HOW LONG DOES YOUR 4.5 MONTH OLD BABY SLEEP?

[AFergie]

Hello !

I was wondering how long do other 4 1/2 month old babies sleep, during the day with their naps and at night?

Do you have regular nap times?

My baby nods off a bit in the morning and a bit in the afternoon but no more than 1 hour at best for 1 of them the other nap will be shorter.

At night he wakes up x2. Last bottle around 9 and then he wakes at 1/2 and then 5/6. Im exhausted! Have started baby rice for the last 2 days.. no change.

I know every baby is different but I would love to compare with other little ones..

Thanks !!

Napping in the daytime is usually quite variable, DS1 had 3 at that age all 45 mins, DS2 had a morning one for about 45 mins and then afternoon about 1-1.5 hours. I used to out them to bed around 7-7.30 then either wake slightly or dream feed at 10.30 to get them through to 5am when I gave a splash and dash until 7am ish. I didn't drop the final feed until they were totally weaned

My DS is a bit older, 20 weeks. He doesn't have structured nap times but generally has either 3, 45min naps or 2, with one being nearer 1 1/2hrs. He goes to bed at around 7.30 with feed, then has a dreamfeed at 10.30ish then sleeps 'till 6-7am. If it's nearer 6am he might have an extra doze with me in bed!! Not sure if he's typical though- I think he's a good sleeper.

Thanks! SO napping is not on a fixed schedule.=

I see that your baby goes without a bottle for 7 hours.. thats amazing. My son used to do that and stopped a month ago.

Anyone else in this situation?

Also how much baby rice do you give per feed?

Thanks !! xx

Hi! Thanks for your reply
So your baby does also 7/8 hours without a feed. Do you give her baby rice pr she exclusively FF?

Would really love a good night sleep...

Do you have a partner who could do a night for you to enable you to get some sleep? Maybe on a weekend/non-work night? Or maybe you could rope in a family member to do a night for you to get some respite.

I love my husband but he is useless at night. I always hear the baby before him and once In awake Im awake!
Do you think he needs more good in the evening and thats why he wakes up?
How much baby rice do you give you nearly 20 week old in the evening?

Thank you

At that age DS1 had 3-4 45 minute naps a day and at night had a bottle at 10pm and breastfeeds at 2/3am and 5am. I don't think night waking at this age is particularly related to food tbh, young babies just do wake in the night.

Maybe you could stay somewhere else for the night and then your DH will have to step up.

I am not the right person to give advice about FF and baby rice. At 4.5 months my DS was breastfeeding 1 to 2 hourly through the night. Two wake ups at that age sounds amazing from my point of view. There is often a "sleep regression" at around 4 months, which people mistakenly connect to food and so start to wean early. The baby rice IMHO is not necessary, serves no purpose and isn't a cure for night waking. I would just try and ride this phase out.

Your DH does need to help you out on non-work nights, given that he is able to as you are FF. Would earplugs for you work, especially if you slept in a different bedroom?

DS is mix fed so is bf then topped up wit f- but recently the last feed and dreamfeed are formula. We've only just started weaning this week and have just given him little tastes of fruit purees so can't help on the baby rice- Don't think we'll bother with it though-it looks like wallpaper paste
I agree with Science and ExBrightonBell-I'm not totally convinced night waking is all about hunger so not sure weaning would help. Sorry.

Thanks for all your advice. Seems like everyone is more or less in the same boat at this stage. I spoke to 1 person who told me that at nearly 20 week a baby should sleep through the night and I stupidly listened....

Exbrightonbell you must be exhausted with you baby still waking up 1-2 hours, I feel bad I complained !

I will get hubby to do a night, although I bet you anything the baby will randomly sleep through for no reason. Its always like that!

Anyway thanks a lot, and good luck to us and our lack of sleep ! x

Sounds totally normal. DD1 only slept for 45 mins max during the day till she was much older.

She also fed at similar times till she was 7/8 months then would wake only at 5/6 for a feed and then doze for a while in the morning.

They really don't need baby rice at this age and has less nutritional value than BM or formula anyway.

And twice a night is really good at that age!

It's alright, AFergie, my DS is 22 months old now and night wakings are a thing of dim and distant memory! I am fortunate to be one of those people who can function on minimal sleep, although it was still a bit of a grind. My DP did help out as much as possible taking bfeeding into account, so I could catch up with sleep in the early evening between feeds.