Please evaluate my 4 month olds naps and wake windows!

[shivawn]

Hi, having a really hard time with 4 month sleep regression at the moment. Some nights are great, for example Wednesday night he slept 6 hours straight, Thursday we had two 2.5 hour stretches but then last night (a more typical night) I was lucky if he slept for 1 hour. I don't understand why he can link sleep cycles and self sooth some nights but not other nights.

I'm trying to really concentrate on getting his daytime sleep right in the hopes that it will help make the nights easier. He wakes up at a different time every morning and it's a struggle to get him down at night so impossible to set a routine. I try to make naps as long as possible but he is normally awake after 30-45 minutes.

I've attached a screenshot from my BabyTracker App showing every sleep he has had since he went down at 23:30 last night (so you can see how awful the nights are). The text showing times in between where sleeps are recorded are the awake windows.

Thank you kindly for any advice!

TLDR: Photo attached from tracking app showing babies sleep. Please help me see where I'm going wrong!

Just to add, the 2.5 hour wake window before his first nap this morning was unusual - I was so exhausted from the night that I gave him to my husband who is working from home at 7 so I could sleep. I'd normally get him down for his first nap within 1.5 hours of waking....he also wouldn't be up for the day until 9am most mornings.

I can't really make head nor tail of your app but I always went by the routine of begin day at 7am and don't stress too much about daytime naps. I fed every four hours bottle and usually sleep at 7pm. I woke for dream feed bottle at ten straight back to bed till 7 am

I can't understand your tracker, and I've tried really hard to understand it. Are the bold number times?

Anyway - As a general rule, nap length wants to be around double awake time, give or take 15 minutes (that give or take time is settling time). And never more than 2h awake until naps are consistently over 90 minutes.

So, for example:

If baby has a 30 minute nap, then start settling for the next nap after 45 minutes awake. Expect baby to be asleep around 60 mins after last waking, but it might be up to 1h15m from when last woke up

If baby has a 45 minute nap, then start settling for the next nap after 1h15m awake. Expect baby to be asleep around 1h30 after last waking, but it might be up to 1h45m from when last woke up.

If baby has a 1h nap, then start settling for the next nap after 1h45m minutes awake. Expect baby to be asleep around 2h mins after last waking, but it might be up to 2h15m from when last woke up.

Sorry, I think the tracker is confusing because there are so many short sleeps.

Up this morning at 7:10am, had a 45 minute nap at 09:40, 35 minute nap at 12:10 when he woke for 10 mins before I managed to resettle him for another 15 mins. Half hour nap at 2:40pm. Hour 20 min nap at 5:40pm.

@collieresponder88 your baby sounds like a dream, mine just isn't like that unfortunately.

@FATEdestiny Thanks for the detailed reply, from reading that I think that my baby must be overtired as I suspected.

[quote shivawn]@collieresponder88 your baby sounds like a dream, mine just isn't like that unfortunately.

@FATEdestiny Thanks for the detailed reply, from reading that I think that my baby must be overtired as I suspected.[/quote]
Follow my routine and you might find your baby sleeps much better good luck

@shivawn keep in mind the sleep regression as that throws sleep upside down.

I have a 9 month old that is breastfed and her awake times are just under 2.5 hours. At 4 months mine was on 3 naps and awake time was 90 mins max so I think your baby is probably overtired.
This website below might help you sort out awake times. Mine was terrible around 4 months and woke multiple times a night as a lot of breastfed babies wake to eat and cannot go too long without a feed. My baby sleeps from 7/8pm to about 5:30/6am with one feed around 12/1am at 9 months. Yours may need two feeds at this stage but who knows as they're all So different.

www.mybabysleepguide.com/2013/02/average-sleep-charts-by-age.html?m=1

Screenshot of awake times.

Thanks @mishmased, we're about 3 and a half weeks into the sleep regression now I think. I'm definitely going to try and shorten those windows from tomorrow and hopefully will see some difference. I would be fine with 2-3 hourly feeds overnight if he's hungry, it's the waking every 30-50 minutes that is absolutely killing me right now.

I felt tired looking at last night for you!

Hope tonight goes easier!

@shivawn the 4 month regression almost broke me she woke nearly every hour to 90 nights. Between 10 and 6am she used to wake up to 5 times and feed. Thankfully it's better now but her daytime naps are slightly shorter. Another thing is to make sure baby feeds properly so you're not wondering if you should feed again an hour after waking. Hang in there, it will get better ✊

I have a 5 month old but generally what I do is start the day whenever they get up (usually 6-7am) and then schedule a nap for around 90 minutes after that time. The 90 minute mark is when I start trying to put baby down, it might take longer than that to actually get them to sleep then when they wake from that nap I schedule the next nap for 90 mins after that and so on. If baby looks tired before 90 mins particularly if they had a short nap then I try and put them to sleep earlier. After 5pm baby won’t nap at all so I just have to try and manage them until bedtime, if that means it’s a very long wake window then I’ll make sure they have a bath to kill some time and will start bedtime a bit earlier, maybe more like 6:20pm (bedtime is about 7pm). Baby sleeps 7-7 usually with one night feed. Do you use white noise at nap time? My baby is hit and miss over nap length but I’ve found that white noise can help with linking sleep cycles together. Also, I know it’s technically not what you are supposed to do but I find that if baby has a long wake window as long as they haven’t got too worked up to the point of crying they tend to nap better. Could just be my weird baby though 😂

4 month sleep regression nearly killed me too 😔 but I promise it will get better. I followed fatedestiny advice and helped when I asked mumsnet for help.

I also started settling lo in side cot without them falling asleep on me. I did the same consistent thing every single bedtime. I didn't differ, or change. I did everything the same.

Have a look at some old threads on regression and how to get through it. Remember to be strong, and you're doing great.

Ah OP. He's still very young. Self soothing is developmental unless forced. 6 your stretches are amazing at that age,1 hour stretches are still great.

Sleep regression is a pain but it could also just be normal developmental sleep patterns. It's tiring but I'd suggest to not focus so much on timings and keeping track but just sleeping when you can.