5 month old sleep schedule...need help!

[Hodge85]

Hi,

I'm looking for some advice on my 5 month old's sleep schedule. He is 6 months old on the 19th.

He goes to bed at 7pm every night, before bed we bath, bottle and read a book. He will wake around 5am without fail to do a poo. I then bring him in bed to co-sleep for an hour so until between 7-8am then he will have his first bottle. He doesn't need a feed through the night.

His day goes like this:
9-10am nap (30 mins, sometimes can be over an hour)
11-12pm bottle
12-1pm nap (30 mins, sometimes can be over an hour)
2-3pm bottle
4-5pm 30min nap - if other naps have been short then I'll take him for a drive to make up for it.

Can anyone advise when I'm going wrong? Thanks :) x

I should add that I make sure his naps total 2-2.5 hours a day.

I’m not sure where you think it’s going wrong? Is it that he wakes at 5am? My DS is a week younger and wakes 4 or 5 times between 7pm and 5am and needs feeding twice. If your DS is sleeping 7-5 then this is really good!

I agree i think that's a great schedule for a 5 month old. My 11 month old still doesn't do that most nights. And at 5 months she was sleeping on me and still having 2 night feeds! You're flying it.

My 5 month old is 6 months on the 19th too. I used the app Huckleberry a few months ago and paid for the little report they do. It basically told us to put her down for a nap an hour and a half after she last slept but to never go longer than two hours between naps. It worked absolute miracles for us!

Looks like a dream? Enjoy it!

If you want him up later in the morning maybe put him to bed at 8? My 4 month old goes to bed then and is usually awake about 7-8am but she does feed through the night. Her naps are not very reliable either.

My 5 month old is up every 30 min to an hour if he is put back into his cot so most nights has to sleep with us. Same from naps will only have a decent one if on us. I pray for a routine like yours 😅

I will give you a million pounds if you can get my 4YO twins to sleep this well 😬

Almost identical to my DS whose a few days older than yours! Also has 30 minute naps in almost exactly the same times as yours. Our schedules are pretty much identical, and I sometimes also need to extend a nap by driving or cosleeping if all naps are short, although he often has an hour and a half for either the morning or first afternoon nap these days, it's not consistent yet. From 6-7 months we should hopefully see more consistency in longer naps as they consolidate.

Don't have a 5am poo and he sleeps 7-6 with no feed, but a bit more unsettled at the moment so the odd early morning wake up which I've attributed to being in leap five - not sure if you're familiar with the wonder weeks? I also bring bedtime forward if we've had short naps, so he was in bed for half 6 tonight.

What do you need help with?

I don’t think your DS is getting enough sleep in the daytime. At that age both my boys would be asleep after 1.5 hours of awake time for maybe an hour or more. So at least 3 hours of naps in the daytime. At 10 months my youngest still has between 3-4 hrs of sleep across 2 naps a day

However the nighttime sleep is great!!! DS1 didn’t sleep that well until well over one. I have got lucky with DS2 who’s slept through from 5 months but I honestly don’t think the nighttime sleep looks bad for you at all

Sorry I forgot to add that overall it looks great and if it’s working for you don’t worry. The night sleep is great and if he’s not grumpy or tired in the day then the naps are fine too. Just adjust nap times and bedtime if he’s tired

Oh my this sounds amazing for 5 months!

My baby (second child) only started to get into this routine around 12 months. He’s marginally better at 20 months wakes around 6 now (poo) then goes back to sleep for 45 minutes

Honestly I would count myself lucky if I were you. I’m not sure where these unrealistic expectations come from, but it’s not normal in my experience for children to sleep 7-7 until they’re about 2+

Thanks so much everyone! I think just as he's my first I'm doubting that I have a good routine for him. I suspected that he's not getting enough day sleep and wondered if moving his bedtime to later would help with the 5am wake-up? He does seem pretty exhausted just before bedtime. He's a great sleeper during the night and I think it's due to his build, he's big for his age, blame tall parents, so he's roughly about 19Ibs and in 9-12 month old clothes

If I moved his bedtime, is this something I would need to do gradually? x

@bluebearss do you think the naps will consolidate on their own or is this something we have to help with? For the past few days, if he's woken after a 30 minute nap at lunchtime, I've rocked him back to sleep and managed to get another hour our so after. I've read about wake to sleep but not tried it yet. x

@Hodge85

I've read loads about the short nap thing in my frustration at never being able to make the schedule 'work', and I do the same fairly often with the lunchtime nap to help him lengthen it. My understanding is that it's completely normal at this age, and that naps only begin to lengthen and consolidate from around the 6 month mark, and later for some babies. Mine now will have a long nap either morning or afternoon at least 50% of the time, which is fairly new! I think it's something they'll do on their own, but helping them lengthen can't hurt.

Night sleep and naps use a different part of the brain. The part that controls and lengthens day sleep takes longer to develop in some babies.

Some people I've spoken to say it was like a switch flicked and suddenly baby started having long naps, and others I've spoken to have said it was more gradual starting with one nap. It's such a common thing!

With the early wakings, I'm told that actually a later bedtime can make early wake ups worse and to try earlier, even though it sounds counter-productive. I find this actually does work for mine. I'd say make any bedtime shifts either way in 15-20 minute increments, so go for 6:45 instead of 7 etc. and see what happens.

Put mine down at 6:15pm the other day as naps were crap all day. Slept right through until 6:45am! Can't complain.

It's so hard to figure out, I'm right here with you!

I'm confused about this too OP- baby is 5 months. He is only napping 30 mins at a time! The lunch time nap used to be 1.5 hrs but recently he keeps waking after 30 and I can no longer extend as I used to be able to. This results in only 3 x 30 mins naps a day. Not enough!
However, he goes to bed at 6.30pm and wakes around 7am - 7.30am! So I'm super confused!!

Just wondering if anyone has any updates on the cat nap situation and whether your little ones started sleeping longer as they hit 6 months+? Having the same issues with 5 month old DS atm. Was held for naps and used to manage a couple of 1hour- 1h30m naps a day and then cat nap in evening but lately can’t seem to get him to sleep more then 30 mins in cot or held. Did it get better for anyone?

Sounds very similar to my DD’s routine at that age, you’re doing a great job! My DD started napping longer around 7 months but at almost a year old she still wakes at 5am

My baby is now 9 and a half months and normally sleeps 2 hours for his nap, it definitely gets easier 🥰

@Flumo thanks for replying, that’s so reassuring! Was there anything you did to lengthen naps or did it just happen on its own? And when did it start to improve for you?

He sounds fine to me. Quite amazing he sleeps all night at his age. Be glad!

I did nothing, just let him do it himself. I got into the mind set that they will be in a routine for most of their lifes so why start to young 🤣