Thank you for also mentioning the "making a rod for your own back" comment. It really irks me! My baby used to be held until she was asleep at bedtime. So many people told me she'd need that again when waking at night and we should put her down awake although, because we'd "made a rod for our own back" we'd probably have a nightmare teaching her to self settle. In actual fact she slept through the night from 3 months and when we decided at 6 months to start putting her in her cot awake, she took to it immediately, has never cried and is usually asleep within 5-10 mins. I totally agree that you so what is right for you and your baby! 😁
Thanks for this comment! Hopefully people will see that it really is true that babies that are fed or held to sleep can still be great sleepers! It was the same for our oldest child. He had to be rocked until he was absolutely fast asleep and found it impossible to settle himself without our help. He still became a great sleeper and slept through the night!
My son breastfeeds to sleep but sometimes he's tired but won't go on me and so his nap ends up being super late!! We keep thinking we have a handle on it and then he'll just have a random day where he'll go for ages without a nap lol. He naps like 11.30 and then 5.30pm. He's just turned 1! Xx
Brilliant video thank you, Austin is 8 months old and has been a rubbish sleeper from birth. Since using awake times (or awake windows as we call it) it's been a game changer, we just go by that through the day and his day sleeps are much better. Still only an hour or so but better than they were 👏 xx
Great video as always. My baby is 6 months old and I’ve only just figured out her sleep and sleep cues. It’s a journey for sure. I also wanted to add to the white noise point- white noise is great for babies to associate with sleep and to block out noise, however I know a lot of sleep programs say that it should be loud so you can’t hear anything around the room. Please know that there have been studies done to babies hearing and it’s been considered not safe to have constant noise going over 60 decibels. I have an app and check the noise level before I put baby to sleep 😊
Thanks for the video. I’ve always followed my girl’s lead when it comes to naps. Now she is 11 months, she is in a pattern of needing a nap every 3hrs and this tends to work as I know her sleep cues. They are at similar-ish times every day but does depend on what time she wakes up. She is on 2 naps per day but the length of these are very unpredictable - anything from 30mins - 1.5hrs (always 30 mins until very recently)
Hi Sophie! My baby's always napped on me but would wake otherwise lol I just enjoy the cuddles though. Definitely get annoyed at the making a rod for your own back comments!! I only learned about wake times fairly recently. Really helpful though xx
Any advice please, we have 7 month old twins. My daughter has a great routine and is in bed from 6pm till 6am almost every day. On the other hand, my son will just not sleep if we can get him down by 8pm we are lucky and he wakes every 2/3 hours crying, wants a bottle and then its a struggle sometimes to get him back. Me and my fiance have had to seperate the twins and we both now sleep in different rooms. My partner is exhausted from him and then looking after them both all day whilst getting very little sleep. Any suggestions before she worn out. I want to do more but he wont settle for me and im working full time from home and need to function to earn a wage for us to have a roof/food. Family rarely help so we are lost on what to do wnd Corona lockdown doesnt make it any easier too. Thanks
Thanks for this video. (First time mom) My 5 1/2 month old has always enjoyed contact naps. He would sleep for an hour + at a time but I’ve started to put him in his crib at nap time and now he only naps about 30 minutes at a time. I’ve followed his wake windows and also have blackout curtains and a sound machine. I want him to nap longer but need to put him down sometimes if I ever want to get anything done. I feel bad that he isn’t sleeping any longer. Any suggestions? Fingers crossed that it gets better.
Learning awake times was a complete revelation for me. I have done this from around 4 months and she is now nearly 8 months and she has an awake time of 2.5 hours at the moment. A set routine doesn't work for us because most of the time she only naps for 30-40 mins but occasionally will nap for 80-90 mins which would completely through a set schedule out.
