Is this too much?

[MissTwister]

My almost 5 month old is sleeping an awful lot - she always has but I thought she would have more wakeful periods by now. She sleeps through the night from 7-7ish waking once for a feed and then often naps loads in the day too. This morning she woke at 7:15 and by 7:45 was asleep again and is still asleep an hour and a half later!

When awake she is alert and fine but I'm just concerned this much sleeping could be a sign of health problems - any thoughts?

[FATEdestiny]

Hmmm tough.

Babies do sleep a lot, but what you consider "a lot" might be different to the next person or the next person, so it is quite subjective.

But the thing to be mindful of is that excessive sleepiness would be a pointer to speak to your GP to check for some health issues. A friend of mine's baby with downs syndrome, for example, is very quiet and sleeps much more than an 'average' baby

Having about 60-90 minutes awake between naps would be about normal for this age. I think sleep recommendation would be something like 14-18 hours sleep in 24 at this age (there is a link for this recommendation, but I'm not sure of the website so it's a sensible guess).

If your baby is having only 30 minutes awake between all her naps and assuming her naps are of a decent length (45 minutes ish) then I would probably mention to the GP for checks.

You would need to be quite descriptive with the GP though - maybe take in a sleep diary that you keep for a few days - because saying baby "sleeps a lot", as I mentioned, is very subjective and likely to be dismissed.

[MissTwister]

Thanks for the reply. The 30 minutes was actually unusual to be honest. Normal awake time is 1 1/2 hours. In fact she can stay awake much longer - she did 3 hours today but she looks very tired.

She definitely doesn't have Down's as was tested!

[FATEdestiny]

I wasn't suggesting she had Downs, just making the point that some health problems do cause excessive sleepiness so it's worth being mindful of.

90 minutes between naps is perfectly normal at this age. Is this your first baby? Maybe you had just not realised what level of sleep babies need?

[Purpleboa]

My friend's baby does the same. Having a DD who averages about 10 hours a day, I can't get my head round a baby that sleeps that much! But some of them do, and I think it's normal. By all means get it checked out, but I'd call your health visitor first before seeing the doctor - as Fate says, they are likely to be dismissive.

They do say that sleep leads to more sleep and I've noticed that on the rare nights my baby does sleep 'well', she's sleepier the following day. My advice would be to enjoy it - you are very very lucky!

[Purpleboa]

When I say a day, I mean in 24 hours!

[MissTwister]

Thanks both

Fatedestiny yes this is my first. I was only concerned as certain books were telling me that by now she should be dropping the afternoon nap and just doing an hour in morning and 1-2 at lunch when she needs much more than this

Purpleboa our HV here are incredibly useless so may chat with doctor. If all is well I do appreciate how lucky it is!

[icklekid]

My 16 month old still has 2 sometimes 3 naps a day do don't worry about that! He doesn't however sleep 7-7 sadly if happy and alert when awake I don't think I would worry!

[Sleepyfergus]

Tbh, I think your dd just likes her snoozes! But if you are concerned, keep a diary of wake/sleep/feed times for a couple of weeks so that if you do decide to speak to GP or HV, then you have some concrete evidence rather than just saying "she sleeps a lot"

Good luck, you may well be back on here in a few months tearing your hair out because she doesn't go to sleep anymore!!

[Caterina99]

My DS just turned 5 months. On average he sleeps 12 hours at night, waking once for a feed (so less half an hour or so) and has 3 naps a day totalling 3 - 4hours. There is obviously some variation, but most of what I've read seems to suggest this is pretty normal. He's usually awake about 2 hours between naps.

[MissTwister]

Thanks all. For now I will just appreciate her snooziness!