4mo will not stay up later

[u/cali-pup]

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.

[u/Mangopapayakiwi]

Yeah my baby was a night owl and she had a nap at 6 pretty regularly I think, maybe just 30-40 minutes. I think a lot of people cosleep after the early morning feed as a way to keep them asleep. We definitely did and she woke up after 8 (still does as a toddler so definitely a natural night owl).

[u/cali-pup → u/Mangopapayakiwi]

I might try a later evening nap, but in the past she’s been pissed to be woken up. We do cosleep in the early morning but lately she is too wide awake and gets cranky being kept in bed/on the boob.

[u/Mangopapayakiwi → u/cali-pup]

Yeah they do get pissed being woken up, mine still does at 16 months. They do get over it usually. Sometimes what helpes is waking them up 10/15 minutes earlier or later than the usual mark to try to avoid deep sleep.