This is brilliant! We also go by the amount of time (roughly) since the last nap approx 1.5-2 hours. Is 4 or 5 naps too much for a 5 1/2 month old? They usually only last 30 mins 😴
Hi Natalie! I've just sent you a voice note on Instagram but will answer here so other people can see too. No it isn't at all. Every baby is different has has different sleep needs and preferences. The reason that they are short is probably because she is having more naps and they will likely lengthen when the naps consolidate down to 2 or 3 a day. 30 minute naps can be super frustrating for us because it's so hard to get things done but they are perfectly normal. If you wanted to, you could always experiment with the occasional pram/carrier or contact nap as they can sometimes last a bit longer.
Hello thanks so much and that’s reassuring to know! I’m afraid I don’t know how to access the voice note on Instagram but will take another look... we do 2-3 naps in the pram as my baby hates the cot and makes a whingeing/straining sound every time I put him in it 😩 I end up picking him up straight away loads of times as I just can’t bear it and sometimes do end up feeding him to sleep which is lovely (but he does also rely on me at night a lot to go back to sleep..) it’s frustrating but I know he’ll only be little for a short time and hopefully it’ll get easier with the cot! 😊
I watched so many videos and non of them still answered my questions 😩 She’s 12w (corrected age 10w) , Im trying to let her to sleep as much she wants but oh boy.. she goes for 4 hrs stretches and more everytime she falls asleep.. sometimes she has bad day and does only cat naps and is the crankiest baby ever.. even after 4hrs, if Im waking her up she gets upset..I don’t really know what to do, she only naps in baby wrap and my back is killing me 😀 I want my baby to nap normal amount of time… 😩 she’s ok at night as well, last night from half 9 till 5 for bottle and back to sleep..
It's really normal to not have any form of nap routine in the first 4 or 5 months. Young babies around that age often do sleep for the vast majority of the day and only wake for a short time. If she's feeding well and has a good amount of wet and dirty nappies, then there is no need to wake her from naps. If you are concerned though, mention it your your doctor (or health visitor if you're in the UK), especially as you mention she is often unhappy when awake. There could be an underlying reason why she is unsettled like reflux or allergies. Xx
Thank you for also mentioning the "making a rod for your own back" comment. It really irks me! My baby used to be held until she was asleep at bedtime. So many people told me she'd need that again when waking at night and we should put her down awake although, because we'd "made a rod for our own back" we'd probably have a nightmare teaching her to self settle. In actual fact she slept through the night from 3 months and when we decided at 6 months to start putting her in her cot awake, she took to it immediately, has never cried and is usually asleep within 5-10 mins. I totally agree that you so what is right for you and your baby! 😁
Thanks for this comment! Hopefully people will see that it really is true that babies that are fed or held to sleep can still be great sleepers! It was the same for our oldest child. He had to be rocked until he was absolutely fast asleep and found it impossible to settle himself without our help. He still became a great sleeper and slept through the night!
My son breastfeeds to sleep but sometimes he's tired but won't go on me and so his nap ends up being super late!! We keep thinking we have a handle on it and then he'll just have a random day where he'll go for ages without a nap lol. He naps like 11.30 and then 5.30pm. He's just turned 1! Xx
Brilliant video thank you, Austin is 8 months old and has been a rubbish sleeper from birth. Since using awake times (or awake windows as we call it) it's been a game changer, we just go by that through the day and his day sleeps are much better. Still only an hour or so but better than they were 👏 xx
Great video as always. My baby is 6 months old and I’ve only just figured out her sleep and sleep cues. It’s a journey for sure.
I also wanted to add to the white noise point- white noise is great for babies to associate with sleep and to block out noise, however I know a lot of sleep programs say that it should be loud so you can’t hear anything around the room. Please know that there have been studies done to babies hearing and it’s been considered not safe to have constant noise going over 60 decibels. I have an app and check the noise level before I put baby to sleep 😊
Thanks for the video. I’ve always followed my girl’s lead when it comes to naps. Now she is 11 months, she is in a pattern of needing a nap every 3hrs and this tends to work as I know her sleep cues. They are at similar-ish times every day but does depend on what time she wakes up. She is on 2 naps per day but the length of these are very unpredictable - anything from 30mins - 1.5hrs (always 30 mins until very recently)
Hi Sophie! My baby's always napped on me but would wake otherwise lol I just enjoy the cuddles though. Definitely get annoyed at the making a rod for your own back comments!! I only learned about wake times fairly recently. Really helpful though xx
Any advice please, we have 7 month old twins. My daughter has a great routine and is in bed from 6pm till 6am almost every day. On the other hand, my son will just not sleep if we can get him down by 8pm we are lucky and he wakes every 2/3 hours crying, wants a bottle and then its a struggle sometimes to get him back. Me and my fiance have had to seperate the twins and we both now sleep in different rooms. My partner is exhausted from him and then looking after them both all day whilst getting very little sleep.
