Can somebody please suggest what to change with our 6 month olds wake / sleep routine

[aimeeeleanor]

We are very lucky that our 6 month old is an absolute dreamboat. Sleeps very well in his crib on a night & during the day… maybe too well! We can pop him down & after a 10 mins or so of self soothing, he’s asleep. Our routine (from 4 months old) is below

7am WAKE (1hr30 wake window)
7.15am FEED 1
8.30am SLEEP (1hr30 sleep)
10am WAKE (1hr30 ww)
10.15am FEED 2
11.30am SLEEP (1hr15 s)
12.45pm WAKE (2hr ww)
1pm FEED 3
2.45pm SLEEP (1hr s)
3.45pm WAKE (2hr ww)
4pm FEED 4
5.45pm SLEEP (30mins s)
6.15pm WAKE (1hr30 ww)
6.30pm BATH
7pm FEED 5
7.45pm BED

Question is… are his wake windows long enough?! Is it normal for him to not be able to go longer than 2 hours awake at 6 months old?

I have friends whose babies are awake for 3+ hours so it’s concerning me. He really struggles to be awake for more than 2 hours, even that is an ask for him & he begins to get very vocal that he’s tired, rubbing his eyes etc. For the remainder of his wake time though he is very alert & active - sitting, babbling, rolling, practicing standing, going on walks in his pram etc

How do we get him to happily stay awake longer? What in our routine should we change? I’ve tried to get in touch with our health visitor but she isn’t being very helpful & has just said go to GP if im concerned. Seems like a waste of a visit to the GP as he isn’t ill

Any help appreciated. Thank you!

Most 6 month olds can tolerate being awake for 2-3 hours at a time. However, if he's thriving and wants more sleep, then probably you just have a baby with higher sleep needs

If you want to try and get him to go longer, maybe stretch one awake window a day, the last one of the day, by 15 minutes at a time. I wouldn't try and get it too big tbh.

By 8 months he will have gone through a lot of developmental changes and could be a totally different baby

I would just go with what he wants. If he's tired, let him sleep. Not all babies are the same.

It happens naturally I think. You’ll notice one day that they don’t seem tired enough at 8.30 so you don’t put them down until 9, and because of that and with weaning, nap 2 ends up being after lunch at 12.30/1, the 3rd nap becomes a catnap, then one day they don’t seem to need it at all, so bedtime moves forward to more like 6.30/7. Don’t worry about it, you can’t force it, and a general rule that I go by is that if night sleep is excellent then you don’t rock the boat!

My DD is like this and at 9 months, is still having 3 naps a day if she needs it. I just let her lead the day and don’t force a longer wake window if she can’t handle it. She just has higher sleep needs than other babies which took me a while to understand because I kept comparing to others! I would just go with what you’re currently doing because it seems to be working if he’s alert, active and developing well.

My second DD was like this from 7 weeks old, just slept and ate. She has turned into a happy healthy adult, make the most of it.

All babies have different sleep requirements , l would be led by your baby .