Anyone drop the third nap at 5 months?

[CoffeeAndCurls]

Literally at my wits end with sleep!
from all I know, 5 months is just too young to drop the last nap and she still goes down for it okay but bedtime is taking HOURS, and then no matter what she’s awake for HOURS in the night, up to three hours at a time. She goes to bed and wakes every 45 minutes until 10/11 ish and then has maybe three hours. Then she feeds and has another hour or so, but that’s pretty much it, she just stays awake for hours and hours squealing to herself and eventually screaming the place down when she gets tired even though I’ve tried and failed to put her back to sleep each time or allow her to put herself back to sleep.

i can get her down for naps but they are largely only 45 minutes long and are all over the place because she’ll be up for hours in the night and so always gets up at a different time, I can’t keep it consistent as when she’s been up from 3am-6am I can’t just keep her up until 8am so that her first nap isn’t too early because she’s already overtired by this point.

sleep regression I know. It’s normal I know. But none of the rules seem to apply to her, her sleep is just awful regardless of how the day goes and I’m feeling pretty desperate.

Can’t help, my four month old babies don’t even really “nap”. We’re in survival mode here… one day they’ll sleep for a dozen ten minute cat nap, on another day they might be awake and horrible all morning and then sleep all afternoon.

Based on what you’ve said she could easily be either overtired or undertired. I’d say pay attention to wake windows but actually might just be better to watch out for sleepy signs, make sure she sleeps at that perfect moment. A baby awake and happy enough in the middle of the night is usually down to a developmental leap, a baby unhappy and screaming in the middle of the night is usually because she needs something (hungry, wet, hot, cold…).

What’s your routine looking like?

It does sound like she is massively overtired. Getting a baby to nap and sleep well is a nightmare and I have to say I had no idea how hard it would be!
My baby is 5 months old and has 3-4 hours of sleep over 4 different naps. He isn’t awake longer than 2.5 hours between naps and even then 2.5 hours is a one off maybe once a day. He usually manages an hour 45 mins to 2 hours before we get him to nap.
How is she in the pram? Will she nap there? We started off napping in the pram (sometimes sling) as it meant we could pop him in 20 mins before we knew he’d be due one and then he could carry on looking around and naturally go to sleep without all the kicking off and fuss. Once we’d nailed consistent naps that way we then started introducing one at home in his cot and then two naps and now he could have all of them at home but don’t so we can get out and about.
I wouldn’t worry about the time she wakes up in the morning. Whenever she does, even if it’s say 4am to begin with, just keep alternating between the age appropriate awake time and then try and get her to nap until she’s had roughly the right amount of day sleep and awake time before bedtime (leaving 10-12 hours for nighttime sleep).
I really recommend the Huckleberry app to begin with to help let you know how long to keep them awake and when to try for a nap and once you’re in more of a routine you can start to adjust it more to your baby’s pattern and your lifestyle.

Yep both mine dropped to two naps bu then and 1 nap by 9 months very young and not 'the norm' but they had one one cat nap in morn then big long nap in their cot every afternoon and slept through x

Overtired is what I’ve really been trying to beat but it just isn’t happening.
i can put her down the moment she shows sleep cues or I can go by wake windows but it makes no real difference.
I’ve extended her naps even by letting her just sleep with my boob in her mouth.
I’ve used the Huckleberry App and I didn’t find it to be any great revelation.
ir just seems like she follows none of the ‘rules’ which is why I wonder what dropping that nap would do.

she does not sleep in the pushchair, car or baby carrier. Most days I’m on house arrest because otherwise she really won’t nap at all, or feed because she’s too nosy.

some days I’m sure it’s overtiredness but other days I question it because she be tried everything and I just can’t win.

routine for bed is nappy and moisturiser, dark room with white noise/lullabies, story and feed to sleep.

You might not want to which is fair enough but it can be a good idea to feed and then put them in cot to self settle when they are nice and full and clean it's a great skill x

Mine is nearly 6m and we've just started a 2 nap schedule with some bedtime sleep training. We're 3 days in and it's going really well. I'm aiming for 3hr wake windows, 3ish hours of sleep in the day and 11ish hours overnight. She's waking to feed once or twice and all naps are in the carrier because I like an easy life.

Before 6m it was anything goes really. No routine at all, just used to fall asleep whenever. She has always been fomo so rarely sleeps on days out, but does go to sleep in her bedroom.

At 6m thus became less sustainable around the older kids and school runs and my 2yo kept waking her so I started to put her upstairs in her cot at 10 and 2 for a nap.

Then at 10m she dropped down to one nap, but generally a decent one, in the middle of the day.

All of my children are lower sleep needs than others it seems though (which I am quite bitter about at times, especially when they have all stopped napping by 2 so far)

She is 13m and doesn't go to sleep until at least 8. Not unhappy just not as tired as other babies.

My 7mo has been on 2 naps since she was 4months old. Couple of hours in the morning, another couple in the afternoon and then bed at 7pm. Works fine for us.

Hi, so sorry to hear you’re at your wits end. Definitely been there and it sucks. My eldest used to be awake for hours in the night. It’s a killer 😂🙄🤦🏼‍♀️. I feel for you.

I’m on my third baby who has just turned 6months old. My other children are 8 & 4. They do sleep eventually…😊.

What I came here to say really is perhaps baby’s bedtime is too early ? If bedtime is taking hours and is causing you stress it could be worth relaxing it.

My baby is usually in bed for the night between 9 and 10pm. Having his last feed around 9ish where he falls asleep. I don’t try and have a set bedtime for him at this stage.

My older children do have a routine for bedtime that we have developed over the years starting around 6/6:30 pm (if we’re home) bath, story, ect that baby comes along for the ride with.

But baby is different. He still has approx 3 naps in the day I geuss but it’s very much go with his flow as to when he has them. At night my older children are usually asleep for 8pm (4year old) , 9pm (8 year old). Baby stays with me as he is usually awake while putting the other two to bed. When the other children are asleep we cuddle and I give him some attention until he’s tired and offer him his feed.

I did read a while ago that the better babies sleep in the day the better they sleep at night. I’m sure I haven’t just made that up 😂 I think trying to drop a nap could exacerbate your problem if baby is over tired already ?

Sometimes I lie next to him, cuddle him and pretend to sleep. It seems to work at times 😂. I did this a lot with my four year old while breast feeding her. She often fell asleep with my boob in her mouth before I transferred her to her cot. I hope you get some more sleep soon xx