Any suggestions before she worn out. I want to do more but he wont settle for me and im working full time from home and need to function to earn a wage for us to have a roof/food. Family rarely help so we are lost on what to do wnd Corona lockdown doesnt make it any easier too. Thanks
Thanks for this video. (First time mom) My 5 1/2 month old has always enjoyed contact naps. He would sleep for an hour + at a time but I’ve started to put him in his crib at nap time and now he only naps about 30 minutes at a time. I’ve followed his wake windows and also have blackout curtains and a sound machine. I want him to nap longer but need to put him down sometimes if I ever want to get anything done. I feel bad that he isn’t sleeping any longer. Any suggestions? Fingers crossed that it gets better.
The same here!! 😓
I‘m wondering if it got better! 😅
Learning awake times was a complete revelation for me. I have done this from around 4 months and she is now nearly 8 months and she has an awake time of 2.5 hours at the moment. A set routine doesn't work for us because most of the time she only naps for 30-40 mins but occasionally will nap for 80-90 mins which would completely through a set schedule out.
Amazing! I've always found it so much more useful than having strict set nap times too. Especially with two children!
This is brilliant! We also go by the amount of time (roughly) since the last nap approx 1.5-2 hours. Is 4 or 5 naps too much for a 5 1/2 month old? They usually only last 30 mins 😴
Hi Natalie! I've just sent you a voice note on Instagram but will answer here so other people can see too. No it isn't at all. Every baby is different has has different sleep needs and preferences. The reason that they are short is probably because she is having more naps and they will likely lengthen when the naps consolidate down to 2 or 3 a day. 30 minute naps can be super frustrating for us because it's so hard to get things done but they are perfectly normal. If you wanted to, you could always experiment with the occasional pram/carrier or contact nap as they can sometimes last a bit longer.
Hello thanks so much and that’s reassuring to know! I’m afraid I don’t know how to access the voice note on Instagram but will take another look... we do 2-3 naps in the pram as my baby hates the cot and makes a whingeing/straining sound every time I put him in it 😩 I end up picking him up straight away loads of times as I just can’t bear it and sometimes do end up feeding him to sleep which is lovely (but he does also rely on me at night a lot to go back to sleep..) it’s frustrating but I know he’ll only be little for a short time and hopefully it’ll get easier with the cot! 😊
My 5 1/2 month old does exactly the same. 4-5 30 minutes naps a day.
I watched so many videos and non of them still answered my questions 😩 She’s 12w (corrected age 10w) , Im trying to let her to sleep as much she wants but oh boy.. she goes for 4 hrs stretches and more everytime she falls asleep.. sometimes she has bad day and does only cat naps and is the crankiest baby ever.. even after 4hrs, if Im waking her up she gets upset..I don’t really know what to do, she only naps in baby wrap and my back is killing me 😀 I want my baby to nap normal amount of time… 😩 she’s ok at night as well, last night from half 9 till 5 for bottle and back to sleep..
It's really normal to not have any form of nap routine in the first 4 or 5 months. Young babies around that age often do sleep for the vast majority of the day and only wake for a short time. If she's feeding well and has a good amount of wet and dirty nappies, then there is no need to wake her from naps. If you are concerned though, mention it your your doctor (or health visitor if you're in the UK), especially as you mention she is often unhappy when awake. There could be an underlying reason why she is unsettled like reflux or allergies. Xx