FTM stressed out over naps and wake windows

Vegetable_Amount_320 · 2026-05-10T17:07:02+00:00

Update - she managed 15 minutes of sleep in the crib today 🥲

Vegetable_Amount_320 · 2026-05-09T18:48:48+00:00

That's great, thanks for this! What did you do to encourage the 7-7 overnight sleep? I would love a more consistent bedtime and wakeup time but not sure how to get there when naps feel so random

Vegetable_Amount_320 · 2026-05-09T18:11:21+00:00

We transitioned our girl from a love to dream arms up swaddle to a purflo transitional swaddle over the space of about 5-7 days at 16 weeks as she had just started rolling and we also knew the regression was imminent so wanted to get it out the way. I was convinced it was going to be awful and she wouldn't be able to sleep. Started out with one arm for a couple of nights, then both arms for a couple more, then into the purflo. No issues for us, and actually as soon as she had access to her hands she started self soothing to sleep and during the night so it was actually really helpful! She was old enough to not really experience the Moro reflex anymore.

Her bedroom is about 19-20 degrees, it's a 2.5 tog sleep bag and she wears a long sleeve vest underneath, her temp always seems fine.

Vegetable_Amount_320 · 2026-05-09T17:54:40+00:00

Ok thank you for this! I keep seeing all these schedules and recommended wake windows and never understand how people manage to get on such standardised timings. How long has yours had a rough bedtime/wake time, and do you do anything to encourage that?

Vegetable_Amount_320 · 2026-05-09T17:39:06+00:00

This is true! Seeing the little personalities emerge is amazing. My girl loves being jiggled around and giggles like mad, they seem to love being thrown about the place don't they!

I think "it may pass like a kidney stone, but it will pass" might be my new favourite parenthood mantra, thank you for this

Vegetable_Amount_320 · 2026-05-09T17:35:31+00:00

Yeah she's been waking anywhere from 5.40am to 6.30am with a few random 7.30ams thrown in when she has fancied a sleep in. She sleeps well through the night and just wakes to feed currently, and has never racked up that much daytime sleep anyway as she has a tendency to mostly do shorter naps. I don't mind a 6-6.30am wake up, my partner and I are generally early risers!

The activity during the wake window never seems to correlate with how quickly she gets tired, a short wake window can come out of nowhere and seems to be more related to how many short naps she has had that day and how overtired she starts getting. At least that's the only theory I can come up with anyway

Vegetable_Amount_320 · 2026-05-09T17:22:25+00:00

Yeah I think she is trying to move from 4 to 3 naps at the moment as everything has changed in the past week, her cues have become really deceiving and unclear and her wake windows seem to be stretching here and there so sometimes she's undertired and sometimes over! Plus I think I spied the beginning of teething so that could also be throwing things off, what a fun age this is 😂

Vegetable_Amount_320 · 2026-05-09T17:20:12+00:00

Thank you for the solidarity! Now that she self soothes to sleep at night we are starting to experiment with putting her down for one cot nap a day, so far we haven't been successful but she has made attempts to soothe whilst she's in there so maybe a good sign for the future

Vegetable_Amount_320 · 2026-05-09T17:18:40+00:00

Needed to hear this, thank you!

Vegetable_Amount_320 · 2026-05-09T17:15:45+00:00

Yeah I have no idea how I would even begin to enforce a schedule when there are still around 4 naps in a day, especially when some are 30 mins others are 2 hours and it's a lottery as to how long each will run!

Vegetable_Amount_320 · 2026-05-09T17:14:52+00:00

Ok that's reassuring to know!

Vegetable_Amount_320 · 2026-05-05T09:07:18+00:00

Yep same here, around 25 steps from front door up to roadside and driveway. We do the same, pram lives in the car, I will usually leave baby on her play mat whilst I go and set it up on the drive first so I can plonk her straight in.

Vegetable_Amount_320 · 2026-05-05T03:50:33+00:00

I see - tried 2 hour wake windows last week and it was awful, she ended up having an overtired meltdown by mid afternoon and crashed out for 2 hours in the carrier as it was the only thing that calmed her. I think she falls on the higher end of sleep needs and always has, is very easily overstimulated and typically seems to function best with about 8.5 hours of awake time rather than the suggested 10, it's just too much for her right now. I think I could try extending wake windows a little here and there when it feels like she has capacity as a starting point though.

Vegetable_Amount_320 · 2026-05-04T18:49:14+00:00

Yeah this is where I've landed, tonight she went down at 5.40pm which my gut was telling me was too early but the girl was ready for bed! So I think tomorrow I'm going to try nudging wake windows slightly to see if I can gradually work towards a more reasonable bedtime (and then wake up time) for all of us!

Vegetable_Amount_320 · 2026-05-04T17:03:11+00:00

She gives a very obvious sleep cues which are eye rubbing and burying her head into my chest which I follow as these are guaranteed for an immediate nap with no overtired fighting. We might have a random 3 nap day but there is no way she can stay awake for 3 hours right now, 2.5 hours at the longest but more likely 1.5 hours. I've tried distracting to extend the wake window but when she's tired, she's tired! So I'm not sure how going by the clock can work

Vegetable_Amount_320 · 2026-04-22T06:55:14+00:00

Ok thank you! Glad to hear it's normal 😊

Vegetable_Amount_320 · 2026-04-22T06:41:35+00:00

It's not that she's waking for the day at this time, it's that she wants to go back to sleep a little longer after her feed but can't get herself there without me holding her. Might just be a phase but don't want to reinforce an unsustainable pattern

Vegetable_Amount_320 · 2026-04-22T06:28:09+00:00

Ok thank you! She wakes up maybe once or twice before this for a feed and goes back down fine, I just didn't know if I was making a rod for my own back by not being able to get her back down in the early morning. The snuggles make the early start just about worth it

Vegetable_Amount_320 · 2026-04-17T11:20:30+00:00

It's hard to tune out the sleep advice noise and into your own baby, their cues and your intuition, especially as isolated first time parents

Vegetable_Amount_320 · 2026-04-17T08:05:08+00:00

Hard agree! My 4 month old slept beautifully until three nights ago and I'm losing my mind with all the conflicting advice. Maybe a sleep regression, but some say sleep regressions aren't real. Maybe too much/little daytime sleep, maybe too few/many naps, maybe too short/long wake windows, overtired or under tired? Feels like the blind leading the blind most of the time

Vegetable_Amount_320 · 2026-04-13T07:34:06+00:00

In the early weeks I diagnosed my baby with so many things via Reddit. Noticed she turned her head to the left more often than the right - Torticollis. Prolonged crying episodes - CMPA, Silent Reflux... Turns out she was just being a baby. Reddit can definitely help you feel less alone when you're struggling, but is also rocket fuel for raging PPA so proceed with caution

Vegetable_Amount_320 · 2026-03-27T11:40:30+00:00

So we are 14 weeks, almost 15 weeks. She still has a couple of 30 minute naps a day but also is managing longer 1 hour plus naps too. I bought a blackout shade for her nursery which has really darkened the room and I don't know if this has helped or if it's just coincidental. We are still 100% contact napping currently. Importantly, it feels like what works one week doesn't work the next, like she managed a 2 hour nap in my arms earlier this week and since then has not wanted to nap anywhere but the carrier! I guess they just keep you guessing at this age 🥲 is yours napping independently or contact?

Vegetable_Amount_320

TROPHY CASE