Poll Results: What was/is baby’s approximate optimal waketime length for ages 4-6 Weeks? (waketime length includes feeding time)?

Results:

30 minutes: 5 votes (5%)
30-40 minutes: 6 votes (6%)
40-50 minutes: 27 votes (31%)
50-60 minutes: 27 votes (31%)
60- 70 minutes: 10 votes (11%)
70 minutes or more: 11 votes (12%)

Total of 86 votes

7 thoughts on “Poll Results: What was/is baby’s approximate optimal waketime length for ages 4-6 Weeks? (waketime length includes feeding time)?”

  1. baby is 4 months old, and have all signs of solids ready baby, but when I started rice cereal mixed with formula milk,she is gassy. is it norma?what problems did u face when u introduced it to ur babies?

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  2. My six-week old is not napping very well. I tried cutting back his waketime since he was up for 1.5 hours in between. So now I try to only make his waketime 1 hour, which is difficult because it seems he will stay up as long as I’m interacting with him. This cut back only seems to help sometimes. He still only ends of sleeping 30 minutes to 1 hour at times. Any suggestions? Also, how should I be “putting him down” for a nap at 6 weeks? I have been rocking him until he looks drowsy and then putting him down. Sometimes this process takes forever though since, like I said, he is usually wide awake. Should I just be laying him down when he’s wide awake and make him CIO? I worry that this will keep him from sleeping and crying until his next feeding. Thanks for all your advice!

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  3. Proudmum,Some babies are gassy with rice. Mine didn’t have problems, but some do. We didn’t have any problems with solids. Be sure to look over the many solids posts in the index.

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  4. I want to add that I’ve started CIO with him. Now what he does is fuss in his crib wide awake, not crying just making noises, for about 20 minutes and then starts crying. Does this mean he wasn’t tired? I put him down once he starts yawning but I feel like he just wants to be up interacting with the world and will do it in his crib until he gets bored, then start crying! With our schedule, he is supposed to take 4 naps during the day time. Could this be too much? Or do I just let him CIO after his 20 minutes of talking to himself, so to speak?

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  5. Sorry for the many comments, but my situation keeps changing as I keep trying to troubleshoot. Here is the latest…CIO went smoothly. He now stays awake in his crib for 15-30 minutes and then falls asleep with no crying. But, he wakes up 30-40 minutes into his nap crying. I figured since he already fell asleep on his own it’s Ok to intervene to help him go back to sleep, so I give him his pacifier. This usually helps him sleep untill his next feeding (sometimes I have to re-insert a few times). Is this OK or should I be letting him CIO in the middle of his nap as well? Of course, my goal is that he eventually will sleep uniterrupted.Another nap question I was thinking of is how do you know when to drop the 4th nap? If I follow the sleep/eat/wake cycle it seems like he would have to be on a 4 hr schedule to do that. Is this true or can you drop it when on a 3 hour schedule? If so, then he essentially will have to be awake from one feeding to the next(say from 4-7pm). In other words, do the number of naps depend on the number of feedings during the day or do they at some point go from feeding to feeding with no naps?

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  6. LEM,It is normal to have your baby wake after a short nap when they are first learning how to self-soothe. For now, I would say it is fine to do the pacifier thing and then tackle that one if needed at a later date. See this post for more on the pacifier:Pacifiers : http://babywisemom.blogspot.com/2008/04/pacifiers.htmlSee also this post:Waking Early From Naps/Won’t Fall Asleep For Naps: http://babywisemom.blogspot.com/2008/01/waking-early-from-napswont-fall-asleep.htmlI believe he is too young to drop the fourth nap. Definitely not until three months, but most likely around 4 (some are even older). See this post for more on that:Dropping Naps: http://babywisemom.blogspot.com/2008/01/dropping-naps.htmlYou just have your two feedings at the end of a day without a nap in between if he isn’t on a 4 hour scehdule.

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  7. I really appreciate all of your advice. I don’t know anyone else who is following BW so your blog is EXTREMELY helpful to me! Thank you! You were right, I think my LO was learning how to self-soothe. He doesn’t wake up crying as often anymore but he is still waking up. He will make noises, look around, smile, etc. until I come get him. So although he’s not crying, he’s still not sleeping through to his next feeding. I keep questioning whether he needs a longer waketime (he is at 60 minutes) but he starts yawing at the 60 minute mark every time. At the most he’ll sleep an hour straight but then that leaves another hour before his next feeding. On another note, he is eating less ounces at his feedings too. I don’t know if this has anything to do with it. But he’s seems perfectly content with it. Any suggestions? Should I just wait this out? Or am I asking too much of him to take 4 2hr naps a day?

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