Looking for some advice please about waking a sleeping baby!
DS1 is 11 weeks old, we don't have a proper routine as such yet, i.e. at specific times, but have a pattern for night time sleep which is usually: sleep about 4-5 hours from being put down at bedtime, feed, sleep for 2-3 hours, feed, sleep for 2-3 hours and wake - so for example bed at 8.00, feed at 1, feed at 4, up at 6.30.
During the day is a lot more variable depending on where we are, but generally is a short nap (45m - 1hr 15), then a longer morning nap which can be 2-3 hours; a short afternoon nap then a long afternoon nap, again around 2-3 hours. He is only awake for about 1.5 hours at a time.
The last nap of the day usually starts around 4.00 - 4.30, but the last couple of days he has refused despite being obviously very tired. He's finally gone to sleep around 6.00, and we've had to wake him up for a sensible bedtime, as I don't want him to think he is in his night time sleep. We woke him up around 7.30 yesterday and he seemed to be in a really deep sleep, was groggy and just wanted to go back to bed - we basically just woke him up, rushed through bottle and bath and put him back.
Tonight we woke him at 7.15, he was awake but sleepy, fed him and took him upstairs but had to bring him down for a nappy change - he is now wiiiide awake but getting increasingly overtired.
If this happens again tomorrow, do you think I should be letting him sleep his whole nap? Bedtime could end up 9-10, which would be okay for us but seems a bit late for a baby! And I am worried it would screw up his night time sleep routine.
Or should I just bite the bullet and put him down for the night at 6 (before DH gets home so not ideal)?
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11 week old - last nap and bedtime
ToffeeForEveryone · 26/05/2016 20:58
Have a 10 week old and we have exactly the same issue! I never know whether to wake him and try and keep to 'usual' bedtime or whether to leave him- they do say you should never wake a sleeping baby! But I worry he's in his 'long' sleep and by the time I go to bed I'll only get like an hour before he's awake and then he'll wake sooner after that!
We don't have a routine either really (3 hour naps sound lush btw) but some days if I'm out and about I'll try and time when we come home for say 6 so that he should be asleep by half 7ish. I wake him to feed him if nap times haven't worked out well that day. Not sure if that's wrong or right but I panic every single evening that im gonna get a shit nights sleep! My baby is usually very kind to me though, does pretty much the same as yours- I think I need to give him the benefit of the doubt sometimes!
Congratulations on babe by the way 
Thanks everyone.
Had to wake him today again 
. Wasn't a normal day for him nap wise, we were out and about and just about every nap was interrupted by transfer from car seat to pram or vice versa, poor mite, so he was probably quite tired. We were home by about 4 and he KOed at 5 after feeding. He was still sleeping at 8 so woke him up as didn't want him waking from his "nap" in the dark! He was a bit groggy to start with but he was fine after about 15 minutes and it was pretty much a normal waking cycle.
It made for a later bedtime but it worked out well for us (particularly DH who has the overnight shift tonight, and got to watch the football :) ) I think he had started to go into a proper deep sleep though, so will wait and see what tonight brings!
No secrets or tricks to the long naps, just thanking my lucky stars! I'm fully expecting it to all go tits up when he hits the 4 month regression, so enjoying it now whilst it lasts :)
He refused to be put down at all in the day for the first 6 weeks, like even for 10 minutes in his bouncy chair, so the difference in just over a month has been quite dramatic! I'd been struggling to get him to nap anywhere but my arms downstairs, in the bouncer or his bassinet or Sleepyhead (where he sleeps at night), but it was hit and miss and always a struggle.
About 3 weeks ago I was knackered so took him up to bed hoping that I could sleep if he did, put him down in his crib and he fell asleep pretty much instantly. I'd been trying to keep "daytime" and "night time" separate by having him nap in the sitting room, but actually it seemed like he just wanted his own bed to go to sleep, which is quite obvious when I think about it!
We have a Snuzpod beside our bed with the Sleepyhead inside it, I keep the room as dark as possible for naps and lie down beside him whilst he falls asleep. He has a dummy and pretty much self settles, I just have to keep the dummy in and occasionally have my hand on his chest if he's startling a lot. Some naps he'll be very unsettled though (lots of problems with his digestion) and I pretty much have to stay there to maintain his sleep, i.e. replace dummy when he squirms and knocks it out his mouth.
What on earth are you waking your tiny baby for? just let him nap when he needs to. Blimey, you're making this far more complicated than it needs to be!
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