Wake windows for nearly 6 month old

[Freya1990]

Hi, I am struggling with awake times for my DS who is 10 days away from being 6 months. For his first nap I used to be able to start his ‘Nap routine’ after an hour and 45 mins of being awake and put him down after 2 hours and he’d go to sleep, now he is refusing this. I’ve tried pushing it a bit later to starting at 2 hours and he is also now refusing this. He’s now been awake nearly 4 hours this morning (which I know is over tired) but I’ve tried to nap him twice in his cot now and he’s refused both times. At my wits end as I keep reading that babies this age need to be on a schedule and being awake too long is harmful :-( I’m not trying to keep him awake at all he just refuses naps. Any insights would be helpful or would love to know if anyone’s 6 month old babies have longer awake windows than others. Thank you.

Would he go to sleep if you went for a walk with him in his pram?

I used something like this to gauge awake time, but you might need to adjust it slightly in your head to fit with what you already know. Eg my baby never had 4 naps a day! www.babysleepscience.com/single-post/2014/02/12/Common-Age-by-Stage-Sleep-Schedules

And yes for a while afternoon naps were only instigated by walking him round in the pram. Rain or shine... it doesn't last forever though

Mine generally nsos after 2 or 2.5 hours of being awake, but some days he just won't and stays awake for 3 or 4 hours.

No pattern to it, he just doesn't want to sleep yet.

Mine has also never slept more than 14 hours a day total, think we had a couple of 15 hours but that's it.

I just do some active play offer more food and wait for his sleep signals tbf.

@dementedpixie I’m actually trying to phase out pram naps and teach him to nap in his cot as I walk for miles each day to get him to sleep and it had got to the point where it was getting too much. 🙈

@Snarkastic Thank you, I will take a look

@MoominKitty Thank you for posting, I’m so glad I’m not alone in this. DS says I’m trying for his naps to early and he’s just not tired. The problem is he’s getting so tired after he refuses sleep he’s trying to fall asleep on the boob and that’s an association I’ve tried really hard to break. 🤦🏼‍♀️

Babies don't know when they're supposed to nap Don't worry about exact timings, just try when you think they're ready and if no luck, try later. It all works out in the end and you'll get on more of a schedule later on.

@Freya1990 oh I know the overtired baby! Still you can't force it I'm afraid.

Mine likes to be rocked and sang too that's his crutch 😂 but all hell breaks loose I dare try to offer a nap before the tiny dictator wants one .

Is he having food yet or just milk? Mines a bugger after food unless he gas a bottle too haha.

I used to be able to start his ‘Nap routine’ after an hour and 45 mins of being awake and put him down after 2 hours and he’d go to sleep, now he is refusing this

Your post reads that you've assumed the issue is the timing of the nap.

It could be that your 'Nap Routine' isn't effective anymore and that the timing is OK.

I especially think this is a possibility because you mention feeding to sleep and pushchair naps at habits you're trying to break. While I understand why you want to break these habits (and agree it's a good idea), its unlikely you've got a fool-proof settling method established of these have recently been stopped.

The logical answer therefore isn't that your timing is out, but that you're settling method is not giving baby enough help to go to sleep. It might be that your awake windows also want changing. But the first thing is do is establish a "Ladder" of increasing help you give to baby to get him to sleep.

This starts from the assumption that when you know it's naptime, it's naptime and you don't give up on naptime but instead give enough help to baby to go to sleep.

My baby is six months and feed to sleep or sleep on a walk/ car. This is quite normal, you can try to just put in cot but that sounds like it will be a cry to sleep situation. By 4 year old sleeps fine now no issues from feeding to sleep.

Can't you feed to sleep and transfer to cot?

@BabySleepTeacherUK Thank you for replying. I didn’t even think of that! We have just started a bedtime routine of bath, massage, sleeping bag, feed, book, bed and it seemed to work well. I then transferred part of it on to naps so feed, book, bed and for a few days this has worked perfectly. I never thought that it wouldn’t be timings as before I was either feeding to sleep or taking him out in the pram and obviously with motion naps timings can get pushed all over the place. I’ve tried sitting with him and gradual retreat this makes him even more angry. I’m really not sure where to go from here as I know he has his best sleep in his cot and want to work towards a routine for my own sanity as I can’t keep taking him out every day for pram naps 😢

@Ishouldtryabiteachdaytime I was feeding to sleep on our bed but every time I moved or transferred him to his cot he’s wake. 😰 He also went through a phase of waking every hour and a half cos my boob wasn’t there so we tried really hard to break the feed to sleep cycle 😬 So glad I’m not alone in this, thanks for replying 😊

@MoominKitty The tiny dictator 🤣🤣🤣Rofl! I have one of those too! We started on solids two days ago, going well so far.

No advice other than give yourself and baby a bit of a break.
Not many things cause 'harm' and schedules don't won't for every child.
Anyway, chances are, baby will change in a few weeks and you'll need to alter everything again

Might just be regression. My baby was a nightmare napped around that age. He went back to his 2 hour wake window himself and is now only at 2.5 hour wake window at 8 months.

I know you've received lots of advice about settling above, but specifically for wake windows the huckleberry app is really useful.

Thank you @Thirdchild88 I’ve just downloaded it and am filling in the data now. Did you find it helped?

You can do the arm test. Lift the arm and if it drops with no resistance baby is in a deep sleep. Happens quicker than you think . Also I find the quick move is is more successful than the slow approach. Put their head down in the cot fir(stops them feeling they are falling,then lower their bottom and whip hand out. The cluster feedings comfort feeds are normal too.

*Fir = first ( my MN is typing in treacle, so laggy today)

[quote Freya1990]@BabySleepTeacherUK Thank you for replying. I didn’t even think of that! We have just started a bedtime routine of bath, massage, sleeping bag, feed, book, bed and it seemed to work well. I then transferred part of it on to naps so feed, book, bed and for a few days this has worked perfectly. I never thought that it wouldn’t be timings as before I was either feeding to sleep or taking him out in the pram and obviously with motion naps timings can get pushed all over the place. I’ve tried sitting with him and gradual retreat this makes him even more angry. I’m really not sure where to go from here as I know he has his best sleep in his cot and want to work towards a routine for my own sanity as I can’t keep taking him out every day for pram naps 😢[/quote]
It's definitely more likely to be settling method than timing. As mentioned already, timing might also be out, but you cant reliably know if timings need changing if you don't have a settling method that usually works.

So after feed, book, bed - what happens then, until baby is asleep?