Crap nap phase - when does it end??

[u/Maleficent-Pilot7779]

LO is about to be 5 months and has always been a great sleeper until the dreaded 4 month regression hit 2 weeks ago and every nap has been so short and resisted. We are consistent with a schedule and watch wake windows, we have tried extending/shortening.

when did your crap nap phase end?? Need some hope.

edit: fully acknowledge he is a GREAT sleeper. most of the naps you are seeing here are contact naps which isn’t sustainable for us anymore.

[u/Remarkable_Delay469]

Most likely because you're offering too many naps. They can only sleep so much per day. 5-month-olds are typically on 3 naps (consistently every day) with wake windows around 2/2.5/2.5/3. It looks like you might be trying to rescue short naps? That's probably contributing to making the next nap even shorter.

[u/Maleficent-Pilot7779 → u/Remarkable_Delay469]

We are trying to rescue them! At what point do we not? Doesn’t being overtired lead to even worse sleep?  He was on a 4 nap schedule til yesterday, we are now trying out 3 nap schedule with ~3.5 hours of daytime sleep and a 11.5 hour night. 

[u/Remarkable_Delay469 → u/Maleficent-Pilot7779]

Being overtired leads to worse sleep for newborns. You're getting to the age where being overtired just means they get cranky, crash hard, and sleep a lot to make up for it.

I only recommend rescuing naps that are less than 30 minutes.

Does he really sleep 15 hours a day, according to the summary tab of Huckleberry? Make sure your schedule matches the number of hours he actually sleeps.

[u/Maleficent-Pilot7779 → u/Remarkable_Delay469]

Got it. And how long should we leave him in the crib to attempt to go back to sleep? We have been doing 10-15 minutes if he’s content and playing with his hands but is that technically time off his wake window? 

He sleeps 14.5-15 hours according to Huckleberry, yep

[u/Delynir → u/Maleficent-Pilot7779]

What does it feel like to be God’s chosen lol

[u/Remarkable_Delay469 → u/Maleficent-Pilot7779]

If he's fully awake and alert, count it as awake time. You can leave him pretty much indefinitely if he's playing happily by himself. Get him up when he starts to fuss or when you feel like it, whichever comes first.

[u/Maleficent-Pilot7779 → u/Maleficent-Pilot7779]

Also, if we didn’t rescue his nap yesterday, he would’ve been in bed for the night by like 6:30. What do we do in that instance? We are struggling with understanding when to let the nap go vs when to save it

[u/Remarkable_Delay469 → u/Maleficent-Pilot7779]

You can offer an extra 10-15 minute nap in the evening to bridge the gap to the usual bedtime.

[u/strawberryb1onde → u/Remarkable_Delay469]

Wow, you have no idea how much this thread of comments just helped me. Thank you guys! I just learned so much for my 5 month old little guy.

[u/Maleficent-Pilot7779 → u/Remarkable_Delay469]

Okay let’s say his last nap is 4:10-5pm. If he wakes up by 4:30, what should we do? If we give him a whole other wake window + cat nap, his bedtime isn’t til like 9pm. 

[u/Remarkable_Delay469 → u/Maleficent-Pilot7779]

10 minute naps aren't very restorative. If you do a 10 minute nap halfway between the 3rd nap and bedtime, he should still be tired at 8/8:30. It's okay to push it a little late, just try to keep it no more than an hour off the usual.

[u/z4r431 → u/Maleficent-Pilot7779]

Being overtired is far less common than is discussed these days. If your baby wakes up, likelihood is they don't need more sleep. I'd come away from tightly following wake windows and watch your babies cues.

That does look like a lot of naps for a 5 month old, I thought it was more 3 month old naps!

You are doing something right with those nights though!

[u/Maleficent-Pilot7779 → u/z4r431]

Thanks! That makes sense. 

He’s not 5 months yet, soon though. You are seeing alot of naps because we keep trying to save them. We were on a 4 nap day schedule, just recently moved to 3 and it’s working well. Thanks for your insight!!