How long should your baby stay awake between naps when baby wakes early from naps? Read to find out what to do with waketime when baby wakes early.
When your baby wakes earlier from nap than you expected baby to, you will find yourself trying to figure out why the nap was short and how to fix it.
You will also wonder how long to keep baby awake until the next nap. Should baby be up as long as usual between naps? Should it be shorter since the last nap wasn’t as long? Should it be longer to try to keep baby on the normal schedule?
So many options!
Post Contents
How Long To Keep Baby Awake
Many moms wonder what to do about waketime when baby wakes early from sleeping.
Your most common options will be:
- Keep your baby up until the time her next nap would happen. This will mean her wake time length is longer than it typically is.
- Keep your baby up for the same amount of wake time as she typically has. This will mean the next nap will start earlier than it usually does. If you do this, you will let that nap be longer to make it to the typical feeding time if baby will sleep longer.
- Something in between options one and two. You might do slightly longer waketime length and slightly earlier nap.
This is a situation where it pays to know your child well. You will need to do some experimenting. Sometimes you will get it wrong as you work to figure out what is best for your baby. You can keep track of everything with my printable book of logs.
Here are some factors to consider:
- Age. The older your baby, the more likely baby can just stay awake until close to the normal nap time, if not right until the normal nap time. With young babies, however, babies seem to need X amount of minutes of waketime.
- Time. This would include time of day and also how early baby woke up. Most babies can handle a longer waketime in the evening, so if he woke early from an afternoon or evening nap, you might be able to make it until bedtime or the next nap. If baby woke 15 minutes early from the nap, there is a better chance he will make it to the next nap time than if he woke up an hour early.
- Length of Sleep. I use this category to point out that if the nap that was woken early from was quite short, he will likely need to go down for the next nap early, and perhaps with a shorter waketime than usual. If he is not as well-rested as he usually is, he might not be able to make it the usual length of time.
- Activity. If your baby wakes early but will stay in his bed and play, he can likely handle a longer waketime out of the crib than if he were to get out of his crib right away. If they are in the crib, they are still getting some rest. I often say waketime in the crib should be counted as half-time. So if baby was in the crib awake for 30 minutes, consider it to be more like 15 minutes of awake time. Time in the cirb is less stimulating than out of the crib.
All of these factors work together to create the answer to the question “How long should waketime be when he wakes early?”
It is up to you to observe these factors (and any others you know to exist for your child) and determine what is the right move.
If your child shows you sleepy cues, follow those cues in putting him down, even if it is earlier than that nap would last.
I will note–sometimes you will try to put baby back to sleep rather than just have a longer wake time length or a longer next nap. Read How to Put Baby Back to Sleep here.
The Next Nap after the Short Nap
Take note that many times the baby will take a longer than usual nap following a short nap to make up for the lost sleep at the short nap.
So, if your child is one who will do catch up, putting him down early is a good idea to maintain your feeding schedule.
Remember that keeping your child up too long will backfire. He will most likely take another short nap if he went down too late.
Kaitlyn has pretty much woken up at consistent times her whole life. When she was a young baby, she went down after she had been up for X number of minutes. As she got older, I would put her down early for the next nap or for bed. She usually then slept extra and woke at the normal wake time. At 12 months, she now basically goes down at the same time her nap usually is if she wakes early. She might go down 10-15 minutes early if she is tired, but most of the time she is just up until nap time.
How Long to Keep Baby Awake When Feeding at Normal Times
Some babies wake early because they are hungry and they need to eat right away. This can be because of a growth spurt.
But what about when baby isn’t hungry? Baby woke early, but isn’t ready to eat yet, so you feed on your typical schedule time?
When your baby wakes early from a nap or in the morning for the first feeding of the day, but you wait to feed them at their normal time, what time should the next nap be?
Do you put them down so they are awake for the right amount of time, or do you put them down when they should go down if they slept as long as they should have?
