My feed
Premium

Please
or
to access all these features

For free parenting resources please check out the Early Years Alliance's Family Corner.

Parenting

Is my ten week old baby sleeping too much - please help!

11 replies

Biscuitplanner · 20/12/2014 10:42

My baby is 10 weeks old. She seems to need an amazing amount of sleep - just now, she was up for about 30 minutes before getting jerky limbs, cooing, startling and looking wired. Unfortunately she rarely yawns as a sleep cue. She sleeps for about 10 hours a night with a couple of wakes to feed. She will nap for about 2 hours at a time and the longest she is awake for is about 1 hour. This gives me hardly any time to do anything with her: for example, if I want to bath her, I have to do it superquickly and yesterday didnt even have time to dress her properly before she gave a grimace and cry which signals to me that she needs to go to sleep. If I dont take her to bed then we get full on screaming and it becomes impossible to put her down later. When we are out and about she does not sleep when the pram is stationary or indoors. If we miss the sleep cues within about five minutes it seems we are in full blown screaming territory and it can take hours to settle her back down. I find this time very stressful. This means I hardly go out and get very nervous when I do. I thought the problem was my anxiety and filled out a sleep record with 'whats the worst that can happen' when I went out to lunch with my parents yesterday. My prediction: she would start crying when out, get wired, and get impossible to settle for the rest of the day, and that I would find it very hard to cope' turned out not to be catastrophising it happened in every respect. To me, the most important thing to me is my and baby's sanity, but I also worry that she wont get used to socialising. Other people tell me I need to get out 'for myself' but when that happens I am coping with full on screaming for the rest of the day into the evening and when that happens, the only way I can get her to sleep is by feeding her until she is sleepy and calm. They are also saying 'maybe she needs to sleep less and the problem is you are MAKING her sleep too much'. I feel very alone with this. I wish my baby did not need to sleep so much too. I dont mind the sleep i mind the screaming. Is there something wrong with my baby that she is sleeping so much? Have I got it wrong? What should I do?

OP posts:
Report
Pointlessfan · 20/12/2014 10:45

I can't help much as my DD is the opposite and doesn't like to sleep in the day but I just wanted to say don't worry about her socialising etc, she's very tiny and there's plenty of time for that. She obviously needs her sleep!

Report
fanjobiscuits · 20/12/2014 10:47

Don't worry about her getting used to socialising. That will happen naturally she's very little now. Sounds like you are doing a great job of reading your baby's cues. Would she nap in a sling to give you more flexibility? We found that a godsend.

Report
girliefriend · 20/12/2014 10:51

Hi my dd was like this! She needed a lot of sleep and was easily over stimulated. I had a routine in place which helped so I roughly knew when she would need to go to bed, so roughly an hour after she woke up she would go back to bed for an hour or more.

I would then get myself showered and sorted out. Then she would wake up and feed and I would attempt to leave the house (by this point if was normally about 10.30ish) I would go out for an hour then come back and put her back to bed!!

I had to go out at some point just for my own sanity. I think around 10-12 weeks they go through a massive developmental leap and she is probably having a growth spurt as well so will be sleeping excessive amounts. It should settle a bit by four months.

Also if she is that tired she will sleep when you are out, she will sleep in the buggy, sling or car.

Report
fatterface · 20/12/2014 10:52

All three of mine have been big sleepers, however I would try to get her used to sleeping while out and about. Subsequent babies don't get a choice in this! A sling and a dummy always worked for mine, or you get used to rocking the pram. I would persevere with getting out and getting her used to sleeping in different situations and with background noise though.

Report
girliefriend · 20/12/2014 10:58

Agreed with fatter my dd needed a lot of sleep but I needed to see other people as well as go shopping so dd had to learn to sleep in the buggy or car!! Which she did, a dummy helped Grin

Report
madwomanacrosstheroad · 20/12/2014 11:25

All baby's are different and some need a lot of sleep. She does not need to get out and socialise until much older but you probably do. Do you have/can you get your hands on a proper carrycot pram? The ones that were fashionable around 10 or 15 years ago with a proper carrycot and good suspension and fixed wheels? They are excellent for sleeping in so you can go out and she can sleep.
I had one who was very sleepy and when he was that age took him abroad to visit family taking only a buggy type pram. Everybody commented how jumpy and unsettled he was. After two days I managed to borrow a bigger pram and within a short space of time had my contented baby back. He had just been overstimulated which than made him unsettled. Their brains are still quite undeveloped at this stage so they can't process that much and need sleep. But you certainly can create conditions to need her needs and yours.

Report
Micah · 20/12/2014 11:32

I agree with madwoman, get a flat carrycot to go on your pushchair or try and get hold of a proper old fashiond pram.

Some babies just need sleep :). If you have a carrycot you can get out in the fresh air, go for coffee or a wander round the shops. Then you can unclip it to take in the house.

Dd1 needed her sleep and was hell if disturbed, so all her daytime sleeps were in the carrycot. I invested in lots of fleece blankets, so I could bundle her up without waking her to put clothes or a coat on, and we could go in and out while she slept.

Report
madwomanacrosstheroad · 20/12/2014 11:54

Also of you use sheepskin/real woolen blankets and natural fibre layers in pram and on baby you don't need to worry about overheating so much. Also despite what people think, the prams go on public transport. Have done it for years.

Report
Biscuitplanner · 20/12/2014 12:13

Thankyou so much everyone that's really helpful

OP posts:
Report
flipflopsonfifthavenue · 21/12/2014 16:04

Just wanted to add that my DS2 is 6 wks and also gets very over tired very quickly and I have no idea what his sleepy signs are so always miss them and like can then spend hours getting him to sleep. Often no amount of feeding rocking will work, he hates buggy so I carry him in sling or go for a drive and he'll eventually scream himself to sleep.
He so curious and interested that the slightest thing distracts him and so won't sleep. He just won't switch off and am sure he's not getting as much sleep as he'd like.
I feel your pain re trips out. I tool mil

Report
flipflopsonfifthavenue · 21/12/2014 16:06

Posted too soon! Took mil I to town and DS2 screamed the whole time wouldn't sleep in buggy or even sling. Was a disaster day

Report
Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.