What should a 5 month old be doing?

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A 5 month old should be sleeping roughly 12 to 15 hours in 24, drinking milk and nothing else, rolling front to back, grabbing whatever is in reach and laughing at you. It is a lovely in-between month: past the newborn fog, not yet into solids and sitting.

The ranges below are consistent with HSE and WHO guidance. They are wide on purpose, and a healthy 5 month old can sit anywhere inside them.

How much should a 5 month old sleep?

Roughly 12 to 15 hours in 24, usually 3 naps and the night, with wake windows of about 2 to 2.5 hours. Some 5 month olds now do a 6 to 8 hour stretch at night. Plenty still wake once or twice for a feed, and that is completely normal at this age.

A 5 month old baby sleep schedule usually looks like a morning nap, a lunchtime nap and a late-afternoon catnap. The new trick this month is rolling, and babies love practising it in the cot at 2am. It passes. If naps have gone short and cranky, check the wake windows chart before changing anything else, and if the nights fell apart around 4 months, the 4-month sleep regression guide explains what is going on.

How much should a 5 month old drink?

Milk is still the whole menu. Formula guidance in Ireland works off weight, roughly 150 ml per kg per day, which for most 5 month olds lands somewhere around 900 to 1,100 ml a day across 5 or 6 bottles. The formula by weight guide does the sums for you. Breastfed babies feed on demand, often 5 to 8 feeds in 24 hours, and some still like an evening cluster.

Babies get more efficient and more nosy this month. Feeds that used to take 40 minutes might be done in 15, and some babies snack because the room is more interesting than the bottle. Feeding somewhere calm and boring helps. Judge the day's total and the nappies, not any single feed.

Can I start solids at 5 months?

For most babies, not yet. The HSE advice is to start solids around 6 months, and never before 17 weeks. Milk provides everything a 5 month old needs, and starting too early crowds out the milk they run on.

The readiness signs matter more than the date on the calendar: sitting with support, holding the head steady and losing the tongue-thrust reflex that pushes food straight back out. A few babies genuinely show all of these a little before 6 months. If yours is one of them, or the internet is telling you to start baby rice at 5 months, talk to your PHN or GP before you begin. When the time comes, the starting solids guide walks through the first weeks step by step.

What milestones should a 5 month old have?

The 5 month old baby milestones to look for:

• Rolling front to back, and some babies surprise themselves with back to front too.
• Pushing up on the forearms or straight arms during tummy time.
• Reaching and grabbing accurately, including their own feet, and bringing everything to the mouth.
• Laughing, squealing and blowing raspberries, and turning towards your voice.
• Sitting propped up or tripod-style for short spells, hands on the floor for balance.
• Drooling and gnawing on everything. Teething can start around now, though the first tooth often waits until 6 months or later.

Sitting alone, crawling and babbled chains like ba-ba-ba mostly come later. The 0 to 6 month milestones guide shows the rough order, and the teething guide covers the drool.

What is a normal day with a 5 month old?

A 5 month old baby sleep schedule and feeding rhythm often looks something like this.

• Wake and milk around 7am, play on the floor mat.
• Nap around 9 to 9.45.
• Milk around 10, a walk or errands.
• Nap around 12.30 to 2.
• Milk around 2.30, tummy time and rolling practice.
• Catnap around 4.30 for 30 to 45 minutes.
• Milk around 5.30, bath, final feed and down for the night around 7 to 7.30.
• One or two night feeds, or none if you are lucky.

Some days the naps connect and the day flows. Other days every nap is 33 minutes and nobody knows why. Both are normal at 5 months.

What checks or vaccines happen at 5 months in Ireland?

None are scheduled this month. The vaccine schedule runs 2, 4 and 6 months, so the next visit is the 6-month vaccines at the GP: the third dose of the 6-in-1 plus PCV on the current HSE schedule. The Irish vaccine schedule guide has the full timeline, and the free vaccine calculator turns your baby's date of birth into the actual dates.

There is no routine PHN check at 5 months either. The next one is the 7 to 9 month development check. If anything is worrying you before then, you do not need to wait: ring your PHN or GP whenever a question will not leave you alone. Our guide to PHN visits in Ireland covers what happens at each check.

What is not normal at 5 months?

Worth ringing the PHN or GP about, rather than waiting for the next check:

• The head still wobbly when you pull them up to sit or hold them upright.
• Not reaching for or grabbing things, or hands still mostly fisted.
• Not making sounds back at you, not laughing or very little eye contact.
• Not tracking faces or toys with their eyes.
• Limbs that feel unusually stiff or very floppy, or one side working much harder than the other.
• Feeding dropping off, fewer wet nappies or weight that is not moving over a few weeks.

How do I know if my 5 month old is on track?

Compare your baby against the ranges above over a week, not a day. One short-nap day means nothing. A fortnight where the milk keeps sliding, or the laughing never starts, is a pattern worth a phone call. Lullagram shows the baby's exact age, logs feeds, sleep and milestones in a tap and turns a week of logging into the averages the PHN asks about. It is free to try on Android, iPhone and web.

Every baby has their own timetable. This is a guide, not medical advice. If you are worried, ask your PHN or GP.