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TMDMJAOCT07
member
Do/did you have a schedule for your 5 month old?
TMDMJAOCT07
member
DD is almost 5 months old, and we have no schedule or routine during the day, the only thing that is set is bedtime. For the most part it's ok, I suppose. I don't want to be ocd super regimented but I'm looking for ideas of what your day looked like with your 5 month old.
She's been a bad napper since the day she was born, but now it's a constant battle (<knock on wood> I do not have this problem at night). We were out of town over the weekend so our nights were all out of wack, even though we tried really hard for that not to happen - the 5 hours in the car meant a lot of sleeping for her so she wasn't tired at night.
I spent 90 minutes trying to get her to nap earlier today, which was 100% unsuccessful, so I decided to try the swing while I showered, figuring she'd fall asleep, wrong was I. Now she's laying on the floor, stretching and bending and kicking and swing her arms and legs all over just chatting and babbling up a storm. She's been up for 6 hours, and you'd think she just woke up.
Dh works from home 3 days a week, so I can't let her CIO (not that I would at this age anyway) but it's really not an option if he's on a call.
Any tips, suggestions, ideas of what your day looks like is greatly apprecaited!! Oh, and I'm pretty sure we're in the middle of the 4 month wakeful, we were up 4 times over night, and it had been down to 1 sometimes 2 for about a month. So this is one tired momma!
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Re: Do/did you have a schedule for your 5 month old?
DD just turned 6 months and we are just now starting to get a daily routine. Her bed time and mornings were pretty routine from about 4 months, but her nap times weren't really routine until recently. I just put her down at the first sign that she was tired.
If your DD has been up for 6 hours I am guessing that she is overtired. When DD gets overtired it gets ALOT more difficult to get her to sleep. Someone posted a graph on the 3-6 board a while back of how long babies typically stay awake between naps according to age. I think it was 1.5-2 hours for a 5 month old. That was about how long DD lasted until she started showing signs of being tired - yawning, rubbing eyes, getting quiet.... As soon as I saw the signs I grabbed her pacifier and rocked with her until her eyes started to flutter and then I put her in her crib for a nap.
I did try to start her nap the second she was getting tired, which is why I'm even more fustrated. We went to her room and rocked, and she fell asleep so I laid her down (at night she goes to bed drowsy), the second I put her down she started screaming and crying, so we rocked again, same thing for 90 minutes. So finally I decided to try putting her in the bathroom while I got ready - usually the shower and hair dryer put her to sleep, nope!
I'm just at a loss, I have her laying on the floor on a blanket now, and I'm being quiet just to see if that does anything, but no luck, so far.
Just want you to know that I am dealing with this, too. I get a day where things go really "easy" and I think, "Finally! I've got this figured out!" and the next day, it changes.
It's very frustrating - I have no advice. DS is a very good night sleeper usually, too, but last night was up four times throughout the night. Making me a big believer in the "4-Month-Wakeful" period.
We're having a hard day today. He just napped for 13 minutes and is now up and rearin' to go.
DD 2 is just 5 months and really we have no clear schedule and to be honest, it's working out fine here even with an older one. She naps in either in the carseat if we're out or the swing still. I've noticed that a routine has basically emerged of her being awake for 2- 2.5 hours and then she usually takes a 30-45 minute nap. Somedays she'll take an afternoon nap for 2 hours, somedays not.
IMHO, if it's not really a problem, in that she's healthy and happy and sleeps at night, don't really worry about it too much! We didn't start a real daytime routine w/DD1 until close to her first birthday. Now she's a champ going w/one nap a day where she'll sleep for 2-3 hours!
When DD was younger she did not nap very well. I had to let her nap in my arms. It was the only way I could get her to take a nap. I know there can be problems with getting a baby used to these sleeping arrangements, but it was the only thing that worked for us when she was younger. Luckily, DD naps fine alone now.
The only other thing I can think of is a car ride. DD always falls asleep in the car. At this point, with both you and her being tired I would just do anything you can to get her to sleep and work on the overall napping issue another day. Sorry I cannot be of too much help.
Thanks, ladies! She finally took a 45 minute nap - so did I. I feel much better and she looks rested again.
It gets hard some days, heres hoping tomorrow is better!
We started putting DS on a proper schedule at 5 months. It was kind of forced upon us really, because he outgrew his infant carseat, so we couldn't just cart him around and have him nap whenever/where ever.
We used the schedule suggested in Healthy Sleep Habits... and still do. Not much has changed, except he's dropped the third nap and has a later bedtime now. If I remember rightly, his schedule at 5 months went something like this (we only did a sleep schedule, I was still feeding on demand at that point):
6:30 - wake up
9:00 - 11:00 - nap
2:00 - 3:30 - nap
6:00 - 6:30 - nap (while we drove to pick DH up from the station)
7:00 - bedtime
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8:00AM Wakes Up (if wet, baby wipe him down and change diaper/outfit)
Eats Breakfast (8oz bottle, 2 scoops cereal, 1 jar fruit)
Gets a Bath (if needed)
Plays
10:00AM Goes Down for a Nap
12:00PM Wakes Up
Eats Lunch (6oz bottle, 1 scoop cereal, ? jar fruit, ? jar veggies)
Plays
2:00PM Goes Down for a Nap
4:00PM Wakes Up
Eats Dinner (8oz bottle, 2 scoops cereal, ? jar fruit, ? jar veggies)
Plays
When Tired Goes Down for a Nap (about an hour)
8:00PM Eats Bottle (8oz bottle)
Plays
Reads Books
Prayer:
?Now I lay Luke down to sleep,
Pray the Lord his soul to keep,
Angels watch him through the night,
And wake him in the morning light.?
9:30PM Goes Down for the Night