5 month old naps, worries not enough wake time

[Becky199327]

Hi All,

So my 5 month old sleeps 12 hours at night with 0 or 1 bottle feed around 4am. We'll wake up at 730 and play, feed until 930. He'll then go down for a 4 hour nap between 930 to 130. Then we'll be up for another 2 hours where we'll play, go for a walk, visit nan etc...Then he'll nap from 330 to 5 and repeat play time, tummy time, sensory videos. Start his bedtime routine at 620 which includes, bath, cuddles, bottle and in bed for 7. I've done this routine since 7 weeks and never deviated so it's ingrained for naps and bed but worried he's not awake enough. Is he just a tired baby? He can make it to 2 hours awake but that's really pushing it, just worried he's not getting enough awake time. He seems generally happy and is having 5/6 10oz bottles per day, he's 99th percentile.

Thanks, just a FTM worrying over everything

So he’s only awake 6hrs a day and sleeps 18hrs?
I don’t know, it seems a lot. But at that age mine only had maybe 3 naps of 30 ish minutes and slept 9pm-6am with about 4 wake ups. Never seemed to need more than 11/12hrs in 24.

It’s a lot of sleep but most 5 month olds have more than 2 naps a day. More likely 3 or even sometimes 4 at this age.

If he alert and engaged and not lethargic when awake then I wouldn’t worry.

I’ve just noticed you said he can have 6 bottles a day of 10oz. That’s a huge amount of milk. Does he really need this? You could be over feeding which may make him more lethargic. Like when you’ve just eaten a massive roast dinner and you feel like you need to go for a nice long nap 😂 why is he having quite so much?

Sorry don’t mean to keep coming back but I realised that means he’s having approx 10 oz for every hour he’s awake. No wonder he is sleeping well (!) but I really think it’s too much. 99th percentile perhaps confirms this. Have you tried giving slightly smaller feeds but paced slower? Some babies are very “sucky” and will guzzle far more than they really need. Look up paced feeding. Both of mine have been quite chunky but never had anywhere near that amount of milk.

He was 9lb 1 oz when born and has always loved his milk. I mentioned his bottles to the Hv a few weeks ago and she said he was following his curve nicely, just a big baby. He's also very long as well. I've tried to spread out his milk a bit more but he screams for it every 3 hours, except the 4 hours for his big morning nap obviously. When he's awake he's happy and giggly, loves his jumperoo and playmat. And watching sensory sing song videos. He's also keen to be held so je can stand and he's very strong. Just loves his sleep!! But everyone says they're surprised he's sleeping so long so now worrying about it
But once he's awake for 2 hours he can't cope and needs more sleep :/

Most of the time its 5 bottles, occasionally 6

@Becky199327 All babies are completely different OP so it’s hard to say! I think at that age mine was doing 3 or 4 short naps. Have you mentioned it to your HV?

Also, not the point of your thread, I know, but 5/6 10oz bottles a day seems like a lot of milk 😳🤔 My DS was (and still is) 99th centile and at around that age was taking 5/6 7oz bottles per day and my HV commented on how much he was having.

He's a big baby but normal portions I believe

It does seem really surprising that he sleeps 12 hours and is only awake 2 hours before sleeping for another 4! Neither of mine have ever managed a nap longer than 2 hours in their whole lives!

Looks like he has much higher sleep needs than usual. At 5mo both of mine were on 3 naps a day (sometimes 4) of 30mins-1.5hrs each but usually 45mins each nap.

Can't comment on milk as mine never really liked much milk and we're weaned early on advise from GP/HV/Pead as a result by 5mo. They would have about 3oz every 3 hours and maybe a bottles in the night of about 2-3oz too.

Yes I did mention it and she weighed him for a few concurrent weeks as a result and said he was exactly on his curve. I don't know where he puts it all 😳 its costing a fortune and have tried reducing slightly hut he cries for the milk so unsure

That does seem a lot of sleep! Only six hours awake time at that age is quite unusual, but if he's bright and happy when he is awake then that's good!

