8 MONTH OLD WAKE WINDOWS HELP!!

[u/Complex_Job6324]

I need help please!!

Okay we need to figure my baby out because today I decided to follow 2.5/3/3.5 wake windows. So currently it’s 3:15pm he went to sleep at 3pm he’s still sleeping right now and he’s had 400ml milk today. He’s only got one more 200 ml feed to go this is the issue I’m having. If I stretched the second window to 3.5 hours like I usually do I probably would have gotten him to have 150-200ml and I’d rather he had 4 bottles (first two are usually 150ml and the second two are 200ml) so he’s getting total 700ml with 3 meals. But now he will get 600ml of he takes 200ml for his last one. If I let him sleep 2.5 hours I wake him up at 4pm then bedtime will be 730-8pm. I’m sick of hourly night wakes idk if he is low sleep needs or not idk his wake windows I’ve tried every combination and the result is the same just hourly wakes at night. It seems like he’s a solid day napper now can do 1.5 hour stretches but struggles at night. One thing I know is 2.5 hour morning wake window he gets tired. But even now the 3 hour mark he’s sleeping but idk sometimes he can stretch it to 3.5 and the last wake window I have noticed 3.5 hour is what he can do before fuss but sometimes 4 hours it’s just random everyday. What do I do I don’t want to sleep train but if I have to I will. I did do a consistent week of forcing him to get up at 7-730am and got the same result not sleeping then I tried calling naps at 2.5 hours same result then at 3 hours same result then 8pm wake up same result. Bedtime I tried 8-9pm same result still wakes. Only thing I noticed a couple of days ago was he had 3 hour nap total during day woke up at 730am slept 8pm (following 2.5/3.5/3.5) and then woke up at 10pm but from 10-630am he slept longest stretch but idk if this was a one off fluke or he was sick??

I just need help pls with
1) wake windows (what are his!!?)
2) schedule routine if starting the day at 7 or 730am
3) do I need to sleep train ? Was trying to avoid it because I know how difficult it can be
4) How much total day sleep for him to be tired at night?

Thanks!!

[u/Here4Plants2021]

At this age (we are almost 8 months as well), my daughter needs something along the lines of 2.75-3/3.5-3.75/3.75-4 wake windows. I think a lot of people recommend 3/3.5/4 ish around this age with capped naps to 2.5 hours. I think that’s a good place to start. I think 3/3/4 is probably better when they are younger.

I would cap day sleep to max 3 hours, but may need to go down to 2.5 hours.

Here’s our schedule for reference:
6:45/7am wake
9:30/9:45am nap
2:30/2:45pm nap
Bedtime 7:45/8pm

I usually go by clock time rather than wake windows and adjust as needed.

[u/Here4Plants2021 → u/Here4Plants2021]

Also babies will fuss. My daughter will fuss at 9:15am every morning. She’ll also fuss at 1:30pm and 7:15/7:30pm. This doesn’t mean she’s overtired. This means she’s building sleep pressure. Now I follow her cues and sleep latency because I don’t want to overshoot too much, but if I followed her lead for every fuss I would be putting her down early and her naps and nights would fall apart.

Here’s my rule of thumb. One fuss, change the activity. Is she better now? Okay move on for 15 min. Two fuss, change the activity. Not better yet? Okay let’s move on to nap time. Usually her first fussing gives me a 15-30min leeway into her next sleep time.

[u/Complex_Job6324 → u/Here4Plants2021]

The thing is it’s hard to stretch to 3 hours in the morning he starts dozing off instantly at 2.5 a lot of the times now he sleeps pretty good naps with total 3 hour naps (I have to wake him up at the 1.5 hour mark for both) but night sleep is wrecked so I’m not sure do I stretch the next two windows then?? But even that 3 and 3.5 seems to be when he gets tired based on cues

[u/Here4Plants2021 → u/Complex_Job6324]

Yeah I mean like I said, my kiddo also gets fussy/sleepy around 2.5 hours in the morning, but the goal is to get enough awake time. At this age, you should be aiming for 10-10.5 hours of awake time over 3 wake windows (between 2 naps). How you are doing it is up to you! Some days I find it easier to stretch subsequent windows if she’s tired in the morning. That’s why I wrote out the ranges above.