u/theredheadedfox

Context:
-baby is 6 months old
-recently moved baby to the bed between me and dad due to baby having multiple wakeups that were severely affecting my sleep/sanity
-room is kept at 76 degrees with an overhead fan on high and a stand fan on high pointed at the bed
-dad tends to be on the warmer side, but baby sleeps next to me and dad is scooched to the far side of the bed
-we have a decently firm memory foam mattress

When baby sleeps, if I have him just in a diaper, his skin all over his body feels very cool (sometimes verging in cold). HOWEVER, whatever skin is in contact with the mattress feels warm and occasionally a tiny bit sticky/clammy. It’s like half his body is slightly too hot and half is slightly too cool. Should I be putting a onesie or a light sleep sack on my baby, or leaving him just in his diaper?

I have a six month old, 22 pound baby who always wants to be held. If I set him down, he gets fussy and escalates to full-on crying. When I carry him, he’s super squirmy, always trying to stand himself up in my arms or twisting around to face forward. I have to use both arms to keep him safe, so I can’t get anything done.

I’ve tried using a baby carrier in the past but he outgrew it pretty quickly and didn’t seem to like it much (plus with the summer heat, he gets sweaty quickly).

Any ideas for how to safely manage this?

I’m currently visiting family for a week with my 6 month old baby. Dad stayed at home.

I’ve never bed-shared without dad on baby’s other side, and I’m paranoid baby will roll off the bed somehow. Also, the bed I’m using while on vacation is a double, while normally I’m in a king size at home. How can I make sure that baby can sleep safely when it’s just me and I’m in a smaller bed?

Baby has never been a great sleeper. It hasn’t bothered me too much though since waking 3-4x per night was tolerable for me, and I figured it would get better. Since the 4 month sleep progression/regression, things have, in fact, gotten much worse. Waking hourly, waking up 10 minutes after being put back in his crib, waking screaming bloody murder. Last night he woke up 8 times over a 12 hour period. I literally feel sick from sleep deprivation.

Baby currently wakes up around 5 AM for about 30-45 minutes to eat and wriggle around, then back to sleep until 9 or 9:30 AM, down for his first nap around 11. The rest of the naps vary— some days he takes 3 and some days he takes 4. Nap length varies from 30 minutes to over an hour (Al contact naps or naps right next to us). Down for bed around 9 or 9:30 PM. Total sleep varies anywhere from 12 to 14.5 hours. Wake windows around 2-ish hours.

Room is kept around 77 degrees with an overhead fan and a stand fan (not pointed at him). He wears a onesie to bed, and I usually put a sleep sack on him after his first night feeding as the room has cooled down more. He doesn’t feel sweaty or too cold.

I’m at a loss. I don’t know why he keeps waking up so much— too much sleep? Not enough sleep? Just a phase?

My 5 month old typically goes to bed around 9 or 9:30. I’m totally fine with this since it works with our family’s schedule. He is still not on a regular nap schedule— he’s usually awake around 2 hours, and naps vary from 35 minutes to almost 2 hours. Because of this variability, we sometimes have a weird amount of time at the end of the day where the wake window is too long to make it to 9 PM, but too short for a real nap (for example, today he was yawning and fussing around 8 PM).

In these cases, I never know if it’s better to try to give him a short cat nap (10-15 minutes) or just try to put him to bed early. When is it too late in the day to do a cat nap?

My baby is almost 5 months old, EBF. We’ve been doing nurse to sleep for naps and bedtime, which has been working really well for him. Typically he nurses for 10 minutes max and he’s out like a light.

Over the last week and a half or so, however, he has just wanted to suckle for an hour or longer at bedtime. As he’s sucking, his eyes are closed and it looks like he’s asleep while intermittently suckling, but when I try to remove my nipple from his mouth, he stirs and fusses. Sometimes he opens his eyes, but most of the time he keeps them closed. If he doesn’t latch back on fairly quickly, he becomes upset.

I am totally fine with nursing to sleep when it’s fairly quick, but it’s dragging out bedtime and my poor nips are screaming by the end of it lol. Any ideas on what I can do?

My 4 month old has never been a great napper— he almost always is nursed to sleep, then sleeps for 25-30 minutes in his bassinet. Previously if I had him on my lap or next to me in bed, he would nap for much longer, like 1.5-2 hours.

Well now that’s not working anymore. Even when across my lap, he wakes up between 18-30 minutes into his nap and I can’t get him back down. Sometimes he’s fussy upon waking, other times he’s happy or neutral. He’s crankier during his wake windows and has to go down for naps more frequently (like he’s had 5 naps today and it’s barely 5 PM, so I anticipate he’ll take 1-2 more naps before bedtime).

Is this just a 4 month sleep regression issue? Do I just ride this out and keep putting him down for as many naps as he needs to make it to the end of the day?

I realize this question may sound stupid, so please bear with me!

When you have a contact nap with your baby, how do you have them positioned?? For my baby, who is almost 4 months old, I’ve been nursing him to sleep. I’m usually seated in a reclined position on my bed or couch, and he’s positioned across me perpendicularly with my arm cradling his head and back. When he falls asleep, I either continue supporting his head/back so he’s still nose to nipple (in case he wants to nurse a little more) or I remove my arm gently and roll him so he’s facing the ceiling with his torso on my thighs and his booty on the couch/bed.

As he’s getting older and bigger, I’ve been wondering if this is uncomfortable for him and if I should be shifting him to a different position. When you contact nap with your baby, how do you position them, especially for those of you who nurse to sleep?

My baby is about 3.5 months old, and I’m currently staying home with him. I’ve been really isolated, staying home with baby most of the time because I’ve been intimidated by the thought of taking him out by myself.

I want to start getting used to taking him out alone, so I thought I’d try to get my feet wet by going to some low-pressure places a few times per week. What are some of your favorite places to take your baby that are easy to leave if baby gets fussy, won’t be awkward if he starts crying, and don’t take a lot of time (like up to 30 minutes max)?

(Side note, my baby has decided that he hates his carrier and his car seat, so bonus points for places that are easy for me to carry him in)

My 3.5m old baby’s sleep schedule is so inconsistent. I just follow his cues, but I don’t know if it’s normal that his nap schedule is so disorganized.

He wakes up anywhere between 7-8:30 AM. We get dressed and do a short walk, then he goes down for a nap. Naps are anywhere from 25 minutes to over an hour, sometimes even up to two hours. Sometimes he does cry when he wakes up or still seems tired. He’s awake for maybe 90-ish minutes, but sometimes less if the previous nap was a short one. This goes on for the whole day. Bedtime is anywhere between 7:45-9:40 PM. Last night he was tired so I put him down at 7:45 and he conked out for the night, but other days he’ll fight to stay awake and won’t fall asleep until after 9 despite being visibly tired. He typically gets between 13-15 hours of sleep total.

Is this normal to not have a consistent nap/sleep schedule at this age?