how much sleep?

Hello everyone,

My little girl is nearly 11 weeks old and for the last two weeks she has just stopped sleeping during the day. She's not overly grumpy or anything and sort of takes cat naps when she needs to but I can put her to bed and she will still be laying there wide awake two hours later! Luckily she doesn't really make much of a fuss although sometimes she does! I've just started a new routine because my health centre told me that at her age she should only be awake for 1-1 1/2 hours at a time (including a feed) so once this time has passed I put her to bed and try not to get her out until she is due for her next bottle. Has anyone else had this problem? How much sleep does a baby this age actually need? I am lucky though that she sleeps well at night. Last night she had her tea time bottle at 5:30 and didn't wake until 1am and then slept again until 7 am.

I would appreciate opinions on how to get her to sleep again during the day because I really think she needs it.

hi Larissa,

I can relate to your situation as I have a 2.5mth old doing the same thing, except she has been like it since birth. Neisha has reflux and so I spend a lot of time walking and rocking while she has little catnaps. Night time is a bit better. Ater a bath she will feed and then sleep for about 4 or 5 hours. I am bathing her in the morning as well as that seems to settle her. We are also giving her infant gaviscon just before each feed, and this also seems to be helping.I have cut out a lot of foods from my diet so as not to make the situation worse ( i am breastfeeding). I'm sorry I can't offer any advice but if she is still gaining weight and doesn't seem to be unwell, then this may only be a stage of growth. I remember my son, (now 8) doing a similar thing when cutting teeth.

Hi larissa,
Im in exactly the same boat my little boy is 10 wks and I cant get him to sleep durning the day either , I also think he needs it but just fights going to sleep,I was aslo told up for 1 1/2hrs awake time but that doesnt work if your still settling an hour latter or re-settling so i have booked in to sleep school for the week, I will post you again when I get back if it is any good , anything is worth a go :right. I have been told they need to be trained to sleep on their own durning the day, I guess we just have to be thankful they are good night sleepers. Good Luck

Hi

hopefully your sleep school went well, she is slowly getting back into the routine of day time sleep, i have been putting her to bed after her hour and a half is up and just today she has been getting sleepy before this time is up so hopefully she continues with it! I have also started wrapping her again. I had stopped for a couple of weeks as the MCHN told me too because she should be getting to the stage where she is wanting to roll blah blah blah and wrapping seems to help her, she gets her hands out most of the time but the struggle to get them out really tires her!

Her sleep at night is getting a lot better, Xmas night she slept right through from 10pm until 6:30 (only because it was my husbands turn to get up at night!)

I really think it all depends on the individual child. Some babies just need more sleep than others, and my little boy (3months) varies from day to day. Some days all he does is eat/sleep/eat/sleep - you can generally tell when they are tired. I'm not a great one for doing things by the book - but just see what fits in with your bub and you will generally be OK.
Cheers

My 12 week old will not nap during the day and only sleeps 3 hours at a time at night I am sooo very stressed out and tired and need advice!

Mt little girl is 9 weeks old. She now sleeps for 8-9 hours straight at night but she doesn't go to bed for the big sleep until 10.30PM. She wakes about 7am every morning, feeds and sleeps again for another couple of hours. We are up by about 10.30am, 11am every morning then throughout the day she has a mat to lay on with toys around, she decides when she wants to sleep and she also naps throughout the day. I let her do what she wants and she lets me know when she is hungry. I think people get too wrapped up with what books and health centres say. Every baby is different, I have let Jessika fall into her own routine and its perfect for us all. If she's not sleeping but not making a fuss she's not tired. Health nurses don't know everything- it's your baby.

My 13 week old baby sleeps thru the night from 10 pm to 7-8am, and he usually only has one day sleep of 2-3 hours. Some days he'll only sleep for 40 mins. I don't stress out trying to make him sleep, I just go with what he wants to do. I think when a baby sleeps through the night they will have less sleep in the day.

My baby isn't that old yet, but is it just that they want to be awake like everyone else? It's a big world!

Yep, they are very inquisitive. Look at what they have to learn about the world!!! I can sympathise with you Larissa, my 5.5 week old is the same, sleeps 8pm-1.30 am, feeds then bed from 2.30-7am. I've been keeping her up approx an hour during the day but come time for her to sleep does she settle??? Nope!!! So we're left with a very cranky little thing. I too am going to a sleep school for the week on Sunday. It's true that all babies are individual, but I believe they need to be guided as to when it's time to sleep and they also need to learn how to sleep. That way they have more energy to explore the world and are a lot happier little people!!!! Good luck everyone.

Hi - could someone please give me the phone no. for the sleep school - I'd be very interested to go to that! My 11 week old boy has slept through the last 3 nights (9/10pm - 6am) but he is SOOO unsettled from 6pm - 10pm and my fiance and I have had no time alone when he gets home from work! Sometimes he's cranky but whatever we do he just wont sleep in his cot - we've tried everything. He'll dose in the lounge with us but we need a break some evenings - he's great every other time.