cues and you will have a happy and well-rested baby.   

[Missy Lou]

stephanie's right.  that's just a guideline.  my LO has always been about 15 minutes behind in A time than the average.  If you notice that your LO is just too tired by the average A time, decrease it by 10/15 minutes and see if that helps.

And if the average A time is 1 hour, LO needs to be in the crib, swaddled up and falling asleep by 1 hour.  So I'd stop playing at about 40 minutes and start winddown.

[angpang]

HI- I'm back again- I HAVE been putting my 4 week old down to bed at about 40 min and some times it works, but not often enough, surely that's not too long?! At the moment, I seem to be lucky to get more than 2 good naps in the day of more than 1 hr and often only 1. Just can't work out what I'm doing wrong?

[Missy Lou]

post your routine - I dont think we ever really got into it. 
melissa

[angpang]

This is where we're at:
She usually wakes somewhere between 5 and 6am, (goal time is 6am)
E  6am 
A  Back to bed after only 30min at this time (if close to 6am, otherwise straight back to bed and feed again near 6)
S  she usually sleep from 7am, but often for only 1 hr, in which case I wait 15-20 min to see if she's properly awake/will resettle. If not, I feed her early to keep the cycle going before she gets overtired.
 The other times for E in the day are then:
9, 12, 3, 5,7 and dreamfeed at 10pm, but they are fairly flexible at present as she wakes early so often. The rest of the day's A time I've been working at around 40 minutes (ish). You can almost guarantee a good 2 hr sleep after the 12noon feed, but the other naps can't be counted on to go more than 1hr.
We seem to be able to end up with the dreamfeed at same time each night and waking similar time in morning tho. SHe does well during the night- usually wakes around 2am and then not till morning times.

[Missy Lou]

i'm so sorry.  i lost your post and i couldn't find it.

one night feeding is great.  if LO needs two night feeding at this age, that's perfectly normal so dont' worry about that.

was your baby born early?
melissa