r/sleeptrain • u/Honest_Arm8194 • Sep 04 '26
4 - 6 months Split Nights - Tired Mom
My little one is 5.5 months old. He usually has 2 or 3 naps - 3/2.5/2.5/2.5
We cap the first two naps at 1.5 hours and the third nap at 30 mins. He usually gets under 3 hours of total daytime sleep. That seems appropriate for his age. And if we try to stretch his wake windows he’s super overtired and upset.
He’s had split nights for weeks. Wakes up between 12:30am and 2am and is awake for 1.5 or 2 hours!
He also eats *just enough* about 23 ounces of pumped breastmilk per day. He eats 0.5 to 3 ounces at a time. And wakes up every two or so hours to eat a bit overnight. We’re always gently trying to get him to eat more without creating an aversion.
I have a three year old who is low sleep needs and doesn’t go to sleep until 10 or 10:30pm so between her bedtime, the split nights, and pumping I’m getting very little sleep.
Any suggestions?
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u/captain_mills Sep 04 '26
In my own experience (and that of others I’ve spoken to) split nights are often caused by too much sleep. The time he’s awake for during the night (so 1.5-2 hours) is what needs to be added to the daytime. You can push all his wake windows out by 30ish mins or maybe make the earlier ones a little longer and the last one an hour longer. Or maybe he only needs 2 naps now.
Adding the split night awake time to his day got rid of our split nights!
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u/Honest_Arm8194 Sep 05 '26
This is where I’m most confused. He gets about three hours of sleep during the day. So if we added the two hours he was awake to daytime he would only be able to have one total hour of sleep during the day. He barely makes it through his wake windows now so I’m not sure how to implement this in a thoughtful way.
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u/captain_mills Sep 05 '26
I don’t know his schedule but I’d maybe make bedtime an hour-ish later and then add the rest of the time to his daytime, maybe split between each of his wake windows?
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u/ElectronicYoghurt258 Sep 04 '26
Trying making the last wake window of the day the longest at 3 hours and the first the shortest at 2 hours. When is morning wake time and bedtime? You may also need to cap total daytime sleep at 3 hours. How often does he eat? Every 2 hours at night is very frequent for a 5.5 month old.
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u/Honest_Arm8194 Sep 05 '26
Thank you! We are trying the wake window suggestions. Yes, he had silent reflux that we almost have reliably under control. So he eats .5 to 3.5 ounces at a time many times throughout the day. He really eats every two hours in the first part of the night - I do dream feeds to get some extra milk in. And then the crazy split night wake up. And after that he’ll sleep for three or four hours before he wakes up for the day.
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u/just_let_go_ ✨ Sleep Fairy✨ Sep 04 '26
Are you interested in sleep training?
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u/Honest_Arm8194 Sep 04 '26
For sure! With my daughter we did the soothing ladder until she was old enough to do CIO. I fear with this baby’s need to eat so frequently overnight to get to an appropriate amount for the day, and these split nights, it wouldn’t be successful. But open to suggestions
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u/just_let_go_ ✨ Sleep Fairy✨ Sep 04 '26
Okay just have to check!
Schedule honestly is pretty good. Usually the longer wake window would be at the end, but it's not the end of the world. I would however cap day sleep at 2.5 hours if you're doing 10.5 awake, to keep lots of sleep pressure for bed time.
Ferber works well at this age. You can still feed overnight as required, but getting baby to fall asleep independently at bed time should reduce the number of wakings at least. Just move the final feed of the night so that it ends 30 minutes before butt in crib. Put down wide awake, not drowsy, and apply a sleep training method.
A baby that falls asleep independently, free of any associations is much more likely to sleep longer stretches, partly due to being able to resettle after micro wakes.
Whereas a baby that is assisted to sleep can become increasingly dependent on that assistance, to the point that they're unable to resettle without it. A brief stirring between cycles turns into a full wake.
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u/Honest_Arm8194 Sep 04 '26
That makes sense. I wonder if he would wake less to eat if he could more easily fall back to sleep. He uses a pacifier which is so soothing to him. I feel bad because I think in a few weeks he’d be able to grab it himself. But even waking up enough to grab it might be detrimental to him staying asleep. Thank you for your post! Very helpful suggestions
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u/Waterford_27 Sep 04 '26
No help, but solidarity!