Babies and sleep routines

[Newmumin23]

FTM to a 5 month old and I’m wondering when I can start to set more of a routine with naps.
I’ve gone off wake windows until now but naps are still a bit all over the place and although I was completely onboard with following babies lead for feeding and sleep I’m now really struggling with not being able to plan anything. I can’t commit to anything because I have no idea when he will be asleep.

Did anyone have a more structured routine at this stage or should I be leaving it longer? Everything I read says a routine will naturally start to appear but it isn’t. With weaning coming up soon I want to offer a meal at a set time each day which at the moment would be impossible.

I had a routine well in place by now with my 2.
Just start tomorrow and see how it goes, you're over thinking it.

I’m interested in this too! My DD is only 3 months atm but planning ahead. We go off wake windows atm which means we’re controlled by when she wakes up for the day and how long each nap is, she’s also started to merge her last nap of the day into bedtime (although she does get over tired and we try to get her down!)

Following wake windows is a routine of sorts but nap times will only be the same time every day if you wake them up in the morning which I never did. I just went for the approach of not planning stuff around naps and putting DD down for a nap in the pram if I wanted to go out during nap time. Only works if they will sleep in the pram.

i wouldn’t worry too much about meals being at a set time in the early days of weaning. It can be easier to be flexible so you can feed them when it suits you with the other things you are doing.

I did as you are, with wake windows and the naps were always within the same sort of hour ish. Our routine naturally developed from there.
mines now 1 and naps around 9:30/10 ish for up to 90 mins and then again at 2ish depending on when she woke from the first nap. Some weeks she’ll be 10 and 2:30 every day, other weeks it varies, for instance this morning she randomly woke up at 7:30 as opposed to 6:30 so her naps will be pushed back an hour this morning as there’s no way she’ll go to sleep 2 hours after waking!

as long as you try to offer the right amount of naps/total sleep in 24 hours, it does t matter how you achieve it.

my friends eldest was napping 5 times a day at 1 because she only ever slept in 35 minute bursts

Follow the wake windows (these are a guide, not an absolute, but most babies are comfortavle with just shy of these wake windows) and aim for a nap 15 min before the "limit". I did find a routine by using this between months 6-7. If you want set times to eat, you could before certain naps.

I promise, it does get easier. For us the first 6 months were totally played by ear

We didn’t have a clock based routine until 2 naps and 3 meals plus naps being of a relatively consistent length, so maybe 8 or 9 months? Before then it was too unpredictable - naps ranged from 10 minutes to 2 hours and there wasn’t enough structure in the day to have rigid times. We went off wake windows with a set morning wake up time before then.

Mine fell naturally into the 2,3,4 routine by then, so I stuck to it as much as possible as it meant I knew roughly when he'd sleep.

Also, you can commit to things. I’ve realised with my second child that their naps do sometimes just have to fit in. This is especially the case when they are small and have lots of naps in the day - if a nap has to be cut short then they can catch up later. I’d be more happy to mess with a 5 month olds naps than a 2 year olds nap to be honest as there is just so much more wiggle room. It’s funny, I wouldn’t have dreamed of waking DS1 but DS2 regularly has to have bits and pieces of sleep here and there. DS2 is a much better night sleeper so the idea that scheduled, long naps is necessary for night sleep isn’t always true.

I think it depends on your baby. My DD is just turning 9 months and she's only really just now got into a 2,3,4ish routine. Before that naps and stuff were all over the place. By all means make a change though if you feel it will be helpful, just don't put too much pressure on yourself for it to work. If your DC will sleep in a sling/pram for one nap for example, you could plan to be out and about then.

You can do it whenever you like, I love a routine so did it from practically day 1.

I wake DC up at 7 every morning and this means he naps at roughly the same time every day for roughly the same amount of time which means he's ready for bed at 7 and sleeps for 12 hours.

Sleep is strongly linked to temperament and natural sleep needs. Naturally good sleepers like routine because they were always going to sleep anyway.

I followed wake windows but my baby would only nap for very short periods unless on me or in the buggy until she was about 10 months, and didn’t sleep through to 14 months. She simply doesn’t need much sleep.

She outfoxed 2 different expensive sleep consultants, 2 osteos, me, her Dad and everyone offering helpful (and unhelpful) advice so it wasn’t for lack of trying!