5 month old feeding and nap schedule

Hey,
First of all I wanted to say it’s incredibly tough having a baby of this age (or any age I imagine, but I’m currently in the 4-5 month bit too), and it’s natural that you’ll feel frustrated at times. You’re not a bad mum for feeling that way, and especially exhaustion and sleep deprivation can add to that massively.
The best advice I was given was remember that your baby isn’t giving you a hard time; they’re having a hard time. I used to almost take it all personally but it really isn’t personal at all, babies just can’t control what they do at all.
We don’t have a strict routine as such, other than being very consistent with baby’s bedtime routine.
I try to offer feeds every 2.5 hours in the day to fill her up so we can hopefully avoid a night time feed and this tends to help. She often doesn’t finish the bottles so we do waste a bit of formula but I’ve just accepted that’s the case currently. In terms of naps I try to keep an eye on wake windows (generally she can’t manage

more than 90 mins awake, but I’ll start the nap process sooner if she’s showing me sleepy cues. She’ll only nap 30 mins in her cot but I try to do two cot naps a day so she stays familiar with falling asleep in her cot. And then one longer contact nap and I use this time to chill and watch rubbish tv! I’m flexible with timings though.
With wake up times, if she stirs before 7am I keep the room dark, keep the pink noise on and treat it as a night wake so she hopefully won’t get into the habit of thinking the day starts any earlier than 7.
Your baby is likely going through the sleep regression at the moment so things will be inconsistent and feel difficult.
I’m not sure if any of this is helpful but it absolutely will get better! ❤️

Don't feel guilty about frustration - I feel frustrated at least 5 hours a day babies are incredibly annoying 😂 we do everything pretty much on demand but I know she needs a nap every 90 mins or so and we try to do one around 5 but everything else is when she needs. Try no schedule for a bit see if it allows you to chill and feel better? I used to obsessively track with huckleberry cos that's how my brain works, I stopped for a week and I felt so much better (im back on it now but using it casually like a normal person!!)

I literally just follow my babies cues then I can enjoy the day without being rigid. Everyday is different and babies are constantly growing and changing along with their needs so having a strict schedule doesn’t make sense to me

This is my second and we just follow wake windows/cues. Usually first nap around 90 mins after waking up for the day, about 30 mins long, then second nap about 2.5 hours after that and usually the longest nap. Then a last nap at around 4:30pm for 30 mins and bedtime 8 ish. This isn’t strict for us though and we just go with flow especially when baby is out he tends to nap more as my hubby baby wears x

So glad to hear there are other people without strict routines. All the mums in my immediate circle are very strict on nap times but their babies are older.

I’m just aiming for 2-3 naps a day and a7-8pm bed time.

I always stand by routines I think it’s the best thing for babies but unfortunately with the examples you’re providing (waking up early) some things just can’t be helped! Like you said they aren’t robots. All you can do is try to encourage a routine, and if it goes a bit south then it’s not the end of the world as long as you’re trying. My daughter is in a good routine in terms of napping and feeding but the timings can sometimes be pushed back an hour or earlier depending on her. Thats just the way it is sometimes x