Need a New Schedule for 5 Mos Old

Hi S.,
I would ABSOLUTLEU NOT, i repeat NOT wake him up at 10pm!!!If does NOT need a bottle at that time! I think you have him on a good nap schedule. Him sleeping from 1-3 is exactly what you want! You are also putting him to bed at a good time, I think you should ,think about putting him to bed a little earlier. 6:15pm. Start his dinner (food) at 5pm, bath at 5:30, pjs, book etc... at 6pm, bedtime 6:15. is perfect, then let him sleep all night, DO NOT wake him up for a feeding. At this age, he does not need one! I really think he will then start sleeping through the night, but the biggest thing I think you MUST change is NOT waking him up once he goes to bed for the night! Give him about a week with this new schedule and he should be sleeping through the night and well rested. I would not go to him if he cries in the middle of the night. He is just in a habbit of you feeding him, or coming to get him. A couple of days of letting him cry and he'll be fine! I did this schedule with a ll my kids, and it works great! The best book in the world, I wouls suggest reading in Healthy sleep habbits, healthy baby, by Dr. Marc Weisbluth! Good luck, keep me posted!

I agree with the other poster - don't wake him up for a 'dream feed'. You wouldn't be too happy if you went to bed at 10:00 at night, then someone forced you awake for a full meal at 2:00 am would you? I mean, if you were awake and needed the food that would be a different story...

Now, I know you're probably thinking "if I don't give him this feeding, he's going to wake up at 2 am and everyone in the house is going to be exhausted and cranky".

It's worth a shot to feed him at 6:30 then put him to bed. Our baby goes to bed at 6:30 and sleeps all the way til 6:00 - 6:30 the next morning. Was I scared when we first started doing this that he'd wake up in the middle of the night? You bet I was - I was petrified! He never did.

Give it a try, your little guy might surprise you.

I agree NOT to wake him up for the 10pm feeding. I agree that it will help him to sleep through the night by NOT waking him to eat as it will not interupt his sleep and they wake oftentimes because they are overtired/not getting enough sleep. Sleep begets sleep and not enough sleep makes it harder for them to fall and stay asleep. I agree the Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby book by Weissbluth is EXCELLENT. As far as the nap at day care, that is a really tough age. I assume your 2.5 year old naps 1-3 as well, so you want to keep that time for your son I assume. At that age, I was going a little crazy with my younger napping and then my older and then the younger again because one needed one nap and the other needed two (19 months apart). But anyway, it also can be tough at that age as they get curious with sleeping at day care. I would ask that the day care put him down at a specific time, like maybe 10:30 to try to get a better nap out of him, since a nap under 30 minutes supposedly does not count toward sleep hours because it's not long enough to get to restful sleep. Sounds like he is really overtired. Sleep begets sleep and so a better morning nap and better night sleep will make a big difference, but getting on that cycle is the battle because lack of sleep also makes it harder for them to get sleep from being overtired. Best wishes to you!!

It sounds like his first two naps may be a little short. Is that the length of time he sleeps or do they wake him? But it also may be that he is waking up in the night more than he needs and perhaps should get left to try (I know this is hard)to get himself back to sleep.

My 5 month old gets up at 6 and then goes for first nap around 8-8.30 for about an hour. She then goes for the next nap around 11.30 for an hour or two and then a shorter one around 3. But there are times when she will take a really long nap. For instance, the other day she napped 8.30 to 11.30. the better rested she is, the better she sleeps at night and for the most part (definitely not always)she sleeps through the night from 8pm to 6am. If she stirs I wait to see will she go back to sleep and most of the time she does. Occasionally, she has a complete melt down during the middle of the night, and only then do I go and pick her up, nurse her and put her back to sleep. The book by Dr. Mark Weisblut "Healthy Sleep Habits, happy child" or something along those lines is great. The moment I put my little one on that program she slept better and is much much happier.

I had a similiar issue when my daughter was 5 months-she is almost 8 months now. I saw that at night you need to just put the paci back in and he goes right back to sleep. At about 4 months my daughter started waking up 2-6 times per night. I would go in, put the paci back in her mouth and she would fall right back to sleep. She also wasn't taking very long naps during the day. I realized that it might be the paci she was so dependent on for sleep. So--we took it away at 5.5 months...it was a VERY tough 2 days-then by day 4 she was sleeping much better and by a week she was sleeping soooo much better, at night especially. Now, I'm so glad we took the paci away b/c she sleeps for 12 hours!! Sometimes she gets up and needs a bottle but she is such a better sleeper--and we noticed she actually cries less without the paci during the day.
Anyway-5 months is a little early for complete sleeping thru the night, but maybe consider taking the paci...Good luck! : )

Does he has any play time? He needs specific activity for his age. In my opinion he doesn't have enough time to interact with family members or toys. Also, i think 6.30 is to early for night sleep. I suggest a nap....and maybe some more play time, or reading a book to prepare him for night. Good luck!!!!

Hi S.
I agree with the other posters - no need for a dream feed. How much does he weight? I believe if it's over 13 or 14lbs, he go can through the night without a feeding. You should also take the paci away b/c he needs to learn how to fall back asleep on his own. Couple suggestions - turn OFF the monitor. If he really needs you, you'll hear him. Also, put him to bed a bit earlier when he is still a little bit awake.
Also, I wonder why he's having trouble sleeping longer at the daycare then half an hour. Can he nap when other kids nap so it's easier for him to sleep longer? Can they put him in a quiet dark corner? Napping does have an impact on his nighttime sleep.
Good luck!