In other words, if baby is always awake for 60 minutes, but woke up 30 minutes early, do you put baby down for a nap after being awake for 60 minutes or after being awake for 90 minutes? Do you go by typical waketime length or typical schedule?
The answer to this would depend on your little one. Here are some factors to consider.
- It depends on how long he/she can stay up. If your baby will definitely take another short nap with a 90 minute waketime length, stick with 60 minutes.
- It also depends on how early baby woke up. Being up 15 minutes early is different than being up 60 minutes early.
- It will also depend on the age of your baby. The older they get, the less crucial it is to go to sleep after so many minutes of waketime, but timing of naps can remain important with my even with toddlers. It was crucial for my oldest even when he was 2.5.
Most young babies will need to go down after the appropriate amount of waketime (the actual time they have been awake) rather than the time they would normally go down.
No matter the age of your child, don’t keep them up too long. It will backfire.
Your child is more likely to sleep longer if he isn’t overly tired than if you put him down later (see Sleep Begets Sleep for more on this).
You need to figure out the best thing to do for your child, and you need to maintain flexibility. Your child will change over time.
At 8 weeks, Kaitlyn needed to go down after being awake for an hour no matter what. At 7 months, if she woke up 30 minutes early I could wait and put her down at her normal time with no problems.
Free Wake Time Worksheet
Be sure to check out my free Wake Time Length Worksheet to figure out if you should extend wake time or not.
Conclusion
When your baby wakes early, there will be times your wake time length will be the same as it usually is, which means the nap will start earlier than it usually does.
There will be other times the waketime length is longer than it usually is so your nap can start when it usually does.
Consider the factors outlined in this post to decide which is best for your situation and try that out.
Related Posts
- Optimal Waketime Lengths
- When and How to Extend Baby’s Wake Time Length
- How To Calculate Waketime Length
- What To Do When Baby Wakes Early From Naps or Won’t Fall Asleep For Naps
- What to Do When Baby’s Nap was Only 20 Minutes
- How To Finally Stop the 45 Minute Intruder
- The Complete Guide to Troubleshooting Short Baby Naps
Baby Early Waking Questions
- Charlotte’s Momma said…
What about when they wake up after only 20 or 30 minutes of sleep? Do you let them CIO again or get them up?
December 28, 2007 12:11 PM
Plowmanators said…
In that situation, I would let the CIO again. Kaitlyn did that for a bit, and I finally decided she needed to CIO and go back to sleep. I only had to do that a couple of times. You know they aren’t hungry. If your baby is young (under 3 months), you could try swaddling. I know Brayden would wake after 15 minutes because he would startle himself when his arms would fling. December 28, 2007 1:38 PM - Lindsay said…
Question about wake time: My little Jack (almost 4 mos.) will not always sleep until his next feeding. I think I read in Babywise that you just take into account that wake time after he eats and put him down a little earlier after he eats–but that’s my problem. Then his whole schedule gets off, and he ends up being awake too long (as to avoid putting him down RIGHT after he eats)…any suggestions? What would YOU do? January 22, 2008 3:29 PM
Plowmanators said…
This is a hard one! I hate it when this happens. Here is what I would ideally do:say he gets up at 10:30 but shouldn’t eat until 11 and he can have 1.5 hours of wake time. He normally would go down at 12:30. Since he got up 30 minutes early, you would put him down 30 minutes early. This is hard because then you are ahead of schedule. BUT, if you put him down late, he will most likely wake early from the next nap, too. You best bet for a good nap is to get him down in time. You would then try to get the schedule back to normal over the next couple of feedings by adding 15 minutes to each cycle. January 22, 2008 3:43 PM - Amy said…
Oh, thank you so much for your answer to Lindsay’s question. I am having the same problem. Also, thank you thank you thank you for this blog. The books are amazing, but I needed more. So this really helps.
