Poll Results: What was/is baby’s approximate optimal waketime length for ages 4-5 Months? (waketime length includes feeding time)?

Results:

50-60 minutes: 9 votes (6%)
60-70 minutes: 14 votes (9%)
70-80 minutes: 14 votes (9%)
80-90 minutes: 36 votes (24%)
1.5-1.75 hours: 29 votes (19%)
1.75-2 hours: 35 votes (23%)
2 hours or more: 12 votes (8%)

Total of 149 votes

11 thoughts on “Poll Results: What was/is baby’s approximate optimal waketime length for ages 4-5 Months? (waketime length includes feeding time)?”

  1. Hi Plowmanators- my son brendan is 4 1/2 months old, he is feeding every 3-3 1/2 hours, last feeding at 8pm then bed. I was never good about the dreamfeed so he still gets up between 3a-5a for a feeding. Should I try to give him a dreamfeed at this age or hope that with the cereal we just started that he’ll sleep through the night until 7-730? thank you!

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  2. I have 12 month old b/g twins that sleep good at night, but are not great nappers. Their bedtime is 6:45 p.m. because they are so done by then. This is not a great time for the rest of my family (dinnertime). How do I push their bedtime back to 7:15 or so? We are stuck on the 45-60 minutes naps despite my best efforts…They wake at 6:30. BTW, I love your blog!

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  3. Reds, You could try it and see what happens, but I think I would just wait and continue on as is. He is almost to the age of dropping it, so to introduce it then drop it would be a lot of work. If you continue on, you just have to drop the one feeding.

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  4. I have tried most everything suggested and am currently keep a nap log. The babies have lots going on right now: trying to switch to sippy cups (not going well!), switching to whole milk ( don't like the cold), and just starting and about to walk! They woke in the night last night also.When you were transitiioning to the sippy I read where you picked one feeding and kept at that feeding what do you do when they won't finish their milk in the sippy? Do you switch to the bottle so they will finish? Also for independent play time can I do this in the crib or only a pack & Play? Can I do both babies in the same room at the same time, but in the crib or pack 'n plays?Thanks for all your help!

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  5. Good luck problem solving.I don’t switch to a bottle if they don’t finish. I would just offer them more in the other bottles at first. If you switch to the bottle, they will know the bottle is coming if they hold out. Another idea is to warm the milk. I put the milk in the sippy/bottle and then put that in a cup of hot water for about 5-10 minutes. Kaitlyn still drinks better that way (she is 15 months old). Brayden was fine with cold after a couple of weeks.I think you can use a crib for independent play. I think I would do them in separate rooms, though. Otherwise they will most likely play with each other somehow and turn it into sibling play 😉

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  6. my question is: does waketime include the amount of time it takes baby to fall asleep after they are put in bed? My daughter is 4.5 months old and keeps waking early out of naps. I sincerely doubt she is staying up to long. I just started keeping her up more than an hour at a time because she started waking early from naps and was waking up in the middle of the night, and I ruled out the hunger problem. I few weeks ago I increased wake time to 1.25 hours (not including the time it took her to fall asleep), but I’m thinking of moving that up to 1.5 hours. Thanks for your help!

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  7. Lubbers, I don’t usually count that, but you should definitely take note of it. If waketime is optimal, they should fall asleep quickly after being put down. If they take a long time to fall asleep, it might be that waketime is too short. If they fall asleep quickly but then wake early, there is a good chance waketime is too long. So I would find optimal waketime out of the crib, then note how long it takes to fall asleep and be sure all is well there. I hope that makes sense 🙂

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  8. Hello! I've been reading the blog a ton and it's so helpful. My question is this – my daughter is 4 months, still in a 3 hr sched, still dream feeding and still waking once a night. she had been a great napper but just now has started having a hard time going back to sleep after that break in the cycle. We had just started allowing more wake time but do you think it needs to be cut back again? She's usually awake now 1.25-1.5 hrs. I'd LOVE for her to start sleeping through the night soon but have no idea how to make that happen. So tips on that would be awesome too. Thanks!!

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  9. Hello, our baby has typically had short wake times because of stomach issues but recently he's been showing signs of needing longer waketimes which we're trying to figure out and seem to change on a daily basis. Just now we put him down at 60 min bc he showed sleepy cues (which we read some babies do out of habit even if they're not actually tired). He wasn't falling asleep, complaining quiet talking making noises so I did a check in at around 25 min. No poop everything seemed fine so I told him to sleep and left. He cried for 5 min then slept 1hr 40 min. So he was awake for a total of 90 min. Does this mean that's what his waketime should be?? Up until a couple weeks ago we thought his waketime was around 40/45 but he wasn't falling asleep so maybe we still are putting him down sooner?

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