Come and tell me about your 5 month old and sleep

[GnocchiNineDoors]

That's it, really.

How long and how often do they nap in the day?
What time are they up in the morning?
What time do they go down?
How often do they wake in the night and is it always for food?

Oh, and do they always go to sleep with a full tummy?

Thanks in advance

Hi there, my DS is 5 months old and we're still struggling a bit with sleep. This is his normal day:

Wakes: 0600

Nap for 45 mins at 0800

Nap for 45 mins at 1100

Nap for 45 mins at 1330

Nap for 45 mins at 1600

Bath at 1815 followed by massage, pjs, boob feed and asleep by 1900.

He wakes for a feed at about 2230 and then again at 0230 and may wake once or twice in-between for his dummy!

He is fed to sleep at bedtime to try and get him as full as possible in the (vain) attempt that he'll sleep for longer. For naps he semi self settles in that I put him down in his cot once the eye rubbing starts and give him his dummy and a snuggle cloth. I then sit out of view whilst he makes tired noises to himself. Once the tired noises progress into proper whining I go over, put his dummy back in and he'll hold my hand and drop off to sleep pretty easily. He wakes up from his first nap as bright as a button but then gets tireder and tireder throughout the day meaning that his naps get closer and closer together. I know he needs to sleep for more than 45 min over lunchtime but he just won't. Sometimes as soon as he wakes up from a nap I'll stick him straight in the buggy to get him back off again for another 45 min but there's no resettling him in his cot - this leads to big screaming fits!

I've started him on some purees which he loves but isn't making him sleep any better. He's a really active baby so I'm hoping once he starts crawling he'll sleep better?! You have to hope for something don't you!!

Hi, My 20 week olds sleep has been a bit of a mess since he hit the 4 month sleep regression and am still trying to improve things. This is a typical day but it can vary quite a bit. He can sometimes self settle as long as he has a dummy and he is still swaddled, have tried to wean him of the swaddle but he wakes after a few mins every time. We put his mobile on and he watches that and falls asleep but it doesn't always work.

He is breastfed so often feeds to sleep in the night. He wakes about 2 - 3 times a night usually I try to settle him with the dummy before feeding sometimes this works sometimes it doesn't so at most he feeds probably twice in the night.

8am wake
10 am first nap
10:45 am wake (he will only nap for at most 1 hour during the day)
1pm - nap
2pm wake
4 pm nap
5 pm wake
7pm - bath then bed for 7:30pm
and this is where it gets messy...

he will always wake up about 45 mins later so say 8:30 ish and will then not re-settle until 10, 11, or 12. On the rare occasion that we have managed to get hhim to sleep from 7:30 until say 10 he has woken in the middle of the night for 2 - 3 hours and refused to go back to sleep so am beginning to think that he doesn't need that much sleep. But I keep reading that a 5 month old should have 15 hours total in 24 - that would be nice!

A few nights ago he amazingly slept through from 12am to 8:30am without stirring - but sadly this has not been repeated since.

Am very interested in hearing anybody elses routines as would like to know if so little sleep is in the range of normal for his age, or wether there is something I can do to get him to sleep more.

Hi my DD is 19 weeks and from about 10 weeks slept from about 6.30 to 6-7am. However since she was 4 months she now wakes for a feed anywhere from 3am to 5am. She is breastfed but only twice a day now, morning and afternoon. She was exclusively breastfed until a few weeks ago.

Wakes 6-7am

First nap around 8.30am for 2 hours. If she's not awake by 11am I wake her.

Second nap at about 12.30 ish but depends what time she woke from morning nap, this nap is longer for about 2.5 to 3 hours and I will wake her at about 3pm.

Third nap is around 4pm for 30 mins

Bedtime is usually around 6.30pm but can be anywhere from 6-7pm

She will then either sleep all night until about 6-7 am or she will wake once for a feed then will go back to sleep and I will wake her around 7-7.30am
She is fed to sleep just in evening before bed. She can't stay awake longer than 1.5 to 2 hours and if she's awake too long she gets overtired and is a total nightmare to settle!!!

She's my second but my DS was a really terrible sleeper at this age.

Hi, I'm always curious about others' routines too. My DD (first baby) is 5 months on Monday, and we've only recently got into more of a routine. However, as soon as we started getting better daytime sleep, her nighttime has become somewhat less predictable. So, here it is:

Wake: 6am-7am (actually, anyone's guess at the moment, occasionally it's 5ish)
Nap: 9am - 10.30am
Nap: 12.30/1pm - 2/2.30pm
Nap: 4pm - 4.45/5pm
Start bath and down-to-sleep routine: 6pm
Sleep: 7pm

Wakes usually just once in the night. Used to be a fairly reliable 4am, now it's anywhere between 1.30am and 4am. Then sleeps through until waking.

