4 month old rising at 8....too late a lie in?

[Klou87]

Hi everyone,
Interested in getting some advice on our DS's sleep at the moment. Baby is now 4 months old and he usually goes down for the night around about 8:30pm (a massive achievement for us just in the last few weeks... it was 11pm before! )
He's BF and still waking around 1am and again around 4am and then 6am although feeds quickly and goes straight back down which is fab. From 6am onwards, he's a very light sleeper and whilst his little eyes are firmly shut, he tosses and turns a lot, particularly around the 7am mark but left, will continue to sleep (albeit with tossing and turning) until 7:40/ 8ish which is when we have been leaving him until. I have to say, I've been enjoying the lie in but we've noticed that the last few weeks, he is only napping for a max of 30 minutes at a time during the day, down from what an hour and a half at a time....usually he'll total about 2.5 hours of sleep through naps in the day max. I know this is probably just developmental but is this normal to sleep for such short periods of time?

I'm wondering, is the morning lie in affecting his day time naps and making him sleep less during the day? Interested to hear from anyone whose baby is similar or anyone who has had a similar experience. Should we wake bubba and start the day earlier or are we ok letting him sleep until 8am but knowing he is tossing and turning from 7am ish? Any help or advice would be greatly welcome x

I'd leave him be if I were you, you seem to be doing great. As long as he's not complaining he's fine to be left and he won't be hungry seeing as fed at 6. And as he's happy to go down straight after 6am feed he's clearly fine to have another snooze, albeit light!

I have an almost 4 month old who is bottle fed expressed milk, she wakes 1x in the night but then at 5.30am for the day but we leave her to babble away until 6am. Then she has a nap at about 7.30am. All her naps are 30mins unless in the pram so I do one long pram nap a day around 1pm (1.5-2hrs) and she has 4 short naps in addition. I think many babies do short naps at this stage. I sometimes wonder if her long early afternoon pram nap makes her wake up early.... so hard to know what's right at this age!

Your entire schedule is very similar to my ds's (4 months old), apart from mine doesn't do a long stretch at the start of the night like he used to :( Typical night is down at 8-9pm, wake for feed around midnight, 3am and 5am. Unsettled from 5am but sleeps on and off til 8am. It would never have occurred to me that that is too early lol! He has pretty decent daytime naps - either 3 or 4 totally anything from 3 to 5 hours.

I read that shorter naps can be part of the 4 month sleep regression... they stop being able to link sleep cycles so maybe that's why you ds is only managing 30 mins?

DO NOT WAKE A SLEEPING BABY!

DO NOT WAKE A SLEEPING BABY!
^^
This .

Mine woke up bright as a button every day at 5am! Enjoy your lie in, whilst you can.

Let sleeping dogs babies lie!!

Thanks everyone, really appreciate your replies In case you can't tell, It's my first baby and obviously I am doubting everything! I think I just need to stop reading routines set by ' baby experts' in books/ blogs, all of which seem to say to wake baby at 6:30/7 am... at the moment it works for us, I'll just make the most of the lie-ins before maternity ends and I need to wake earlier. Reassuring to know others are having similar routines too xx

Just to add, it’s quite normal for young babies to stop having longer naps during the day and just do one sleep cycle. With time, they tend to get longer again. Baby is sleeping 11-11.5 hours overnight which is a brilliant (and definitely not ‘too much’). Enjoy the lie in!

Your baby hasn't read the books yet. So will do as she pleases ;)

Sounds very similar to my now 5 month old. At 4 months her napping became very sporadic and short. She was also waking at around 8am, gradually that’s moved back though and now she wakes at 7 but she also goes down for the evening at 6.30-7pm. I wouldn’t worth and would just enjoy the lie in for as long as it lasts. In my experience the napping changes constantly and then just when you get to the point of enjoy a consistent long nap they drop it and everything changes again

I worried about this sort of thing with my first baby but honestly haven’t tracked a single nap or wake up with my second. She seems alright with it

My dd was like this. She never ever woke early and would often sleep until 9:00 am.

I remember when she was 4 months old being woken up by her coping on the monitor at 9:15 am. The rest of the house had gone to school/work.

As she got older she stopped napping in the day but would sleep for 14 hours at night. 7pm-9pm.

It became really noticeable even at 5 and 6 that she was an owl. Dh is the same, and it’s genetic apparently.

She’s 14 now, and crashes pit for about 13 hours at the weekend. Still very much an owl.

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow

My dd was like this. She never ever woke early and would often sleep until 9:00 am.

I remember when she was 4 months old being woken up by her coping on the monitor at 9:15 am. The rest of the house had gone to school/work.

As she got older she stopped napping in the day but would sleep for 14 hours at night. 7pm-9pm.

It became really noticeable even at 5 and 6 that she was an owl. Dh is the same, and it’s genetic apparently.

She’s 14 now, and crashes pit for about 13 hours at the weekend. Still very much an owl.

Interesting that it's genetic... I have to admit I've always loved my sleep too, even as a little one so maybe he'll be the same!

PS.... your username has made my morning! 😂 love that!

Sounds like you've fallen into a lovely pattern for the moment. Enjoy your baby and stop doubting yourself. (Mum of 9 children with a 19 week old dd)