May 27, 2008 1:15 PM - swelb21 said…
I basically have the same question as Ashhog but can’t find your answer to it. My 4.5 month old is waking up anywhere from 5:30-7–every morning and thus every day being different. I am still doing a dreamfeed, so I wonder if he will sleep in more/more consistent when I drop that? Also, with two kids, I am trying to have them do an afternoon nap at the same time and also am trying to have him awake for longer after his morning nap. Someone who does BW suggested this to me, but he is having a hard time with it: 7: wake up, feed8: nap9:30: wake, feed, play, go to storytime, playgroups for older sis, shop, etc.12:30: feed, both kids to bed3:30 ish: wake, feed, play5:nap. (I make dinner, etc.)6:30 feed, then bed10: feed. He is having the hardest time dropping from 4 naps to 3, and he is so far not adjusting to this schedule. It is so nice to have that chunk of time though! will he adjust or will it just make him overtired? Any thoughts are much appreciated August 9, 2008 10:45 PM - Plowmanators said…
It is possible he will sleep more consistently after dropping the DF. He also might be waking for a growth spurt or the random 4 month problems (see How to Solve Baby’s 4 month Sleep Problems). For the naps…that looks iffy to me. When a 4 month old goes to three naps, he has three naps at consistent intervals all day and then a longer chunk awake in the night. I think this will make him overly tired. My two aren’t on the same napping schedule yet and they are 16 months and 3 years. They are pretty close for the afternoon nap, but you can’t expect the same length and time of nap as a toddler for a 4 month old. August 11, 2008 10:45 PM - John and Amanda said…
Welcome back! I was hoping for your insight on a sleep/nap problem I’ve been having with my son.His previous schedule was:
Waketime 7am
naptime 9am
waketime 11am
naptime 1pm
waketime 3pm
bedtime 7pm
His naps were always a solid 2 hours with rare exceptions (and usually those exceptions meant a slightly longer nap, not shorter). He is currently 9.5 months old, can crawl, stand, and sit (I tell you this because I know BW mentions the phase where they learn new skills and want to try them out rather than sleep).Lately, he has been waking up at 6am instead of 7am. I know that 11 hours of sleep is still a great night, but I’m not sure if I should just accept this new waketime and roll with it or keep working to get him to go until 7am. I leave him in his crib until as close to 7am as possible before he melts down and cries…the crying will wear him out to where he won’t make it to his next scheduled naptime (9am). This started 3 weeks ago and I’ve tried moving his bedtime earlier and it has not made a bit of difference. And his room is as dark as I can get it with black out curtains.
Also, his naps (both morning and afternoon) have been getting shorter. Around 1 to 1.5 hours usually and NO more…ever! As long as he is not becoming overtired (and he isn’t) I try to keep him up till his next schedule nap (or as close as possible). I’ve tried putting him down sooner, too and he still only naps for about 1.5 hours at the most. He seems well rested and ready to get up and makes it to his next nap just fine. There isn’t a lot of info in BW about the transition between one and two naps a day, although I know my son is much too young for only one nap. Do you think he is starting to make that gradual transition? Should I worry about his shorter naps and nighttime sleep and just assume he is getting to where he needs less sleep, or should I do some training of some kind to keep him on the schedule I currently have?Your insight is greatly appreciated! Amanda April 23, 2008 9:49 PM
John and Amanda said…
I’m guessing from your latest post on waking early, your advice to me would be that if he seems fine with it and is not over tired and makes it to his next nap… just roll with it! 🙂 Like I said, my best guess as to why he suddenly seems to need less sleep (because he is functioning and happy with less sleep) is that he is slowly moving toward one nap a day… I guess I can’t expect him to sleep 12 hours every night and take 2, 2 hour naps every day for the next 2 years!!! 🙂 11 hours at night and 2, one+ hour naps a day is still good! Thanks!