However, all of these times are pretty variable. Naps in the day are usually 1.5 hours, but they can still be anywhere from 45 minutes to 2.5 hours. If it's under an hour, I'll try to resettle her (to varying success). We are trying, somewhat randomly to aim for the Weissbluth suggested naptimes of 9am and 1pm for her two first naps (because, well, it's as good a guess as any) - so, we'll try to stretch to those if, eg, it's a really early waking.

I always feed her as part of our down-to-nap routine, but she is very rarely asleep when I put her in the cot, and then I usually just kiss her, say goodnight and leave. Miraculously, this seems to work - don't ask me how. She usually talks to herself, might cry for a few seconds (until I close the door). Sometimes she'll wake around 45 minutes into a nap and then soothe herself back down. So, that's the good side. The less good is that the night waking seems to be becoming more erratic, and too frequently close to 5ish, or the raw edge of 6am for my liking! All in all, she seems pretty mellow and fairly relaxed about sleep, so we feel pretty lucky. Up until a month ago, though, she REFUSED to sleep in the day for longer than 30 minutes, and only after shushpat. What worked for us (as far as I can work out, but who knows) was doing the 2-hours awake thing religiously (and starting wind-down 30 minutes before). Easing her into a lights-out environment (she used to freak when she went straight into a darkened room, as she knew it meant NAPTIME) and not worrying about feeding to sleep. It's probably a bad sleep association, as people say, but am trying not to worry, as I do think she's learning to self soothe. Sorry, turned into an epic... . Keen to read other responses!

luxnuova - please can you tell me more about the 2 hours awake thing? do you put them down for a nap after being awake for 2 hours even if they don't seem tired yet? and if they are showing signs of tiredness after 1 hour how do you keep them up for another hour without causing over tiredness? also, what do you do as part of your wind down time? I would love for my DS to nap for 1-2 hours at a time!!! thanks

AlfieBear87 - The 2 hours maximum awake time for this age is something I had read about in a couple of places. I decided to try it because my DD was very good at masking tiredness signs, and I had no success whatsoever in going by the 'third yawn' or whatever, that some other mums did. Basically, I check my watch when I first hear her do a proper wake up in the morning, then about 20-30 minutes before 2 hours are up, we head towards naptime.

So, for example, this morning she woke up at 6.36am. It was a quick feed (she'd eaten at 4am, so wasn't too hungry), change and up into full sunlight upstairs. We played until about 8.10, and then I took her down into semi-darkened room, slow quiet story, started feeding (I turn the lights down further during feed, by pushing our bedside lamp against the wall :-)). Then, transfer to sleeping bag and turn off the lamp and leave. That's really it.

A few thoughts (I racked my brains for ages and have been reading around it heaps!)...At first the 2 hour thing seemed fairly arbitrary, BUT what I found is that, once we'd established napping a bit more and she had gotten out of her overtiredness, the switch between full-energy and starting-to-get-sleepy mood became super clear, and it always seemed to be about 1.5 hours after waking. So, this morning, when I say at 8.10am we went down - this wasn't strictly clockwatching, but because at about that time, like a switch, she started to get fussy. So, it's a cyclic thing - partly because it's their natural rhythm, partly cos you've established a bit of expectation. I find that she doesn't tend to get tired before that point, but if she did - a bit more focused attention, stories, walking around the house, a nappy change, would be good to keep her awake and happy until she's closer to the 2-hour point.

When I started trying harder with the napping, we used to get a lot of shorter naps. I think it's a lot to do with the individual baby, and habit. If it was heaps under an hour, I'd sometimes try to top her up with a quick BF (this would be harder if you're bottlefeeding, I guess), and just put her back down. Or, if at first she cried a little bit - it wasn't CIO by any means, about 2 minutes maximum, and never when she sounded distressed - I would just give her a little bit of time to see if she'd settle. I'd usually try a few different things, then if it was clear she wasn't having any of it, we'd just draw a line under that naptime and I'd open curtains wide, be very active with her - fresh air, etc. and try again.

At that stage I did angst a bit about that old chestnut "consistency". When she resisted a bit at first I'd wonder: 'If I go to her after two minutes/feed her if she wakes after 30 minutes/etc. will she always think that I'll do that thing?" etc. But it doesn't seem to be the case. What I've come to think now, is that it's not consistency about how you respond (ie whether by letting cry/fuss a little, or feeding, or shushpatting or a combination) that matters so much as a general day-to-day consistency that you will always EXPECT a nap to last at least an hour each naptime, and you'll try for a goodly length of time to get her to stay in her bed for that long. So, I tried in a variety of ways, and for at least an hour each time (total duration) - so she kind of knew that this would happen. We were really lucky that it just clicked for us reasonably well. I think it's definitely more to do with her temperament than my good management! As an update, she's now been down an hour and counting (and I am still in my dressing gown, as I don't want to risk disturbing her by getting my clothes...sigh!)