I’m not convinced he would be crying for more milk each time though. Maybe he likes to be fed frequently but doesn’t mean he needs 10oz every time? Both mine were snackers and never went longer than 3 hours between feeds regardless of whether they had a small or a huge feed. I wouldn’t try to drop a bottle, he obviously needs to feed that frequently, but I would feed more slowly with little breaks and reduce to maybe 7/8oz

Yes everyone's surprised how much he sleeps which is why I'm starting to worry about it. He's rolled over a few times, has full head control and loves being stood up when he'd so I think he's hitting his milestones, i just thought his naps would be decreasing but they're like clockwork.

Everyone says his milk intake means he's ready to wean but I want to wait until 6 months. I'm just a bit confused is all.

I think having 10oz at a time is perhaps just knocking him out. It’s an awful lot for him to digest so it will make him sleepy

On 1or 2 of his bottles he'll leave maybe 1 to 2 ounces but never more than that

Food is generally less calorific than milk and the amount that a baby eats/drinks has nothing to do with when you should wean. Totally outdated advice.

Perhaps I will try and reduce milk by an ounce and see if he notices

Also coming back to your earlier point, 9lb1oz is chunky but it’s not 99th centile. So he may have gone up to that centile after birth and stayed there but I still think he is perhaps being over fed and that is contributing to how much he is sleeping during the day. A lot of sleep won’t do him any harm but I would as I say try to reduce his milk intake slightly and keep an eye on his weight. It is possible to overfeed on formula.

Okay thank you, I will try and give a smaller bottle to see if he notices. Yes hv said he bumper up after we switched from bf to ff at 2 weeks and then he's just stayed there

We had to switch as wasn't gaining any weight on bf

@Becky199327

Yes everyone's surprised how much he sleeps which is why I'm starting to worry about it. He's rolled over a few times, has full head control and loves being stood up when he'd so I think he's hitting his milestones, i just thought his naps would be decreasing but they're like clockwork.

Everyone says his milk intake means he's ready to wean but I want to wait until 6 months. I'm just a bit confused is all.

@Becky199327 You’re definitely right to hold off weaning until 6 months unless advised to wean earlier by a doctor for health reasons 😊 I was given the same advice by lots of people 🙄 and that my DS was ready to wean because he watched me while I ate 🤣🤣 he watched me do the laundry and dishes too but it doesn’t mean he was ready to be doing those 🤣 If he’s following his centile then I’m sure he’s doing just fine 😊 I do still think he’s having a lot of sleep. Maybe try and push his wake windows slightly? Doesn’t need to be a lot. Just try and add 10/15 mins on to his wake windows and he’ll gradually get there 😊

Thank you for that that's made me feel a bit better. I'm glad I'm not the only one that's had early weaning almost shoved down their throat. That's one thing I'm certain of. I've tried waking him up after 2.5 hours of his 1st nap but he gets cranky quickly lol, whereas if he has his 3.5 to 4 hours he's happy to do tummy time and okay for about 2 hours before he gets tired again. His 2nd nap is also hit and miss but if he doesn't get it he's awful from about 5pm onwards until bedtime, poor chap.

Wow, 18 hours! That's how I pictured my mat leave would be 😂 Until I had a baby that has never slept more than 12 in 24 hours and demands a moving pushchair for every nap. I guess for average to be average, there must be babies with varying sleep needs either side of that. You must be the lucky mum getting all the sleep I missed! Ours eats lots too and is up in the 90s centiles. If the HV and GP aren't worried, I guess you just take up knitting or something!

I think it’s ok to need more sleep. But my worry if he’s only awake 6hrs is fitting in all the stuff babies need to do in that wake him. By the time he wakes, eats, butt change etc, it doesn’t leave much time for him to learn things like interacting, sitting up, crawling.

Ds was breastfed, but every 90 mins or so. If he took a bottle max 3oz. He was also almost 9lb born. Maybe try smaller bottles, more often? That way he isn’t completely stuffed at each feed?

Otherwise could you start waking him from naps? Especially the 4hr one first thing. If he’s slept 12hrs overnight, awake 2 hours, then a 90min-2hr nap should be plenty in one go. Gentle wake him after this time.

I think eventually most people/ babies more onto a short first nap, longer after lunch nap, then shorter late afternoon nap for 0-12 month olds. Ie 1hr, 2hrs, 1hr ( or less in our case)

Aw I'm sorry that sounds awful, I love my sleep so maybe my son is the same I'm sure a second would probably go the other way!