April 24, 2008 6:27 PM
Plowmanators said…
I would stick with your schedule. My guess is it is a phase and not that he is ready to phase out that nap. 14 months is the earliest to drop that nap–so you are a ways off of that. I would continue to plan for a 1-5-2 hour nap and 10-12 hours at night and he should snap back at some point 🙂
April 24, 2008 9:55 PM
John and Amanda said…
Thanks! He will stay in the crib and play most of the time, and I leave him in there as long as I can. I’ll keep doing it. Today he slept till 6:30am, but I think it was because it was rainy this morning and therefore darker… 🙂 April 24, 2008 10:44 PM
Plowmanators said…
That sun does make a difference. You might even consider seeing if you can darken his room a bit. My kids are both sun risers.
April 25, 2008 9:42 AM - riley1319 said:
I’ve searched for this question and although it’s probably here somewhere, I can’t find it. My 3 month old’s napping is impacted by the 45 minute intruder. I rock him to sleepy and put him down content for each nap, and then have been letting him CIO to extend the sleep (my goal is 1.5 hrs in 2 naps and a 3rd 45min nap – he sleeps 12 hours overnight). He might cry/fall asleep on and off for 20ish minutes before falling asleep for good. The problem is that this will cause him to sleep into the next feeding. I suspect I should wake him to keep him on schedule, but I hate to after making him CIO to extend the nap. He is eating 7 times a day (including the dreamfeed), but he hasn’t dropped his 5amish waking so I’m not about to let him drop a daytime feed. The only places he will fall asleep and sleep soundly are in my arms or his crib so using the swing isn’t an option. Any thoughts? Thanks! I made a mistake to the above. He actually typically takes 4 naps a day. His fourth is a little cat nap typically sometime around an hour before bed time and typically in the baby bjorn.
Plowmanators said:
Since he is falling back asleep, I would just continue what you are doing and then wake him up when it is time to wake up. Before too long, he should be able to sleep through.As a word of caution, 3 months is a typical growth spurt time, so if he hasn’t had one yet, be sure that is not the reason he is waking early. - Wilson Ramblings said:
with regards to wake time, we’d like our little guy to get up at 730, however he consistently wakes up earlier and earlier sometimes around 645. He will usually make a little noise and then once the annoyed talking starts, the cries are quick to follow. How do i get him to wait until 730 to “wake up”? (he is 9.5 months old).
Plowmanators said:
My son was over 3 before he ever slept until 7:30, so it is possible it won’t happen, but you can try these strategies found in this post for ideas: Tips for Shifting Your Schedule - steph said:
My daughter is 12 weeks, she has reflux and is on meds and also attends daycare from 0700-3pm daily, M-F. We have been doing BW from the beginning and it seemed at 8-9 weeks all was going well with nighttime sleeping (ie dream feed at 10pm then waking at around 3am to feed and then first feed of the day at 6am). Over the last 10 days there has been a shift and she is now waking after her 10pm DF at 0130 fussing (will feed but seems to be more to sooth than out of hunger), then waking again at 0430 (we sooth w/ a paci) and finally I wake her or she wakes on schedule at 6am. The daytime schedule looks on average like this: 6am wake/feed. dropped at daycare 7am – they feed her at 0900and 1200 and at 3 my husband picks her up and feeds her at 3pm. They have not yet got on board w/ feed-wake-sleep, so her naps are sporatic, often immediately after a feeding and she usually has two 1 hour naps during daycare. Once home My husband feeds her 300 and she is down usually around 430pm and sleeps until her next feed at 6pm. Though the 6pm feed is not meant to be a DF she is often VERY difficulty to wake and is back down for the night between 645-7pm and then the cycle starts over. I am concerned she is getting too much evening sleep to get an adequate nights sleep. I would greatly appreciate your input because I can’t sustain this much longer.
Plowmanators said:
Steph, This sounds like there are many possible contributors.First, I would look into her meds dosage. At 3 months, there is a growth spurt, and most doses are based on weight. At 3 months, Kaitlyn started to not sleep well. We upped her dosage to reflect her new weight and sleep was great after that. So I would first look into that.Next, she is at an age where many babies start to have trouble sleeping because the pacifier interferes with it. You might consider getting rid of that, or accepting that it will interefere with sleep until she learns to control the pacifier herself (usually around 6-8 months).