I always beat myself up over feeding to sleep, but I really think it's not as bad as some people think. I tried to do the baby whisperer thing of putting her down after active time, feeding on wake-up, and it wasn't hell, but it didn't feel as easy or instinctive to me. It may come back to bite us on the bum soon.

Sorry, I tend to write screeds, and in far too much detail! Please ignore any stuff that is irrelevant and take everything with a big handful of salt. If there's one thing I've learnt it's that, as soon as I think I've gotten into more of a routine, everything changes up.

Ds sleeps every two hours, but is just starting to go a tiny bit longer occasionally. Longest nap is an hour, can't seem to ever get longer than that, though we've improved from 10 mins.
We wind down in the last two hours before bed, time of which could be between 6 and 8 depending on when he woke up last. He has bath, two stories and a bedtime bear, we then feed to sleep. He bfs to every sleep, trying to get him to sleep without boob at the moment but it's not working very well (doing pantley pull off, ridiculous name). He wakes up every 2 hours at night though, so not brilliant. Not for long, and usually goes back to sleep pretty well, but I always get to a very tired point around 3 when I bring him into my bed. Dh still in spare room!

This is so interesting reading other peoples patterns!!

. so my dd is 23 weeks tomorrow. she is ebf. She is in a baby bay attached to our bed kind of co sleeping with us.

typical day for example

630/7am-wake up, bf and within 1hr-1.5hrs tired signs head to bed, nursery rhymes,
8/9am put down for a nap (2 months ago would self settle but now eventually i have to pick her up and feed her to sleep)

10am wake up, feed, play

12-nap. this nap is in her car seat/pram while i have to walk my dogs and she will happily fall asleep in it before we get to the car and once i just left her in the hall and she slept. she can wake up after 45 mins but usually sleeps for 2.5 hours

3pm wake up feed, play etc

5pm - used to have a nap on my boob for about 30mins or in the swing but recently really fighting this nap and is a bugger to get her off even on my boob. she is tired though and i try to catch her before she is rubbing her eyes but dont know what the hell is going on at the moment with this...

6/7 bathtime, massage,

8/9 pm -boob to sleep. she will have one side, fall asleep- i put her down, creep downstairs, then guaranteed wakes up, feed her other side taking us to sometime 11pm when she eventually settles.

then she will wake between 1-4times a night possibly 1,3,530am but she is really good as i just pick her up, give boob (never tried anything else as boob is so effective and she refuses dummies) and she falls straight back to sleep, i can even change her nappy after and she is still asleep.

i would like her to sleep through the night as most of the time i dont think she needs a feed. she is 17lb.6-9month clothing doesnt fit round her big belly!!

still interested in hearing what eveyone elses baby does -good thread gnocchi.

Thanks for the responses, sorry I haven't replied yet.

DD will be 5 months on Monday too, Luxnuova

We felt lucky as between 3 and 4 months she would go down at 6.30pm and wake at 6.30am but we didn;t count our chickens and lo and behold she hit a regression of sorts at 4 months and re-started her night wakings. This week has been a challenge, as DH is away all week and usually he does the first early morning feed and I sleep until he leaves for work, so I am a little xtra tired.

Currently, DD goes 2 hours between sleeps, regardless of how long she naps for. If she sleeps for only 30 mins, I can resettle her straight away with a dummy and she usually goes on to have a mammoth 2 hour nap. However, these are rare and her usual nap is 45mins long. I must say, even if she looks wide awake, if we are at home I put her in her cot in her grobag after 2 hours awake. If we are out, I don't think about it and if she sleeps, she sleeps.

She's a self settler (apart from a dummy so I suppose not a full self-settler) but I've never rocked her to sleep or fed her to sleep etc. however I do worry that she is getting into a habit of needing a full tummy in order to sleep. I don;t mind this so much in the daytime, but at night, if and when she wakes in the night it means she needs to eat in order to go back to sleep.

She is a bit of a chunk, though is incredibly long, so I really don't see where she needs the extra calories, but hey ho.

Her typical wake time is 6.30am when DH gets up with her, gives her a bottle and nappy change and puts her straight back down and she and I wake together at 8am. Then, it's back for a nap around 10am (after a bottle), awake and up by 11am. Back down for a nap at 1pm (after a bottle) if I can stretch her that long. Up and playing by 2pm. Back down usually around 3.30 as she gets more tired as the day goes on, and up by 4.30pm. I keep her awake then, do a bath at 6, bottle straight after, a story if she is awake enough and then down to bed usually by 6.30.

