Did/does anyone’s 6 month old do 3/3/4?

[katvan1969]

Basically title..

Tried 2.5/3/3.5, 3/3/3, and 3/3/3.5 but the night wakes are still happening about 50% of the time with no pattern that I can tell :/ I’m trying hard not to fall into reverse cycling with feeds. Naps are good though ever since we dropped 2 nap schedule. Wake time 7:30am, bedtime 7:30pm. All the good bedtime routine stuff - feed 35 min out, noise machine, etc. She’s 6.5 months old.

 

[abcdeg]

@katvan1969 My 6.5 month old did 3/3.25/3.75 yesterday so she’s close to that. Don’t want to jinx it but she seems okay

 

[katvan1969]

@abcdeg Thanks for sharing! Can I ask if you purposely went to those wake windows due to sleep issues (short naps, night wakes, etc.)? Or baby just naturally didn’t want to sleep before then?

 

[abcdeg]

@katvan1969 Her sleep has actually been very good, but she naturally started to lengthen her wake windows and bedtime just started becoming too late when she wakes at 6am every day. But her sleep is not good if she gets even a minute more than 2.75 nap time during the day

 

[katvan1969]

@abcdeg Hmm interesting. I’m starting to suspect that my baby is similar to yours - on the lower end of daily sleep needs. Thanks for your help!

 

[alkalinity]

@katvan1969 Following

 

[theomatician888]

@katvan1969 Yes. I was tired of 30-40m naps and I just made her stay up 3 hours one morning and now it's her schedule. Everyone says 6 months is way too early for 2 naps but both my kids took to it really well.

 

[batti3004]

@katvan1969 I didn't have much of a choice since my kiddo is in daycare, but I was getting super stressed about his extremely long wake windows (some days he would only do 2 30 minute naps over an 8 hour day!) but he slept sooooo good at night. I've stopped caring as much about wake windows, and just focus on making sure he gets at least 12 hours of sleep in a 24 hour period.
At home, when he's not as stimulated he prefers 3-4 hour windows but at daycare he's Mr. FOMO.

 

[katvan1969]

@batti3004 Makes sense!

 

[doughtz]

@katvan1969 My daughter was on that

 

[poorelectron]

@katvan1969 Average sleep needs at 6 months is 12-14 hours. All of your schedules ask for more sleep than that, so I'd dabble with more wake time to see if it helps. What was your 3 nap schedule?

My daughter was on 3/3/4 the day she turned 6 months.

 

[katvan1969]

@poorelectron Oh that makes sense! On 3 naps we maxed out around 2.25/2.25/2.5/2.5, and we dropped a nap a week before 6 months because her naps were getting shorter and she had early wakes.

Right now day sleep has been 2.5-3 hrs so maybe she needs only 2 hrs of day sleep because her nights are 12 hrs, sometimes more if I let her sleep in on the rare occasion. I think I will try 3/3/4 like you said if nothing else works. Thanks for your advice!

 

[john127]

@katvan1969 2 hours of day sleep is recommended at 12 months on 2 naps, I would not cap naps that much at 6 months.

 

[katvan1969]

@john127 Hmm okay. If she’s having night wakes do you recommend anything to help other than schedule change? The only other option seemingly is to apply a sleep training method during them. It’s just strange that the wakes started randomly and on an age appropriate schedule

 

[john127]

@katvan1969 Does she fall asleep independently?

 

[katvan1969]

@john127 Yup! Falls asleep independently for bedtime and naps. Her last feed of the day is 35 minutes before bedtime.

 

[john127]

@katvan1969 How long do you give before assisting with the night wake?

 

[katvan1969]

@john127 Usually 40-60 min. She cries on and off and looks like she’s trying to fall asleep but overall she doesn’t.

 

[poorelectron]

@katvan1969 There isn't really such thing as a max schedule, just one that you can't fit naps and nights in. You could try 2.25/2.5/2.5/3 and see where that gets you if 3/3/4 is too much.

 

[candy7]

@katvan1969 How long are naps usually?

How does baby go to sleep at the beginning of the night and how do you respond to MOTN wake ups? All babies (and children and adults!) Wake up several times throughout the night, but the goal is to make those wake ups short and Independent.

My 5 month old will wake me up because hell shout two or three times (not cry, just an "AH! AH!"), but then when I look at the monitor, he's flipping back over to his stomach and going back to sleep- just wanted to scare away any bears or something, I guess?! I do feed him if he wakes up and stays awake at or after 5 hours from bedtime, then 3 after that, and that brings us to the morning. If he is up and crying before those times, I react the same way I do at bedtime (for us, it's CIO) and he's back asleep within 15 minutes, usually a lot less, everytime.