Another problem could be that her daytime schedule isn’t set enough that it is causing problems for her sleeping at night. Sleep begets sleep. She could be starting her night sleep early because she is tired from the day, and then interfering with night. Or she could just not be sleeping well at night because she isn’t sleeping well in the day, and the two are related. - bradysmom said:
We are having problems with Brady (1 year old) waking early again. I really don’t know what to do. For the past 3 weeks, Brady has been waking anywhere from 5:30 – 6:30 in the morning. He had that bout about a month or 2 back where he did this, and then he stopped and was sleeping until his normal time of 7:30. Now he’s started it again. The only thing that has changed is that we have a new nanny. However – he’s napping fine during the day and acting fine. A couple weeks ago it started with him just waking and talking to himself, and he would just stay awake until I went and got him. Sometimes he fell back asleep, sometimes not. But now the past 2 mornings, he has been waking crying. I don’t know what’s going on. I guess it could be teething, however like I said he’s napping fine and is not fussy during the day.He’s taking 2 naps, around 1-1.5 hours each. Any suggestions on what’s going on or what to do?
Plowmanators said:
Hmmm…I am not really sure with that age. It could be teeth and it is just that by morning his teeth are really starting to bother him. I would look into how he is eating in the day–but be aware that most kids around 12-14 months seriously decrease their intake in the day.A new nanny would be a big change. It could easily be that and he might just need some time to adjust.One thing to keep in mind is that at that age and with his consistency as of late, there is a reason for him to be waking early. The trick is finding and fixing it.
bradysmom said:
I know – and I cannot figure it out. Everyday he wakes up around that time. He’s not hearing one of us, because we’re sleeping. I just can’t figure it out. I guess I could try to put him to bed an hour early – at 6:30, but I can’t imagine he’d sleep 13 hours. Do you think he’s getting too much sleep during the day? This is just driving me nuts because I know there’s somethign going on and I can’t figure it out.He’s eating pretty normal during the day. It may just be teething because when we went through this before I think it was around the time that he got some teeth. But that’s a pain because I can give him Motrin when he goes to bed, but that doesn’t last until the morning and he doesn’t have a problem until 6:30.He sleeps with his ‘teddy’ which is a little blanky. Maybe I should try to put a stuffed animal in there or something.
Plowmanators said:
Too much sleep during the day is possible. If that is the case, though, it really should affect at least one daytime nap as well. That is the way it usually works, but he can certainly do his own thing. If you do try earlier bedtime, I wouldn’t jump by an hour. I would put him down 5 minutes earlier each night and see if that helps. Good luck figuring it out! When they get older, problem solving gets trickier. With babies, there are a few common causes that are usually the problem. They get older and the reasons list expands a hundred fold 🙂
bradysmom said:
Thanks for the advice!! I think it may be the teething. He is cutting a tooth right now, so it will be interesting to see if he goes back to normal time after it pops through.
Plowmanators said:
Hopefully so! Teething can be a disruption. Kaitlyn has been a late teether, and her body seems to have decided to catch up on it all, so she has been cutting at least two teeth at a time for the last month. Poor girl! She only has six more before she is done for now 🙁 - Heather said:
My 9 week old daughter is just learning to sleep through the night. I put her down after her 10pm feeding & diaper change, she falls asleep no problem & wakes around 5am grunting & whining I would prefer her ideal morning feeding to be 7am – do I feed her anyway? Do I check on her (this usually make her cry worse) Do I let her cry it out even though I can’t sleep through it? Do I put her mobile on? I don’t want to teach her that 5am is wake time. Thoughts?!
