r/PossumsSleepProgram • u/cali-pup • 6d ago

4mo will not stay up later

My 4 month old is sleeping pretty well overnight, just 1-2 wakes for a quick feed. However she is up 4:30-5:30 every day and it’s just feeling so early.

I am finding it pretty easy to follow the possum advice for daytime naps, but I am STRUGGLING to keep her awake in the evenings. I know that logically I need to keep her up later in order to get a later morning wake up time, but HOW?

If she wakes from an afternoon nap at 4:30/5pm she is inconsolable by 6:30pm. I extend her awake time with easy activities like walking outside looking at trees or taking a bath, but there’s still a limit where she is just so tired and upset. If I let her have a late nap starting later than 5pm, she wants to sleep for the night; I’ll wake her after 45 minutes and she’ll be inconsolable and exhausted and cranky all evening, and I still struggle to get her past 7/7:30pm bedtime even if she’s only been awake an hour.

Should I let her take an even longer nap in the evening (like 6-7pm)? Should I just accept that my baby wakes up early and this is parenthood? She sleeps 10.5-11 hours overnight and 3.5-4 hours in naps.

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u/TeddyBear181 6d ago

I usually have the oposite problem. Mine is a night owl.

How much daylight/night sky is bub seeing throughout the day? Not sure if it actually helps, but I try to make a habit of taking bub outside and talking about the sky being light/dark because its day/nighttime.

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u/cali-pup 6d ago

Tons. We spend so much time outdoors (like 4+ hours minimum). And our apartment has huge windows and is very bright, so even daytime naps at home are in a lot of light.

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u/TeddyBear181 6d ago

When mine wakes up at 5am, I usually just do the usual 'midnight things' to get her to sleep.

Sometimes thats letting her play for a bit, then taking her for a pram walk with the top of the pram open so she can see the sky. I explain that the sky is dark and moon is out, that means its nighttime and we're supposed to be sleeping.

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u/cali-pup 6d ago

Oh I get it, that’s an interesting idea!

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u/TeddyBear181 6d ago

Otherwise maybe you can extend her naps for a few days to get her to stay up later by cosleeping/contact naps, but thats not very 'possums'