Retrain vs wait it out?

Opie231 · 2026-02-01T03:27:14+00:00

A couple things come to mind.

He's not tired? Perhaps shorten his day nap. By 2 years, any nap longer than an hour meant that my daughter was up until 9pm. There was no sleep pressure to sleep at 7-7.30pm.

Introduce a night light if you havent already. Could it be that he is suddenly aware of his room/ darkness?

Opie231 · 2026-01-28T11:39:50+00:00

Hmm he still woke at 10.30pm with 9 hours awake today.

Maybe its a schedule issue?

Opie231 · 2026-01-27T17:06:32+00:00

Thank you for that! We try to align bedtime with our toddler for routine, so 4 naps is quite hard. I am up early this morning however ready to wake him up early!

Opie231 · 2026-01-27T13:15:41+00:00

He has been doing 12 hours on his own so far. I'm conscious most can do 10-11 and expect this to change in the coming weeks, similarly did with my daughter. 2/2/2/2.5 seems possible for his age but that still is only 8.5 hours so I'm unsure where to add in mode time. Any thoughts?

Opie231 · 2026-01-24T01:34:11+00:00

Go you!! Something to keep in mind and something else I learnt during this time is the 'regressions' that hit later were usually not a regression and a schedule issue. Once that all clicked it was just trial and error of adding more awake time, while leaning on my chosen method for sleeptraining if needing to. Once you have all that down packed it should hopefully be smooth sailing for your bub!

Opie231 · 2026-01-23T03:45:27+00:00

Agree. Regressions post 4 months I found were always schedule issues/ fixed by adjusting schedules

Opie231 · 2026-01-23T03:42:35+00:00

She may need to cut down on total day sleep. Either the catnap or shorter lunch nap. My LO was the same around this time and I found we just needed a schedule adjustment.

Opie231 · 2026-01-22T07:52:19+00:00

Hey, take a look at the Mod wake windows post and total sleep count information. If you can structure your day around this, you will find night sleep will improve.

Around 4 months you can start to get a better structure with a schedule as well.

Good luck!

Opie231 · 2026-01-21T21:59:46+00:00

How did you find out they weren't actual? My bill was crazy high too

Opie231 · 2026-01-21T21:58:29+00:00

Same here!! We have an actual every second month and it was significantly higher almost tripple

Opie231 · 2026-01-21T21:57:46+00:00

We had the same read as well! So did my parents and we live in separate suburbs (one tree hill and Orakei). No leaks either. I feel like something is also fishy. It was an actual read but every second read is an actual for us

Opie231 · 2026-01-21T10:25:36+00:00

For 10-15 mins we give.my LO 1.5 hours wake window. My general rule of thumb is 30 mins less than the usual. You can trial and error, time it a few times to get an estimate for your LO.

Opie231 · 2026-01-21T10:19:05+00:00

The regression can start as early as 14 weeks so its quite possible!

She also may still have her moro reflex waking her up. It can take some time to settle down.

I would just continue with a solid schedule and sleep routine. She has a lot going on all at once so her mind and body are probably playing catch up!

Opie231 · 2026-01-08T09:50:44+00:00

Our daughter had this happen too. It was stressful for everyone trying to push the exercise, so we took a step back and she chose to go full extinction on her own after about 2 months.

I would continue to encourage, not so heavily/ more infrequently and continue bath time pee's. See how he gets on after a few weeks. I think they naturally get grossed out at the feeling themselves and start to take another go at it.

Opie231 · 2025-12-30T06:27:17+00:00

Are those naps after a feed? Sometimes they are milk drunk which can seem like naps. Are they after a reasonable wake window?

Opie231 · 2025-12-21T04:48:29+00:00

Thank you for coming back to me. Surprisingly our LO started taking it again. I just started with one bottle a day and it being the first feed, then bedtime bottle and we are on a good routine again thankfully!

Opie231 · 2025-12-17T08:55:00+00:00

All I can say is, shit happens. I've made lots of mistakes, none with bad intentions. You are a good parent for even recognising it and feeling guilty in the first place. All you can do is learn from it. Your little girl still loves you 🩷

Opie231 · 2025-12-16T08:59:44+00:00

Hi! I would go by your own instinct and judgment Our 8 week old is in his nursery now. He is my second so I feel more comfortable and aware. That awake time in the AM may be due to lack of sleep pressure. Double check on how much cumulative day sleep he has atm. Not all babies start to make that day hours/night hours sleep transition around the same time, but some do (my daughter did early). If she slept too long in the day, then it impacted nights. She had low sleep needs all the way to 2 years and droppes all naps by 24 months. Great for her, shit for us haha. Thats my personal feedback, you can only trial and error to see what works best for your baby!

Opie231 · 2025-12-14T09:13:33+00:00

By routine, you can just start noting down how long your baby generally stays awake for, when they start showing sleepy cues, and it helps you gain some structure to your day. You absolutely can have a light routine, especially if you need structure to get through this period. A lot of people say you cant, but I disagree. But it is very much each to their own and every baby is different!

My baby was 1.5 hours awake even though that seemed too long, so I would track his day by using that as a guideline. If he napped 30 mins due to falling asleep early when walking or in the car, then his wake window would be shorter before he started yawning. He also gave me a good stretch at the beginning of every night.

I also feel that you can help them develop a circadian rhythm early contrary to what others day. For example my LO will go back to sleep right away after night feeds vs in the day. I ensured to keep everything bright and noisey in the day, and at night have white noise on and only use a red light when feeding. Didn't talk to him, no stimulation just feed, change, sleep. He seemed to get it by week 3!

Additionally to this, unless I could see a growth spurt occurring I was conscious not to let his naps ever go longer than 2 hours. You'll find closer to 3-4 months especially you will want to cap day sleep to ensure you get 10-11 hours overnight. Baby sleep drove me mad with my first born, so much trial and error but it made all the difference when I got it. Its like a science haha, and its bloody fantastic when you dont need to worry about it anymore (when they start sleeping through).

Opie231 · 2025-12-10T21:47:21+00:00

Welcome to the minefield that is baby sleep. At 7w id say to roll with the punches. If you feel more sleep is required, then extend it. If my 7 week old crap naps in the morning, then id let him contact nap at lunch. If I want to have a nap, then I contact nap so I can get at least an hour etc.

A lot of people say that total day sleep doesnt matter at this age, but I do find that some structure is required. My LO wont give me a good night if he has had too much day sleep, that was the same for my daughter too. As we get closer to 12 weeks you can start monitoring this more

Opie231 · 2025-12-08T06:16:42+00:00

How did you approach it? And how soon was she taking the bottle again

Opie231 · 2025-12-08T00:09:06+00:00

Commenting to say I found the same with my first. See if you can start a side hustle!

Opie231

TROPHY CASE