Plowmanators said:
Heather, First, you need to be sure she isn’t hungry at 5. It is completely possible that she is hungry at that time. If so, feed her, then wake her at 7 or as late as 7:30 to start the day. McKenna is usually eating around 5:30-6 AM. My desired waketime is 7:30. So I either do 7:30-8:00 AM and we are always back on track by our 1:30 feeding for sure, usually 10:30. - jano said:
Hi,I need some help with waking early too. We have had nap problems with my 7 week old for the last month but this week she has taken to waking after 1 hour for every nap. She will not resettle herself- do I leave her to CIO? Is she just too young for that? I have tried but she won’t go back to sleep once she is awake during the day (we don’t have this problem at nighttime). She is getting overtired because she won’t resettle and so it becomes harder to settle her again. If I am walking her in the pram, she will resettle and if I go and rock her, sometimes she goes back to sleep but not always. We do not have a swing and I have read all the other blogs. I just need some advice. Also I read that the 45min intruder rears its head again at 4 months of age. Will we be dealing with waking early until then or will she learn to resettle between now and then? - Plowmanators said:
Jano, 45 minute intruder is also common at that age. My first thought is the growth spurt that happens around 6 weeks old. If she was previously a good sleeper and nothing changed, there are usually two things to consider. The first is to consider it a growth spurt or need for more food (I have read several authors refering to appetite spurts lately). Feed her each time she wakes. If she nurses, you just feed more often and try to increase milk supply. If she is bottlefed, you can see if she can drink more ounces per bottle each day. The growth spurt can last anywhere from 2-5 days (and I am sure some last longer).The other thing to consider is waketime length and that she might need a longer waketime. But if you think that is it, try adding only 5 minutes at a time. Good luck! - katie said:
Hi! I’ve got a question about my 12 month old. Up until 1 month ago, he was perfectly following my schedule of: 7:00 wake9:00 nap11:00 wake1:00 nap3:00 wake7:30 bed
He began cutting molars about a month ago, and ever since then, he’s been waking from his first nap of the day after 45 minutes. It’s really funny, because it’s seriously at 9:45 that he wakes up every morning and screams. (That’s the other thing… he doesn’t usually wake up screaming from any nap, so I know that something has to be out of sorts.) It’s so not like him. I feel like I’ve tried everything… from putting him down 30 minutes later to putting him down earlier. Whatever I try, he still wakes up 45 minutes into it. I’m so frustrated because I KNOW he needs that nap. Plus, the earliest I’ve read on your blog of cutting that nap out is 14 months. I really need him to keep that nap as long as possible because our next baby is due shortly. Any ideas as to what I’m doing wrong?? Also, his afternoon naps have stretched to nearly 3 hours versus the 2 that he was used to having ever since he’s been waking early from his first nap. Should I make him wake after 2 hours on the second nap, so that maybe he’d take the first nap in full the next day? Thanks so much for your help!
Plowmanators said:
Katie, If he is waking early because of molars, all you can do is give him medicine or find some other way of alleviating the pain. My guess is that since he is waking early and screaming, it is due to pain. There really isn’t a problem with him taking a shorter morning nap and a longer afternoon nap. That is fine and is a normal part of the transition process toward dropping the morning nap. - Dulos said:
My son is almost 8 weeks old, he started STTN 7-8 hrs consistently every night just before he was six weeks old, however the past four nights every other morning he has woken at 4:30 rather than the normal 6 or 6:30. Sunday morning he woke at 4:30, then Monday morning he woke at 6:30; Tuesday morning he woke at 4:30, then Wednesday morning he woke at 6:45. I am confused about this because he was so consistent about it, but now all the sudden the last few days he has woken early some days. Do you know why this could be? How should I handle it? I usually wait 20 minutes to make sure he isn’t going to go back to sleep, then I feed him, and he always eats well when I do feed him.