So far she has been good at going to bed at 6.30 without a dummy but the last few days has needed it (usually its just used for naps). I dont know if that is causing her night wakings? Last night was the worst, she went down at 6.30, woke at 9.30 when I settled her back, woke again at 10.30 took 2oz, back to sleep, woke at midnight when I settled her back, woke at 1.30 took 2oz, woke at 3.30 took 8oz!! then back to sleep til 7. I went into her at seven and she looked so tired, bags under her eyes etc, but she just did not want to go back to sleep so I got up with her and by 8am she was falling asleep again. I just do not know what caused that, as even though she has gone back to night wakings, its roughly 10.30pm and 3am. I think at 10.30pm last night I should have offered her a full feed rather than just try and get her by with 2oz.

Hmmm....

Anyways, sorry for the epic post, and a big thanks to everyone for sharing their routines! Keep 'em coming

Oh, should add, DD is in her own room (has been for around 2/3 weeks) and I go in as soon as I hear her at night.

Do you think I should maybe turn down the volume on the monitor so I only hear the crying? That way if she's just fidgetting or chattering to herself I wont hear to go in and she may well just re-settle?

Hi, I just wanted to add something after reading some of the posts as they sound exactly the same as my DS was at this age and he's now 2.5 yrs old and thought maybe I could help. He didn't nap in the day longer than 45 mins but on the rare occasion maybe for longer. He would wake lots through the night and was always tired and didn't sleep well at all. He had a dummy as he had severe silent reflux and this really helped him before we got the correct medication. When he woke from a nap and at night he couldn't self soothe and needed the dummy or the breast to get back to sleep. After about 6 months of hoping things would improve it got worse and he would wake about 5 times a night most nights. I looked like the walking dead and was going back to work soon. I did a lot of reading and tried every book out there and finally I discovered the weissbluth method. It's not for everyone but decided to give it a go. Basically for a baby at this age, over 5 months, they only need to be fed twice a night, usually around 4-6 hours after last feed then again around 4-5 am and if the baby wakes again you just don't go to them. Like I say it's not for everyone BUT after 2 nights he was sleeping at night and then I tackled the daytime naps and they fell into place after a few weeks. Since then he has been an amazing sleeper both day and night.

My 5 month & 1 week old routine

Awake 630-7am
Nap 9-930
Nap 12-2/215
Sometimes 15 min nap 430-5ish
Bed 630-7ish
Dream feed 10/1015pm

Rarely wakes in night but sometimes stirs but will settle pretty quickly if his teddies are near by

Sorry meant to say haven't fed in the night since about 10 weeks, and the only time goes to sleep straight after a feed is bedtime!

Wow, just had a look at the weissbluth method and it looks strict . Im a routine fan, so it doesn;t seem as brutal to me as some would see it, but dear god, it could start a riot on this website

Yeah like I said it isn't for everyone and we were desperate!!!

One thing I will say about it is with my DD I followed only 2 bits of his advice, I put her back to bed within 1 hour of being awake and also when she was about 4 weeks old I started putting her to bed drowsy but awake. Now whether that has anything to do with following his advice or whether she's just an easy baby I don't know!! But I do think not letting her get overtired definitely made a huge difference.

We put our DS in his own room last night for the first time (or more correctly in our room and we had the spare room lol) and we had the best nights sleep than we've had in a long time! between 7pm and 7am he woke twice for food (at 12 and 4) and once because he had some trapped wind (at 2). he's 24 weeks so classed as being 6 months even tho his 6 month 'birthday' isn't until the end of the month, and we have a motion sensor monitor but I was still really nervous at first! so glad we did it now, I feel like a new person and DS is much more cheery than he has been the last few days! fingers crossed for tonight and we've finally solved it!

So glad you all had a good night

Are you BFing? Sorry if it's rude to ask, just so I can compare how often/much feeds a 5mo needs in the night if BF or FF.

Yes I ebf altho he has some purees now too. Yesterday he had 8 boob feeds (including the 2 night feeds) and 3 puree meals (only 3 heaped teaspoons at each meal). I'm not sure how this compares to others but it sounds a lot to me?! he's quite an active baby, he commando crawls (using his elbows) quite well now and loves jumping in his jumperoo. He's in-between the 25th and 50th percentile in the red book so he's not that chunky for his age.

Realise this is very old but match’s my babies pattern exactly! Did you ever manage to sort out the 45 min naps? If so how. As you say starts off the day well and gets grumpier and grumpier....