Reader Waking Early from Naps Questions

Get answers for baby waking early from naps.

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BABY WAKING EARLY QUESTIONS:

  • Kristen said…
    Hi!!Thank you so much for your website! I’m new to the BW method, having heard about it from friends. Our son is almost 8 weeks old (tomorrow!!) and we’re wanting to start getting him on a schedule. I have a question that may be silly. Does the feeding time count as part of the “wake” period? For instance, if it takes 10 min to feed or say even a half hour sometimes, should that be deducted from the overall wake time? I have so many questions, but have been going through your site a ton to see if I can find the answer myself before bugging you! One other one, that I think I saw from December [2007] – If the baby nly sleeps for say 25-45 minutes, should we get them up and do the next feeding early? Or start the awake time then and then just try to wait till the next feeding? I think the way I understand it is if they are happy, then just wait, but if they are starting to cry, like they are hungry, then to go ahead and do it early. Is that right? Thanks for all the helpful tips!
    Plowmanators said…
    A lot of people ask that question about waketime. The answer is yes, feeding counts as waketime. See this post: When and How to Extend Baby’s Wake Time Length. The method you choose for early waking is up to you. There are so many possibilities, and I think the solution lies in the baby’s personality. For a baby the age of yours, I would first feed him when he wakes. That way you are sure it isn’t a hunger problem. BW says if you get them up and they take a full feeding, then you know he was hungry. If not, you know it was something else. Also, if you know he isn’t waking out of hunger, I would always feed by 2.5 hours if he is up. The schedule can be 2.5-3 hours, so if he is awake anyway, I would feed him at 2.5. But yes, always feed if baby is hungry. Welcome to the site and please feel free to ask questions!

6 thoughts on “Reader Waking Early from Naps Questions”

  1. Hi Valerie,My son is 34 months- nearly three, and his naps seems late in the day to me- he sleeps at 7 pm and wakes at 6:30- we like it early since dad works early and comes home early. But my son naps at 1:45! He doesn't yawn any earlier, and for the longest time his nap was 2-4:30. Then recently he stopped napping, so I moved it back to 1:45 and then he started napping again, but now he wakes up at 3:30- so his naps have shortened by 45 minutes. 2 questions- Can I get the naps to elongate?Also, is the nap at 1:45 normal? It seems so late. Sometimes if we're watching a movie after lunch, he'll start to lie down around 1, but in my experience if I put him down then, he'll just stay up and not nap at all. I haven't tried putting him down as early as 1 in a while though- do you think that could solve it?He's a super active little boy- we try to get outside every day despite the snow so he can romp- so hopefully the issue isn't lack of stimulation…

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  2. Hi …. I've tried my best to find the answer because I am sure you've already answered my questions, but was unable to read exactly what I was looking for. I will say that I've found GREAT informations for other questions I have had. Anyway, I have a 4 week old (today) and depending on the day sometimes she wakes early from naps (for the most part I let her whine and ensure nothing is bothering her but try to keep her down till her next feeding) but many times I am actually waking her from her naps. Mostly, she does full feelings and sometimes she feeds and I attempt to get 5 mins of wake time before putting her back down again. Should I be waking her? Her current schedule is 7am (I wake if she doesn't on her own) feed, 10, 1, 4, 7 -bedtime, 1030pm feed dreamfeed, straight to bed, wakes on her own between 2-4, and I usually wake her at 7am.

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    • Lisa do you mean should you be gettig her up like you already are? Or should you be waking her up more during waketime?No matter what it is, I would say keep it going as you are. It looks like things are perfect.

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  3. Hi i have a question! We have a 9 week old baby boy and he is sleeping 9 hours at night from the dream feed yay! His naps are another story.. generally wakes up at that 30-45 min mark ..let him fuss and he'll fall asleep but only for like 5 minutes more than he will wakes again. So what I've been doing is transferring him to the swing and he'll sit in their content for half an hour and then the last 20 minutes he'll sleep until his next feeding usually. Other times when I need him to be fully rested I'll get him at that Mark and hold him and he'll sleep for another hour. My question is how does this affect your wake time? if you are working on trying to get him back to sleep but he's up and then you still haven't fed him so let's say he's up for half an hour and then you feed him and then he goes right back to sleep shortly after that.. it's messing up the cycle where he is going to sleep shortly after eating. Any suggestions?

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  4. Thanks so much for your insight. I have a 14 wk old that has napped great in her swaddle. Napping 2.5 hrs for 2 naps and then maybe 1.5 and 45 min for the last ones.She is sleeping thru the night. Yest she is only napping about an hr at a time all day, but slept thru the night. I thought maybe it was the swaddle because she has recently found her hands. But the first nap yest i thought was because she got her hand up so she woke up. She wakes and doesnt cry so we leave her there for 20-30 min til she cries hoping she would go back to sleep. Tried her one nap in the zipper instead of the swaddle and she screamed ik nstead of getting herself to sleep least l ik ke she does with the swaddle so i switch her back to the swaddl.e. her wake t ik mes are always 60-80 min. Thoughts?

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    • I am a little confused–you said she is napping 2.5 hours for two naps and 1.5 for the last, but later said she is napping just one hour at a time. Was that just a one day thing or a new thing?

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