Plowmanators said:
Dulos, It is likely that there was a growth spurt going on. I think what you were doing was good; waiting to see if he really was awake or just transitioning and then attending to him. I think after a few days, I would have lessened the amount of time I waited before going. This would be since he was eating well when you went in. That would tell me hunger is an issue. That way, you could go back to sleep sooner 🙂 Another option is to add a feeding to your day in order to avoid the need for food at night. - Laura said:
My son is 5 weeks old – I think that he may be having a growth spurt because he was sleeping previously for about 1.5-2 hrs and now he wakes after 45-50 min. When he wakes, I tried letting him CIO (works when I put him down for nap initially), but the crying escalates after the 45 min intruder. Questions:(1) I have been feeding him when he wakes after 45 min – is it ok to put him back to sleep if he falls asleep after the feeding? In some of the other posts that I saw, it was suggested to start the feed/wake/sleep routine all over again after the 45 min intruder feeding. Sometimes, though, he is more awake and I will start the routine from that feeding. Is it more important to be consistent or go with how the baby acts (sleepy vs. awake?)? If I put him back to sleep, and he sleeps for another hour, do I try feeding him again upon waking (would be only 1 hr between feedings)?(2) Is it possible that it’s not a feeding issue/growth spurt? He takes almost a whole feeding, but sometimes I feel like he is just eating because I am offering. I don’t want to overfeed, but BW says to first treat the waking as a feeding issue. Thanks for the website and any help!
Plowmanators said:
Laura, 1-I would keep him up for waketime after the feeding, but be mindful because he will likely need a shorter waketime than usual since the nap was short. 2-At that age, I think it is absolutely the best thing to treat it as a feeding issue first. Give it 3-5 days (some say a week even) before looking for naps to return to good. You will most likely start to notice once the feedings are no longer needed to be so close together. At that point, you can evaluate how to proceed. - The Hendersons said:
Please help…we recently moved from the Central time zone to the Pacific time zone (2 hours earlier). Since we have been here, both my kids (20 months and almost 6 months) have started waking at or before 6am. We’re staying with family while we find a house so there are more adults in the house “helping” with them and so everything with our normal routine is off. My 20 month old has rarely woken before 7am in his entire life and now we can’t keep him in bed past 6:15!! My 6 month old is also starting to wake early. She was starting to sleep through the night without a feeding but now one night she is going through the night and then the next she’ll wake up at midnight and then 5:30 to eat and then the whole day is thrown off b/c of her wake time. I’m at a loss of what to do…any help is appreciated!!!
Plowmanators said:
Hendersons, I think what is happening can be expected. What is 6:15 for you now is what was 8:15–so I think that is normal for them. Expecting kids to sleep later than they are used to is really unrealistic. Of course, you can get there; it will just take time (probably more than you want).Ont thing to do is take them outside in the day so their body gets exposed to the sun and resets its internal clock. I have heard to take the child out at noon each day. Also, see the “time change” blog label. All of those tips would apply to you. - The Brydson’s said:
My 8 week old is going down fine for naps most of the time, but i haven’t figured out the appropriate waketime because he most always wakes early – like 30-60 minutes in… so I tried extending his waketime to see if he would do longer (because I read that if they wake early its mostly due to not enough time before awake), so I tried 1 hr and 25 minutes, but he still woke up, so do I keep adding it? OR should I lower it? As of this second I decided to see if lowering it about 15 minutes would help, – I fed him @ 604AM, and then put him down for a nap at 708AM… and right now it has been about 40 minutes and he’s not stirring… I just don’t really know what to do in those situations… :S Thanks.
Plowmanators said:
Brydson’s,With babies that age, typically waking early means waketime length was too long (see the post “Easy Nap Fix”). For most 8 week olds, about one hour of waketime is correct. See the posts on “optimal waketime length” for lots more help on the topic. 🙂 - shannon said:
My son is 1 1/2 was fighting a cold and molars and waking (when he typically sleeps all night) between 4-5a.m. I went in and he was hungry for milk. Well now that he is better he is continuing this pattern. He wants milk when I go in then right back to sleep until 7:00-7:15. Do I go in at all and check on him or just let him cio until 7:00 and this passes. I let him cry for 45 mins. this morning went to check on him and again he asked for milk, drank and went back to sleep. He gets plenty to eat and drink during the day and before bed.Is he really hungry? agh! I want to not wake anymore but I feel bad when I think he is wanting milk. It seems harder to cio now that he is older. what do you recommend thank you.
