Comments on: 6 Month Old Feeding and Sleep Schedules: Samples for Breastfeeding and Formula-Feeding Babies

By: Danielle

Danielle — Fri, 14 Feb 2020 16:23:47 +0000

In reply to Katie. Hi Katie, Thank you for visiting The Baby Sleep Site! I'm sorry to hear you're having trouble with your baby refusing that 4th nap. It sounds like she may be going through the 4 to 3 nap transition, which is normal anywhere between 5-8 months-old. For a sensitive baby, any nap transition can be difficult and take a little while to work through. Many parents have success dropping the 4th nap and moving bedtime up earlier, until the baby gets used to the schedule and bedtime can move back to 7ish. I hope this helps - please hang in!

By: Katie

Katie — Wed, 12 Feb 2020 01:44:10 +0000

Hi! I have a 6 month old who follows a schedule very similar to this. However, the 4th nap is often hard to get her down for, even after 2 hours. We currently rock her to sleep, but I’m planning to do gentle sleep training soon, but when she skips this 4th nap it seems like she is an overtired wreck at night, and that doesn’t make for pretty sleep training. She’s highly sensitive and does not like being tired, but when I can time things right she goes down easily. Any suggestions? She has an older sibling (3 yo) so holding her that entire time or anything crazy like that isn’t feasible, especially as I’m already limited in what we can do because of baby’s frequent naps! She typically sleeps 7/7:30-7/7:30 with 1-2 wakings, 1 if she gets that 4th nap in and goes down easily at nights (with the 4th nap bedtime is closer to 7:30/8, closer to 7 without the nap).

By: Debbye @ The Baby Sleep Site

Debbye @ The Baby Sleep Site — Fri, 18 Oct 2019 18:01:02 +0000

In reply to Tovah.

Hi @Tovah – Thanks for writing to us! It sounds like you’ve got a great eater and a pretty good sleeper in your 6 month old baby! Sorry to hear that he’s waking more than you’d like! I think this article is a great place to start and can help you determine how much he might need to eat and how to help minimize night feeds!:
https://www.babysleepsite.com/sleep-training/night-feedings-by-age-when-do-you-night-wean/
If you find that you’d like more help with this, please contact us for more info!

By: Tovah

Tovah — Thu, 17 Oct 2019 06:52:31 +0000

Hi! I have a 6 month old. He eats 3 large meals a day (over 6tbs of food minimum per meal) and drinks over 9oz of formula every 4 hours (over 50oz/day) and naps twice a day for a total of 3 hours. He eats dinner at 5:30pm and has a bottle at 6:30pm and goes to bed at 7pm. He has no issue falling asleep alone but will not sleep the night. He wakes up every 4 hours like clockwork to feed. After eating he falls right back to sleep again. How can I get him to sleep longer stretches?

By: Debbye @ The Baby Sleep Site

Debbye @ The Baby Sleep Site — Sat, 28 Sep 2019 02:14:52 +0000

In reply to Charlotte. Hi @Charlotte - Thanks for writing and sorry to hear that your 6 month old is having a tough time self-settling at bedtime! It sounds like she may need some more time and help learning to fall asleep on her own! Since she gets so worked up, you can definitely work more gently towards her falling asleep on her own! For help with this, please contact us for more information on our products and services and we'll help you find the perfect fit! Thanks Charlotte!

By: Charlotte

Charlotte — Wed, 25 Sep 2019 20:14:31 +0000

Hi I have a 6 month old little girl and our routine is pretty good through the day she’s breastfed and usually up by 7/7.30am naps at 9am for 1-2 hours then milk and another nap usually about 1/2 depending on where we are etc… slowly introducing food but she’s not too fussed some days…. it’s the bedtime I am struggling with… we will bath and then I will feed her roughly about 6.30/7 and she will fall asleep feeding sometimes for half an hour to an hour but when I put her down will wake…. the next couple of hours is literally feeding and rocking until she will finally go to sleep about 9/10pm! She’s waking up about twice through the night and once she’s asleep does sleep well it’s just getting her there!!! If I leave her to settle herself she gets herself in such a state!!!

By: Debbye @ The Baby Sleep Site

Debbye @ The Baby Sleep Site — Fri, 30 Aug 2019 00:18:49 +0000

In reply to Christy Graham.

