5 month old naps

[EdithGrantham]

Not sure I want any advice, just wondering if anyone is in the same situation.

5mo DD has never had a schedule, she feeds (BF) when she's hungry, sleeps when she's tired. When she was a newborn I had to give up reading about "wake windows" because she'd happily stay awake 3 hours at a time between 40 minute naps. I didn't mind as she slept brilliantly at night.

Since 3.5mo night-time sleep hasn't been as good, she is in bed for between 8-10 hours, wakes every 2 hours but quickly falls back to sleep on the boob (we happily co-sleep) and I've gone back to reading about schedules. The problem is her naps are all over the place so when I read about "dropping a nap" it doesn't make any sense because some days she will sleep for a few half hour naps, other days she'll have a first nap getting on for 2 hours and then a few short ones. Apart from the fact she needs a nap of some sort 2.5hrs after waking up for the day they really are anyone's guess!

Anyone been in the same situation and managed to improve night-time sleep without trying to stick to a strict day time schedule which I just don't think will suit her?

Also; definitely not a case of her being overtired as I'm good at reading her tired cues and she's pretty chilled and happy when awake.

Is it just her night time wakings that have made you start reading about schedules again?

We're as you describe: very 'awake' as a newborn, fed on demand, sleeps when needed, no set nap times from day to day, no schedule, EBF, co-sleeping. We haven't had any improvements in night time sleep since it tanked at the 4/5 months mark. It's very rough.** I often wonder whether a set schedule would help but I'm not sure how or if it would.

Yes, mainly because the 4am wake up is becoming more of a full wake up than a sleepy stirring so it made me wonder if she is actually under-tired.

Obviously the dream would be set naptimes where I know how long she's going to sleep, being able to put her down for these naps and then at least one long stretch at night but we're a million miles from that!

Just now she was knackered but wouldn't drop off so I fed her and she fell to sleep but I'm halfway through cooking dinner so I put her down and she's wide awake again happy for 10 minutes but now crying. She does nap in a sling but getting her into it properly after feeding wakes her up so I don't really see a way out of contact napping, which is fine the majority of the time but when I'm on my own on an evening because of husband's shifts I do need to feed myself at some point!

Haha that is the dream indeed. I'm not even bothered about 'sleeping through', I just want a couple of hours un-disturbed but as you say, we are a million miles away from that.

What time do you put your little one to bed if she is waking for the day at 4am? How do you usually get her to sleep?

So over the past couple of days I've been trying not encouraging naps, I've changed activities when she seems tired in case she's just bored and whilst I'm still contact napping I haven't been settling her to encourage a longer nap when she wakes, just sat with her and let her wake up or fall back to sleep, usually it's a wake up!

Doing this she's generally awake for 2 hours then napping for 30-40 minutes, but the other day when we were very busy she was awake for much longer then had about an hour nap.
Also from doing this our nighttimes seem way more settled, I'm pretty much sleeping with my boobs out so not 100% sure but I think she's only nursing once or twice between 9.30 when we've been going to bed (feeding to sleep) and 4. She has still been waking properly at 4 but I've been able to let her coo and gurgle for a couple of minutes then she's accepted another feed and gone back to sleep until around 6 when she feeds again then does another 1.5-2 hours. I feel like this kind of routine is suiting her so well and whilst it would be nice to have fewer longer naps I'll take the regular short ones if it means better sleep for me at night!