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

@Caspianberg

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)

Thank you yes that's my worry. He has very strong head control and can sit up with help. He's rolled over a few times and does acrobatics in his cot for about 15 minutes before he falls asleep so I think that's a good sign although I'm not 100% on concrete milestones at this age. I've tried to pull the bottle away gently but he reaches out and pulls it back in

He's gorgeous and looks very happy! Some babies need more sleep than others. If he's hitting all his milestones and he's content, and the HV is happy then I wouldn't change anything!

Thank you so much. Being a ftm I just worry a bit

Don't worry OP, my eldest was similar. Solid 10-12 hours at night with two long naps. He was still taking a three hour nap after lunch at age four. Some kids just like their sleep!!

A 4 hr nap every day at 5 months is an awful lot. I’ve never known a baby to sleep that much in the day.
Probably worth mentioning to your HV incase there is anything underlying.
I’m sure he’s fine, but that’s a lot of daytime sleep on top of 12 hrs overnight.

I had a sleepy baby. From memory when he was on two naps a day he would would wake at 7:30 be down at 10:30 for an hours nap and then back down 2:30 for a two hour nap then in bed around 7:30/8pm for the whole night. So his wake window was roughly 3/3.5 hours and then slept through the whole night with out a feed.

A friend of mine had one like this. Was sleeping 12 hours a night and still having a 3 hour afternoon nap right up until his first day in reception. He’s 11 and perfectly fine but still does love his sleep.

My nephew downs 10oz bottles in minutes, yet my two have never drunk more than 4oz in one go in their lives. All developed/ing normally.

We saw a very straight talking paed for my youngest in the autumn, who said that actual amounts of formula/BM/food are not relevant to how they assess if a baby is doing well - they look to see that they are physically healthy, meeting milestones and producing a normal amount of wet/dirty nappies.

I reckon they’re all different and, had we all been parents before the age of the internet, we’d just have parented the child/ren we had to meet their own particular needs, rather than worrying if everything is normal.

Hi OP, I was just wondering how your little one is doing now? Is he still a big sleeper? I also have a 5 month old who still very much needs her sleep and have similar FTM worries!

Hiya

Well as he's 10.5 months now he's down to 2 naps. Our day sort of goes like this:-

630ish wakes in crib
7am out of crib/ breakfast
930am bottle of milk/nap
1130ish wake up
12pm lunch
215 bottle and nap
4pm wake up
430 tea
645 bottle milk and bed

He's on a pretty good schedule so he's doing good. Congrats on your bundle too, hope its all going OK? The first stages are so hard aren't they, it took us so long to get into a rhythm. Thank god he slept through from 6 months! Xx

@Twdfn123 Thank you for replying! Sounds like you have a very good routine going on now and it’s interesting to see the rough structure of your day! I am enjoying my little one so much but we have no rhythm whatsoever and each day is so different especially with when she naps and how much sleep she needs. I suppose that’s to be expected as she is still so little!