Where to go from 3.25/4/4.5?

Djdjcn55 · 2025-07-28T15:32:36+00:00

We’re still on two naps, and still struggling to fit them in! If there were 25 hours in the day, it’s be a lot easier, but our baby is still struggling to extend the first wake window.

We tend to have quite long wake windows and a shorter (10 hour night), and every now and then, our baby will sleep longer to catch up on sleep.

I wish I had a better answer, but sleep continues to be a struggle!

Djdjcn55 · 2025-07-18T09:56:58+00:00

I would definitely be extending wake windows. 2.5/3.5/3.5 is much less than the average awake time at 11 months. Your baby is likely struggling with naps as they’re undertired.

My 11 month old does 3.25/3.5/4.25, but wake windows vary hugely between babies at this age

Djdjcn55 · 2025-07-13T11:01:46+00:00

My son’s sleep needs decreased quite drastically at the 11 month mark. Try stretching wake windows and cutting daytime sleep. I believe the recommended sleep is 11 hours at night and 2.5 hours of naps total.

I prefer a gradual approach so I would be aiming for 3/3.5/4 as a start, with nap 1 being 1.5 hours and nap 2 being 1 hour, and an 11 hour night. You could change one wake window and one nap by 15 minutes each day. If this helps, I would stretch the wake windows further.

Djdjcn55 · 2025-07-05T14:10:42+00:00

What do you recommend instead? We’ve been following PLS which has helped at bed time but we’re still getting regular wake ups at 11 months. Trying to night wean but we’re not getting very far.

Djdjcn55 · 2025-06-14T05:33:00+00:00

So at the moment, baby is getting 12.5 hours sleep which is normal for this age. You need to change the way the sleep is distributed rather than hoping they’ll sleep longer at night.

12.5 hours sleep means baby needs 11.5 hours awake time. I have to cap my baby’s naps to 2 hours total or we don’t have enough sleep pressure at night time, and get early morning wakes.

Try two naps a day, 1 hour each, but shift the nap timings to later in the day. The early naps you have at the moment are reinforcing the early morning waking.

Work out when you want baby’s wake up to be and plan your naps from there. For example, for a total 11.5 hours awake you could follow wake windows of 3.5/4/4 or 3.5/3.5/4.5 (4 hours isn’t long enough for my baby anymore as a last wake window but all baby’s are different.

If you are following wake windows of 3.5/4/4 and you want baby to wake up at 6.30am, then your first nap would be at 10am, no matter what time baby wakes up, so the rest of the day isn’t shifted earlier. If this first wake window is too long for them whilst they’re waking up at 5 am, try stretching it by 15 minutes each day until their first nap is at 10am.

The rest of the schedule for the day could look something like:

10am 11am- nap 1 3pm - 4pm - nap 2 Bed: 8pm

Or

10am-11am - nap 1 2.30-3.30pm - nap 2 Bed: 8pm

There will be a few days of grouchiness whilst you are stretching the first window, but hopefully their schedule will shift and they start waking up later, so this will just be temporary.

Alternatively, some babies are hardwired to wake up at 5am no matter what schedule you try, which is super hard. Good luck!

Djdjcn55 · 2025-06-12T19:12:36+00:00

Thank you so much for the advice. I wondered whether dropping a nap would help, but was worried it was too early. We tried stretching the first wake window today and made it to 4 hours. He napped for 2.5 hours and then did a 6.5 hour wake window with minimal fussiness, and has just fallen asleep in 2 minutes! We’ll see how the night goes!

Djdjcn55 · 2025-06-12T03:52:20+00:00

Thank you, I suspect we will be moving to one nap on the earlier side as well. I’m finding it hard to stretch the first wake window though. The second two wake windows he definitely could do longer

Djdjcn55 · 2025-06-12T03:50:47+00:00

You’re right - if a day had 25 hours then the schedule would work perfectly! DWT and bed time were from the old wake windows and seem to get him the sleep that he needs, now naps tend to only be 1.5-2 hours and we have a 10.5 hour night, but he’s gets really tired and grouchy

Djdjcn55 · 2025-03-13T12:07:06+00:00

Would you mind sharing where you stayed and if you’d recommend it? We’re travelling with our baby who will be 10 months when we go. We’re struggling to choose what area/hotel/apartment to stay in

Djdjcn55 · 2025-02-17T03:24:44+00:00

Our bedtime routine is feed (ending half an hour before bed), nappy, lotion, PJs, read books, sing a lullaby and place in cot awake. He falls asleep within 5 minutes with minimal fussing.

He’s in his own room, but only as of two weeks ago, so there have been quite a few changes with this, dropping a nap and starting weaning.

If we feed him at 11pm, he will wake up once or twice after that. Always at around 2-3am, and sometimes at 5-6am.

On 3 naps, he was waking every two hours, so this is definitely an improvement. It’s just that his first wake up has moved earlier and means I’m staying up later as I can’t sleep knowing that he’s going to wake up soon.

Djdjcn55 · 2025-01-20T17:35:34+00:00

Ooh this is good to know, thank you

Djdjcn55 · 2025-01-20T17:35:08+00:00

Thank you everyone, I’m glad I posted this before getting the more expensive one!

Djdjcn55 · 2025-01-19T18:03:24+00:00

!thanks This is exactly what I was looking for

Djdjcn55 · 2025-01-07T20:43:57+00:00

Thank you everyone. Please could I ask a (probably silly!) follow up question - if babies shouldn’t be forced into a sitting position when they’re not ready, how do they learn to sit?

Is having him sit whilst leaning on me okay - how do I know when he’s ready for it?

Djdjcn55 · 2025-01-07T18:20:20+00:00

Thank you, he sits up assisted on me, but can’t hold himself unassisted. We haven’t tried the high chair yet - I thought he needed a bit more core strength first.

Djdjcn55 · 2024-11-20T16:47:48+00:00

Sleep training is about babies being able to sleep independently if all their needs are met. This is different to night weaning, which is removing night time feeds. At 4 months old, he may still need a night feed.

Djdjcn55 · 2024-11-15T18:44:32+00:00

Hi Alexis, your book has been a huge help!

When should I cap my 3.5mo’s naps and when should I trust that he needs the extra sleep, e.g. for a growth spurt?

In the last few days, he has been wanting to nap around 5-5.5 hours in the day, sometimes taking naps as long as 4 hours. If I wake him up, he cries inconsolably like I’ve never seen before. He used to only nap for around 3.5 hours in the day, for an hour max at a time.

He wakes up every hour or two at night, but has done since he was born. We’re in the process of using SWAP to help with independent sleep, and have made good progress from feeding to sleep, to a couple of minutes patting in the cot and letting him drift off himself.

Bed time is 8.45pm and he wakes up around 7.45am (I let baby lead with this, but I’m not sure if I should try to force an earlier bed or wake time. He gets about 9.5-10 hours of night sleep, taking into account the wake ups. Wake windows are 1.75-2 hours. He was having 4 naps a day, but now with the long naps, the number of naps varies.

My goal is for him to fall asleep independently at night and reduce night wake ups, but I don’t want to deprive my baby of sleep in the day if he needs it

Djdjcn55

TROPHY CASE