5 month old bedtime… too early/ late??

[Maxamy111]

Hi guys,
wondering if I can get some advice on my little ones sleep….
she’s 21 weeks old so almost 5 months and I am really lucky she sleeps though the night (has done more or less since 11 weeks, bottle fed from beginning and dream feed at 10:30pm )
she is definitely a kiddo who loves her sleep and I use huckleberry to predict naps and wake windows.
Her normal routine is
7:30am wake up
8:00 bottle
9:30 nap (usually 40 mins but occasionally has up to an hour)
10:15 awake
11am bottle
12pm nap (can be up to 2.5hrs)
2:30 at the latest awake
2:45 bottle
4:15 nap (I limit this nap to 30 mins)
6:00 bath and bottle
6:45/7 bedtime
10:30 awake for dream feed
11:00pm bed

she’s only just recently started consolidating her naps so the long lunchtime nap is quite new, she initially was having a longer morning nap but it was leading to her waking up at 5am and being unable to go back to sleep so we’ve adjusted it as she naturally wakes up after one sleep cycle and I just don’t try and resettle on this one (unlike lunchtime where sometimes I am resettling her)

anyway my whole point of this post is that for the past 4/5 nights she’s started fighting bedtime horrifically. She screamed the house down the past 2 nights until about 8 when she fell asleep through exhaustion…I’m unsure whether I’m putting her down too early for bed or too late. She shows sleepy signs at around 6:15 but that’s only 1hr 15 after her last nap. I’ve tried bed earlier and bed later but both to the same result.

any advice where I’m going wrong? Is she having too much day sleep? It’s difficult because she doesn’t seem able to make the 2hrs awake before needing another nap that she apparently should be having so if I cap the lunchtime nap it’ll throw out the whole rest of the day?? I’m not bothered about her going to bed a bit later if that helps I just don’t like seeing her so upset. She’s such a happy little girl but this bedtime thing has completely thrown me. If you can’t tell she’s my first child so it’s all new to me.

thanks for any advice!

At 6 months old most babies tend drop the 3rd so long as the 2nd nap is long enough, which it sounds like it definitely is, and would then go 4 hours from the last nap wake up to bed. If you want some more insights on this look up the ‘234 schedule’. So with that in mind, I think you’re probably just starting the transition from 3 to 2 naps, and sometimes nap transitions can be bumpy, like they can’t quite get through without it but it messes up bedtime. I probably wouldn’t do anything drastic because it will likely resolve itself soon enough.

I would say if she's just had a 2.5 hour nap waking at 2.30 then it's pretty unusual for her to be ready for another at 4.15. I would try and push through with the afternoon one and put her to bed at 6ish for a while until she's adjusted.

Thank you for the advice guys. Funnily enough she went down like a dream last night however was wide awake and chatty at 4am instead 🙈 xxx

Oh no! Definitely sounds like you’re in a nap transition. 4am wake up is classic tapping out their sleep needs because they’ve got what they needed in a 24 hour period. If you can nudge it along and get her through to bedtime, even an early bedtime of like 6pm, without the 3rd nap then you’ll probably find the nights are a lot smoother. Also big growth spurt at around 6 months. Sometimes they start being hungry when they weren’t before but starting weaning and a bowl of porridge or something filling before bed usually sorts that out. Good luck!

Don't let people tell you what routine you should have with your baby. Is your child happy and alert? do they eat and sleep well? if so who cares? do whatever suits you!

As 5 months my daughter went to bed at 9pm and slept til about half 7/8. everyone kept telling me i SHOULD be putting her down at 7 but i didn't want her waking at half 5. i am a night owl and suited me this way. at around 9 months she started dropping off at 8 and then at 7 and slept through til 7 still. she just adjusted to her natural cycle. she is two and happy and thriving and bar a few nights when she's been ill she has slept from 7-7 every night.

Honestly do what is right for you and that is it

Honestly do what is right for you and that is it
Definitely! But no one wants bedtimes that take hours of screaming or 4am wake ups. Every baby is going to have a finite amount of sleep they need in a 24 hour period and you usually have to vaguely structure it so that it’s at the right time for you. My responses are based on the assumption that OP wants a bedtime around 7 but you’re totally right that it isn’t for everyone and it’s not the only way to do things.