Gina F naps during the day and dropping the night feed

[GeorgieT]

Can anyone help? We've started doing GF and the feed times and going to bed is not problem, however, I cannot get my 5 month old to nap during the day and if she does they are never in her own room. Also we've just managed to drop the 2am feed but she is now waking between 5-6am. She does not cry just talks to herself. Do I feed her or wait until she cries or her 7am feed. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

I always fed DS and changed his nappy so that he would go back to sleep until 7am.
Can't comment too much on GF as we dropped her for Faure & Richardson's 'Sleepsense' around 4-months.

The most important thing is to get your DD to nap. Then you can work on getting her in the cot.

The GF routine doesn't work for some babies because the times between naps are too long. At 5 months, my DS could not stay awake for two hours after waking up (although he could later in the day) without getting massively overtired then impossible to nap.

I'd suggest getting your baby up for 7am (although many many babies are now waking up at 5/6am!!) and putting her down for her first nap as soon as she looks tired. This could be as soon as an hour after being awake. Next naps, do the same and don't hang about! A few days of this, you can work out a nap routine. Then you can gradually move the naps into the GF routine if you like.

As for the night feeds, your baby might go through a growth spurt or two and need the feeds at night. However if she's not hungry at 5/6am then you don't need to feed. Although maybe you could try feeding at 2am again to see if that gets her through to 7am and drop it when she's a bit older?

To be honest, I gave up with the GF routines and found a nap/feed routine for my DS (he's my first) by watching his tired signs etc. It was much less stressful!

We did Gina (kind of...) and dd NEVER slept as long as she recommended during the day. She also didnt sleep in her room - but that was because I refused to be stuck in the house at the same time everyday. She slept in her pushchair or car seat. We did eventually get her to nap in her bouncy chair thing at home by using a lullaby CD as a sleep association thingy, which maybe worth a try.

We didn't feed at the early wakings - just left her unless she cried. If she did, we took turns each morning to go through and just sit with her in the dark and bore her back to sleep. Not fun - the early waking thing is v common and lasts a while, on and off, with lots of babies and toddlers.

I shouldn't worry about your DD's nap times and places being different from what GF recommends.

I did the routine for a bit but never took the nap location thing too seriously as it made life so restrictive. If your DD is happier falling asleep on car journeys or in her pram, then so be it, I don't think it will effect night time sleeping.

If your DD wakes up happy first thing in the morning and is just gurgling rather than crying, personally I wouldn't feed or give much attention unless she was crying.

Sounds like you are all doing well, if she is settling well for sleep at night and waking up happy, then for 5 months that is pretty good.

Our DD (now 2) never napped well during the day in her moses basket/cot so I either used to put her in her buggy and take her for a long walk during nap times (she always fell asleep) or put her in a baby swing. Then at night, for some reason, she slept fine in her basket/cot. Then around 8 months or so she began to nap well in her cot during the day.

I too fed DD around 5am if she woke just so she slept on till 7. But if she was happilly chatting away then I would leave her.

GF really worked well for us but I didn't insist on naps in the cot.