Are their naps too long?

I've been having problems with night feedings with my little guys for the past couple months. They go down at night around 7pm. At 6:15pm, one takes 9ozs and the other takes 8ozs. They are 5.5 months old. One wakes up around 3am and won't go back to sleep without first eating 4ozs. The other wakes up around 4am wanting the same. The one that wakes up at 3am gets up at 5am for the day and I usually wake the second up at 6am.

Our nap schedule is down! Definitely no complaints there. I put them down at 7am or 7:30 for their first nap and they'll nap for 1.5 - 2 hrs. They take 2 more naps during the day and average about 1.5 - 2 hrs each nap. They are napping about 5 hrs during the day. I'm wondering if their naps are too long and that is why they have so many night wakings. I don't understand how they can be so hungry at 3 and 4am when they ate so much at their last feeding.

Any insight on how many hours 5.5 month olds should be napping during the day? I work full-time and need some serious relief with these night time wakings. I'd love to eliminate that middle of the night feeding but I can't seem to break them of it. I know a lot of other moms whose babies sleep through the night at this age. I can't even get one to do it. Is it possible that they are napping too much during the day or not eating enough during the day and wanting a bottle in the middle of the night?

 

That has to be so tough dealing with the night time snacks and having to go to work!! It may be that it has become more of a habit for the babies to eat at night than out of necessity. If they are consistently waking up at those hours, then I would call it a habit. If you don't want to let them CIO, then I would try gradually reducing the amount you give them in the middle of the night over the course of a week or two. Start with 3 oz, see how that goes for 3 days, then drop it to 2. They will more than likely make up any lost ounces from the night during the day. I did that with my two and it worked great! You also might want to think about some solids, if your pedi has given you the green light for that. Some rice cereal at night before the bottles may help. If they are drinking 9 oz, then they may be ready for something more substantial.

Way to go with the naps! When my boys were 5-6 months, they would wake up around 6-7, then go back down for a nap at 9, sleep for an hour, maybe hour 1/2 and then take another nap around 1 for about 1-2 hours. Sometimes they would need a catnap around 4:30-5 for 30 minutes to make it through dinner. They are in bed by 7. You may need to limit the last nap of the day to 30 minutes so they will be good and tired and ready to sleep all night!

 

I don't know what to tell you about the night wakings, except that this too shall pass! But I would just let them nap as long as they want during the day. Sleep begets sleep - the better rested they are, the better they'll be able to sleep at night. Nights might get worse if you limited their daytime sleep.

:hug99: Hope things get better soon!

 

I guess you can't have everything? You have good nappers but frequent night wakers. I had the opposite problem at that age (now I have both problems but that's another story!). My babies stopped eating at night at three and three and a half months. But I was never able to get them to sleep very long during the day. Even now, we're down to 2 naps, Evan rarely sleeps longer than an hour at a time and often it's 30 min or 45 min no matter how hard I try. Over the course of 24 hours how many ounces do they take and how much of that is during daylight hours? I aimed for the majority of their nutrition to come during daylight hours and gradually as they got older I would give a paci or a snuggle instead of a bottle at night. Eventually they just stopped waking for food. Even now when they wake it's never because they're hungry. As time passes babies become more adult-like in their eating/sleep habits but I guess all babies do it at their own rate. According to HSHHC, many babies will need one feeding per night until 9 months old. Good luck, sweetie!

 

Well at 5.5 months I think you are doing great with naps. There are a few things I might try if I were you, but you really just have to find what works best for your babies. When they wake up at 3 or 4 I would try giving them a full normal feeding (same oz you feed them during the day) if they will take it maybe that will give you a little more time before they wake up for the day. IF the other one is going to get up an hour later anyway I would just try and do their feedings back to back and get it out of the way so you aren't getting up twice. My 6 month olds still wake 2x a night and it is so frustrating listening to my friends say that their babies have been sleeping through the night since 2.5 months. I'm thinking that at 5.5 months they will drop that last feeding soon. Have you tried soothing them back to sleep instead of feeding. I did this to eliminate one night feeding and after about 2 weeks they dropped one of their 3 night feedings. As far as their naps I have always found that the better my babies sleep during the day the better they sleep at night. I would try and get the one who wakes at 5am to try and sleep longer. It may come from just leaving them both in their crib until 6:30 and then try and start that first nap a little later. If mine wake up at 5 I feed them and put them back down even if they don't appear tired, they always go back to sleep if I don't interact with them I just treat it as yet another night feeding. Hang in there I'm sure between work and the babies you are ready for some good sleep.

 

Well at 10 months mine are still waking too, at the beginning of the night though instead of the end. We wake up a minimum of 2 times PER girl, all between 9 and 1 a.m. They both eat full 8 oz. bottles before bed at 7 p.m.

I've tried the weaning at night and with mine it just doesn't work. They are HUNGRY in the middle of the night, despite being fed every 3 hours during the day.

It sounds like everything is right on schedule. They are going a full 9 and 10 hours at night before waking to be fed... Maybe, to keep them from waking so early, try giving them a bottle again before YOU go to bed around 9 or 10. You'd be surprised they'll probably take it, and it might fill them up enough to give you an extra hour or so in the morning.

I feel for you. My girls are consistently up between 4-5 in the morning, on top of all the night wakings, and both DH and I work full time as well..... After 10 months, we're BOTH begging for more sleep!

 

My girls started doing the same thing at that age! They are great nappers and WERE sleeping through the night eight pm to 4am - Then at 5.5 mos. - They started getting up again. and they didn't nap as often as yours do. I think it's a phase - I'm still going through at 9.5 mos. I know that's not something you want to hear - but like the previous post - mine are hungry too. And they are great eaters during the day! The advice I've gotten here is it may be "habit" for the babes and to start weaning the oz. at night wakings. And there's also the CIO method. I'm so bad at this as I have one babe that will sleep through and one who wakes 2-3 times a night. Most women who have done CIO with their babes have had success. I'm just a wimp. I also work full time and single mom and some days I'm so exhausted. I go to bed at 7:30pm at night just to get a good 3-4 hours in myself before the games begin. Good Luck.