How many naps/how long for 5 mo?!

[beckieperk]

How many naps and for how long does/did your dc have at this age?! My ds needs a nap every 2 hours in the day- 1 long nap of 1hr+ - per day. Does this sound typical? Or should it be longer between naps by now? He wakes once or twice at night - but not hungry - just needs a cuddle or drink of water. Wondering if less frequent naps might cut out night wakings?? Any advice/experiences welcome. TIA.

My ds is about the same age . He sleeps 7-7 at night . One short nap at around 9 , one big sleep 11.30-1.30/2.. And a nap of about 10 minutes about 4 . Hth .

I'm not sure how or if to change my ds sleep in the day....or just go with it. I'm back to work in 3 weeks so I suppose it'll all change then anyway.

Bummer .

bishbosch you are so lucky! My DD sleeps roughly 8-8 at night but in that time wakes at least twice for at least a couple of hours in total. During the day she has suddenly only been able to nap for 30 mins at a time and is constantly tired.

Oh Blimey pass myglass , I couldn't cope with that ( well I guess I would have to but you know what I mean ) . I gina forded both my babies and they have both slept 7-7 at 12 weeks . I didn't know how to do babies without my manual . Hugely unpopular on here but there you go.

Bishbosh - how did you do Gine Ford when you already had a dc? Did you breast feed? Did you start it from birth?

Yeah bishbosh let us into your secrets!!!! Immediately! Haha.

I formula fed ( ds was prem , no milk) . I do the nothing nap in the buggy on the way to school or in his cot if at home . Try and make sure I'm home for big lunch nap and afternoon nap in buggy again . Dd is 8 so at school . Is that what you meant?

Yes , I started it from when he came home . He was in scbu for a month and was tiny when he can home but put him straight in his bedroom from 7 an 7 pm regardless of what he was doing , sleeping/ feeding/ awake . He has an apnoea monitor so I knew what he was doing . I have a trick to get them to drop night feeds that worked brilliantly for both.

7 pm - 7 am even

Morning not nothing , doh

DD (16 weeks) naps for about an hour in the morning, two-two and a half hours over lunch and about an hour in the afternoon. She also sleeps from 7pm till 6/7am but we didn't Gina Ford, she just did it by herself-no secret trick I'm afraid, just bloody lucky. We do bottle feed though which I'm sure has something to do with it. (And to be honest I'd rather breast feed and have more night wakings, but that's by the by.)

My twins are 5 months, they sleep 7-7 and we have just successfuly dropped the 11pm bottle. They have a nap of around 30 mins at about 8am, a long nap after 11am bottle of anything from 1-2 hours, and again for about 20 mins at 4pm. If they dont get the long nap in the middle of the day they are more difficult to settle at night and get seriously cranky so I make sure they get it, whether in the buggy or at home.

They were born at 31 weeks, 6 weeks in SCBU and are ff. By the time they came home they were on a 4 hourly feedng schedule and we just stuck to it. The sleeping they have sorted out for themselves - as Pippa said, no secrets I'm afraid, we have just been very very lucky.

bish so what is your sleep-through trick? We need to know

Yes, please what is your sleeping through trick? I am desperate for any tips. My 5month old girl naps well during the day, up at 7am, naps about 1hr mid-morning, early afternoon plus a shorter one late afternoon. Then bedtime is between 6 and 7 pm, goes down easily. This has worked well for the past month.
BUT overnight she still wakes every 2 hrs to feed (breastfed) and I can't seem to change that. Need to maybe toughen up and let her cry a little... She won't take a bottle at all, whatever is in it ( trying to introduce formula but no luck after 2 weeks). Does use a dummy which helps her settle. I am feeling wrecked at this point and have to come up with an action plan!
So how did you do it??!

Well , I have followed GF from the start so ds has regular feeds but basically when I felt he was ready to drop 3/4 am feed I gradually reduced it by 30 ml per over the space of a few weeks have the impact that he was hungrier at 7 am and feeding more during the day . Then when I get it down to 60 ml I offer cool boiled water first and he would take about 30 before realising it wasn't milk, have the milk ready to swop but his tummy was always fuller by then so he took more and continued to sleep till 7. And then when I felt he was ready I gradually moved the 11 pm feed to nearer 10 pm ( I always had to wake him for this one) I did the same with this feed. After a week of him drinking 30 ml of milk I dropped it . It's GF principles but tweaked a little. My friends baby was feeding twice in the night and I told her how to do it, within weeks he was sleeping 12 hours , 7-7. If they get enough in the day they don't need feeding at night.
I might add my ds was 7 weeks prem and very poorly with reflux and when he was sleeping through the night he was only about 9 pounds odd.

Thanks bish, that sounds like it works a treat.

We're mostly breast-feeding though (one half bottle of formula in the evening) so it'll be a bit harder to modify amounts, especially since my HV said that babies get 95% of their breast feed in the first five minutes (not sure if this is true or not? Anyone?).

Could try the water trick though. He definitely doesn't feed enough in the day. Is too distracted by the wonderful world all around....

God I'm tired!

Can you not express and use a bottle then you can measure.

? Missed my question mark! ....

Yes that would be a solution.....although sometimes I find it a bit of a chore expressing, and results can vary (ie some days I can express much more than others). But it would enable me to try your method so is surely worth a go.

Alternatively I might just introduce water instead of one of my night feeds straight off, and if he's still hungry pop him on the boob. I presume he would fall asleep much quicker and drink less then.

My DS is still a bit young at the moment though, four and a bit months, so I might wait a month or two to try that.

Sorry to go off topic beckiepeck!

It's worth a try . :-)

Thanks for that, bish. I might try cutting the duration of the feeds down at night ie stop her before she pulls off the nipple and swoop in with the dummy instead if needed. also try extending time between feeds. Will see how it goes, something has to change!