Would you wake 5 month old from a nap to accommodate bed time?

[jessmke]

My 5 1/2 month old has hit the 6 month growth spurt I believe. She has been sleeping A LOT the last few days and eating a lot (which is awesome because it has solved our reverse cycling problem!). Sometimes she is tired around 5:30 so I will put her down for a nap, but sometimes she wants to sleep for an hour or two! Normally bed time is around 7:45/8 pm, but if she naps from 5:30-7 pm she isn't tired in time for 8 pm bed time. Would you wake her up from a nap so you can stick to an 8 pm bed time, or let her nap as long as she wants and bump bed time back a bit later until the growth spurt is over and she isn't sleeping as much?

 

[DaisyDreamer]

If baby has been cranky most of the day or not napping well most of the day, I'd let her sleep and attempt a dreamfeed or wake for a diaper change around bedtime and feed then settle. Nothing stimulating, like pretending it's the middle of the night.

If they've slept a ton that day I would get them awake for an hr or so, then settle them back down.

After the growth spurt is over go back to routine. Or there might be a new routine she's decided to carve out!

 

[JumpingIn]

Is putting her down for the night at around 5.45 an option?

 

[loeylo]

I wake my wee one from a nap usually, although now (she's 7 months) she Haas changed her schedule by dropping naps and going down to sleep earlier. In hindsight I would have just followed her lead as now she is so much happier. Although it might be different for a mum who doesn't have a good sleeper! My wee one goes down really easily and sleeps for 11+ hours in a stretch.

 

[RaquelDee]

I would wake her if she's had good sleeps throughout the day. That last nap of the day will get dropped altogether in the next few months, whereas you'll probably want that bedtime to stay consistent for a long time yet, so I'd stick with keeping the bedtime at 8 for the sake of maintaining routine in the long term.

 

[jessmke]

Is putting her down for the night at around 5.45 an option?

No, if we put her down anytime before 7:45 she treats it like a nap and is awake and raring to go after 45 min. 7:45-8 pm seems to be her sweet spot where she will stay asleep, or if she does wake she is still sleepy and we can settle her back to sleep.

 

[happynewmom1]

If 7:45-8 is the time she associates with bed (I know she can't tell time ), but is when she is ready to settle I would personally start waking her if she takes a late nap. After awhile her naps might start changing to accommodate that. That is just me though.. If it didn't seem to work after awhile doing that, then I guess I'd see about letting her sleep in the evening.

Something to think about though, is does she have a hard time sleeping when overtired? She may not settle well even close to 8 if she is overtired. Which would be a dilemma in itself.

 

[icklemonster]

At 5 months I would wake DS 2 hours before bedtime regardless of it he had 15 mins or 45. If he refused to sleep up to 2 hours before bedtime I would get him up, then put him to bed 45 mins earlier and suffer the wrath of an overtired child for an hour. We've just dropped to 2 long naps a day, so it may not be too long until the final nap goes for you (all babies are different though, my next door neighbours baby is exactly the same age as DS and he's just transitioning from 4 naps to 3!).

 

[Left wonderin]

I'd wake them definetly !! Or move bed time forward and try knock the nap on the head ?

 

[jessmke]

Yesterday I decided not to wake her and she slept until 7pm! She was yawning and tired at 8 pm so I put her to bed and she slept for 20 min and then was awake and wanting to play until 10:30pm! So needless to say I will not be letting her nap so late in the evenings anymore, regardless of whether or not she is in a growth spurt!

We have toyed with her bedtime a few times in the last couple of months. I thought about her possibly being overtired so put her to bed at 6:30 pm for two weeks and she was always awake 45 min later and ready to party for 2 hours. Same when we experimented with a 7 pm and 7:30 pm bedtime for a few weeks each. Then when we went to an 8pm bedtime no more waking up after 45 min! So I guess I should just stick with what works for us!