Hi @Christy – Thanks for writing about your son, and sorry to hear that sleep has taken a tough turn lately! It really sounds like you are so very aware of his sleep needs, and in teaching him good sleep habits! You can certainly see if adjusting his daytime schedule a little helps him sleep a little better at night! It would be tough to say here what caused the sleep disturbance, and how to help. We’d really need to have a sleep consultant take an in depth look at everything sleep related and at his whole sleep history. If you’re not interested in one on one support with email or phone consultations, I think a great DIY option for you would be to join our VIP Members Area. This gives you access to all of our e-Books as well as audio tele-seminar recordings, case studies, and do-it-yourself tutorials, including a workbook designed to help you create your own sleep plan. My favorite feature is the access to our weekly “members only” expert chat sessions, where one of our sleep consultants will answer your specific questions live via chatroom! You can also write a message on any of the pages within the VIP Area, and a Sleep Consultant will reply!

The Members Area subscription grows with your baby, is affordable, and available in sizes to fit every budget. Members also receive 20% off of all personalized sleep consultation services, should you find that you would like more personalized assistance.

You can read more about our Members Area here:
https://www.babysleepsite.com/diy

I hope that this helps Christy! Good luck!

By: Christy Graham

Christy Graham — Sat, 24 Aug 2019 14:58:24 +0000

Hello! 🙂 My little guy is about 1 week shy of being 7 months old. He is breastfed and we started incorporating solids into his schedule twice a day (breakfast and dinner) when he reached 6 months. He also takes about 2 naps a day with hopefully a cat nap in the late afternoon/early evening so he can make it until bedtime and keep his awake time less than 3 hours between naps. He has definitely had his struggles with sleep especially around the 4 month sleep regression, but he has since then learned to self sooth at bedtime and was down to 1 to 2 feeds a night with him going to bed usually between 7-8pm and sleeping (with the 1 -2 feeds mixed in) in his crib until about 7:15-7:30am the next morning. A few weeks ago, he started waking again about every three hours and wanting to wake up anywhere between 5:30-6:45am. His pretty consistent sleep schedule at night has now been him waking around 11pm and eating for about 20 minutes and sometimes even longer. He does fall asleep during this feed, but goes back into his crib without a fuss and will sleep until about 1:30-2:30am. Our pediatrician told us our son should be able to sleep for at least 4 hours between feeds at night, so when he wakes up around this time, I typically let him cry it out until he goes back to sleep which he does (a few times I have fed him a third time or held him for a few seconds), but then usually an hour to an hour and half later he wakes up again crying (around 2:00-2:30am). At this point I do go in and feed him, because I am worried he is hungry. At this point he seems very awake, is moving around and playing with my hair, etc. while he eats for about another 15 minutes. When I put him in the crib after this feed, he is always awake and moves around for about 15 minutes until he puts himself back to sleep, but he does so without screaming or crying. So his crying is always when he wakes and not when he goes back to sleep. Then he sleeps again, but only for about another 3 maybe 4 hours from the start of that last feed. I have been letting him stay in his crib at this point until at least 7:15am. He typically just roles around and babbles. I am struggling to determine what has caused this change and if he is actually hungry or just wanting to see a familiar face when he wakes up before he goes back to sleep? Or if maybe his naps are too short or too long (usually naps about 2.5 hours total a day) with some naps being 1.5 hours and some being .5 hours, but no consistency or set patterns yet no matter how hard we try. Just wondering if you had any thoughts or first steps we should be taking to help him sleep again longer at night and not wake up so much fussy. Thanks so much! ?

By: Alex Alsson

Alex Alsson — Wed, 14 Aug 2019 23:24:53 +0000

OMG You guys have a lot of info about it “)

By: Debbye @ The Baby Sleep Site

Debbye @ The Baby Sleep Site — Mon, 29 Jul 2019 22:07:54 +0000

In reply to Betty.

Hi @Betty – Thanks for writing, and so sorry that you are struggling with your 6 month old’s short naps and very late bedtime! It does sound like she needs some adjustments to her schedule so that she can get to be earlier. You can first determine if she is tried and just fighting bedtimes, or maybe she is not tired at bedtime due to a late nap, or perhaps even overtired and this pushes her bedtime out so late?
This article shoudl help:
https://www.babysleepsite.com/baby-sleep-patterns/summer-bedtimes-baby-toddler/
I hope that this helps! Please consider working with one of our expert sleep consultants if things do not smooth out! She can definitely help determine what is going on and make a Plan with you to get naps and bedtimes on track!
Hang in there Betty!