Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Please or to access all these features

Parenting

For free parenting resources please check out the Early Years Alliance's Family Corner.

Naps/sleep/routine 5 month old - lost FTM!

7 replies

scg18 · 22/01/2022 01:12

I'm totally lost, I think I know what the problem could be (too much daytime sleep) but not sure how to fix it.
LO is 5.5 months, born at 37 weeks.
Used to sleep through the night 6nights/7 until Xmas when he was in travel cot, we thought just transition to cot/overtired from Xmas busy and then first tooth felt 28 Dec, thought maybe that.
In own cot in our room now and was sleeping with 1 wake for food and some settling needed in early hours but otherwise fine.
Last few days not very well and been waking every couple of hours, think he is getting better but still seems to be struggling with teeth which are through but not quite all the way.
I know awake window is roughly 2 hours and he does seem to get tired around then. We are on 3 hourly feeding routine in day and not weaning yet, although starting soon.
Still has 4 naps and I can't work out where to drop one and still keep awake window.
Example day:
6:45 wake
7:15 feed
Nap somewhere between 8:00-8:30 usually for 60min-90min (on me)
Awake for short time and feed at 10:15
Depending on what we are up to (class, shopping etc) short nap
13:15 feed
Afternoon nap, if in the house can nap on me for 60-90 minutes, if out or put in cot it's c.30-40 minutes
Feed 16:15
Final nap 17:00ish, no more than 30 minutes
Bath/massage 18:40, feed c.19:00
Can take 8oz bottle but take 45 minutes to feed and then a few attempts to put down, can be 20:30 sometimes before settled asleep in cot
All naps generally 2hours after waking except first morning nap, usually falls asleep quickly and only has small bottle, seems to always be tired.
Happy to do some sleep training but not cry it out but also read not to do when teething which seems to be lasting a long time since teeth first felt
Sorry for long post, just so lost, don't mind one wake in night for feed but not constant waking
Grateful for any help/advice, I know I'm getting something wrong but not sure what. Thank you x

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Sausagesausagesausage · 22/01/2022 06:58

There's loads going on at this stage so it's pretty normal for them to wake. My DC2 is a good sleeper but a bout of illness and two new teeth means we've been having multiple wakes of a night. Sending Brew

I'd try to ditch the last nap and stretch the wake windows in the afternoon a bit as that's a bit late for me. Once both of mine got a "bedtime" they're not allowed to sleep past 4pm (unless something has gone horribly wrong with naps in the day or we end up in the car for any length of time)

scg18 · 22/01/2022 09:25

Thanks, good to know I'm not alone! Will see about that last nap, would you still do a feed and then just keep awake until bedtime feed? Maybe split the feed a bit?

OP posts:
MGee123 · 22/01/2022 09:32

They are all so different at this age but to give you another example, our baby is 5 months and does the following:

Wake 7am, feed
Nap 9am (40-50 mins)
Feed 10am
Nap 12pm, small top up feed before settling (90-120 mins)
Feed 2pm
Nap 4pm (30 mins)
Feed 5pm
Bedtime routine starts 6.15, small top up feed before asleep 6.45/7pm

She settles really easily for bedtime with this schedule and sleeps well until her first feed around 12 but after then wakes more often. I try to only feed her twice in the night and settle her with shh ing rocking etc at other times. Desperate to get the second half of the night better but not sure how! I think two feeds in the night is still common at this age though.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

Mytigerhasstripyfeet · 22/01/2022 09:38

Hello! Don't have any solutions but just wanted to say mine has just turned 6m and is pretty much the same. Except he wakes at 5am for the day 😰

He's been teething for almost a month, 2nd tooth is almost through the gum. Didn't realize it can take so long. He's also got a cold and cough.

Will sleep 1.5hrs between 7.00-8.30pm and then usually wakes repeatedly until 11pm when I put him in our bed, then he wakes around every 2h.

I am really hoping once this tooth is through and his cold is better that he's more settled!

Jurassiclover · 22/01/2022 20:44

My little one is almost 6 months, the routine we've settled in is roughly:

8.00am wake up
9:15am breastfeed
10:00am nap (35 minutes usually)
10:35am wake from nap
11:00am breastfeed
12:30pm breastfeed
12:50pm nap (60 to 90 minutes)
2:20pm wake up from nap
2:45pm breastfeed
4:15pm breastfeed
4:35pm nap (usually 45 minutes)
5:20pm wake from nap
5:30pm breastfeed
6:15pm breastfeed
7:00pm breastfeed
7:45 start bedtime routine (in swaddle blanket & fed to sleep in dark room)
Then he would fall asleep anywhere from 8pm - 8.45pm roughly.

So we generally work on 2 hours of awake time before first nap. 2 hours 15 between nap 1 and 2 and nap 2 and 3, then 2 hours 30 between nap 3 and bedtime.

He doesn't have a set bedtime and I adjust every day depending on when he wakes up etc but pretty religiously stick to 2 hours, 2 hours 15, 2 hours 15, 2 hours 30. Seems to work for us. He'll usually have a good stretch of 4+ hours then usually wakes not long after i come to bed (suspect it's because he can smell the milk as we Co sleep) and once I'm in bed with him he'll usually wake around every 2 hours but he's settled very quickly back to sleep with boob

scg18 · 22/01/2022 21:31

Thanks all, it's really good to hear what other people are up to, we extended awake time between first and second nap and second and third nap today fairly successfully and he woke up and had a feed at 4:30pm straight after nap, unfortunately the stretch until bedtime and final feed was just too much, we started bedtime routine at 6:20pm and final feed at 6:50pm but he didn't settle until 8pm! He had been awake for a looooong time by then.

Now thinking to stretch feeds to 4hourly and he can nap after a 3pmish feed and be awake by 4:30/5pm from a third nap which should then give enough time for final feed but not too much. It's all a minefield, and as you all say, every baby is different but from your replies, dropping that 4th nap does seem to be the right thing.

Thank you so much :)

OP posts:
CoralRaven · 04/04/2025 20:22

MGee123 · 22/01/2022 09:32

They are all so different at this age but to give you another example, our baby is 5 months and does the following:

Wake 7am, feed
Nap 9am (40-50 mins)
Feed 10am
Nap 12pm, small top up feed before settling (90-120 mins)
Feed 2pm
Nap 4pm (30 mins)
Feed 5pm
Bedtime routine starts 6.15, small top up feed before asleep 6.45/7pm

She settles really easily for bedtime with this schedule and sleeps well until her first feed around 12 but after then wakes more often. I try to only feed her twice in the night and settle her with shh ing rocking etc at other times. Desperate to get the second half of the night better but not sure how! I think two feeds in the night is still common at this age though.

Hi @Mcgee123 not sure if you're still here. My 5 month old is currently on a similar daytime schedule to your little one. They're waking 3 or 4 times in the night and cant settle back to sleep without a feed. Did you find anything that worked that improved the night sleep or was it just a case of being patient and it improved over time?

New posts on this thread. Refresh page