Plowmanators said:
Shannon, I would go check on him, but I would not give him milk. He is old enough to understand you telling him “it isn’t milk time right now. It is sleep time.” I would, however, let him have some water. He might be thirsty. - Katie Borland said:
Hello, Thank you so much for your blog. I have a few questions, and would love your thoughts. I have been trying baby wise since day 1 with my 2.5 month old. The problem is that about 80% of feedings look like this: he’ll latch on and eat voraciously for 1-5 minutes or so, then he will pull off and cry and won’t eat when I try to bring him to the breast again. He does this after I burp him (even if I get a good burp) as well – he won’t go back on after the initial latch, or if he does he’s pulling and grunting and squirming and barely swallowing, even if milk is dripping out. He does seem like he’s in pain, but usually as soon as I stop trying to feed him he stops crying. For while I kept trying to settle him down and bring him back for 20-30 mins every feeding, but he never really would eat much more. I have been having problems with the EAS cycle because I don’t think he’s getting a full feeding. He will go down for a nap with a pacifier and fall asleep, but then he is awake and hungry again usually two hours after I initially fed him. I have tried extending the time between feedings so in theory he would be hungrier and eat better (I tried a week where he was on a 2.5 hour daytime routine, where I woke him up if he was sleeping and held him off by holding/rocking/using pacifier if he woke early), but that did not make any difference except that he was madder when he ate. I have tried to watch my diet, and that hasn’t seemed to make any difference, although I haven’t gone on a completely bland diet yet (the pediatrician doesn’t think it’s diet-related). He doesn’t spit up much, but we thought it might be silent reflux. He has been on Prevacid for over a week, and it may be helping a little, but not much. The reasons I am doubtful it is reflux are that he is usually instantly happy if I stop trying to feed him (even if he’s lying on his back), he sometimes DOES take full feedings/longer naps, and the medication isn’t making a huge difference. He will sometimes give me a 4 or 5 hour stretch between feedings from about 6 pm – 10 or 11, but after that he is up every 2 hours or so (about 1, 3, 5, 6:30, usually. He generally eats fairly well at 1 and 3, and hardly at all at 5 and 6:30 – just screams for a while). I am losing faith in my judgement about when he is tired, when he is hungry, and when he might just be in pain – I feel that all those factors are playing off each other. I am exhausted as well (my 16 month old keeps me busy during the day so naps don’t regularly happen for me), which is the other reason I’m getting discouraged/losing faith in my judgement. The other factor is that he is gaining weight well – 75th percentile, so the dr hasn’t been too concerned. Right now, I am generally using a loose EAS cycle, and just feeding him whenever he wakes up from his nap, even if it’s not quite a 2 hour cycle, and just trying for 10 mins or so to get him to keep eating, then letting it go. So my questions to you are basically what do you think I should do? It does seem like something’s wrong, right? Does it seem like reflux to you, or something else? If it is reflux, how does that work with a BW schedule? I have read the chapter in the book on this topic, but does their advice of going however long your baby can between feeds, just keeping it regular, mean that I should go to a 2 hour routine and wake him up from naps the times he is sleeping longer? I am hesitant to do this because I feel he is overtired and want him to get as much sleep as he can. When I was waking him for the 2.5 hour schedule, he did not sleep any longer at night. Sorry this comment is so long – thank you so much for your time and help!
Plowmanators said:
I initially thought it sounded like reflux. If it is, see the reflux posts on this blog.I would feed him if he needs it at two hours, but if he sometimes can go 3 hours, I would let him do that. Something I find confusing, though, is that he is eating seemingly so little and yet in the 75 percentile. It would seem that what he is eating is sufficient for him–but 1-5 minutes does not seem long enough for a child that age. I think it could be reflux, but it is hard to tell from just reading this post. Remember prevacid is weight dependent, so you have to make sure it is the right dosage for his weight.
