How long should baby sleep during the day?

[atvh]

My baby only tends to sleep between 1-2 hours from 7am-7pm. He will then sleep for an hour or two in the sling between 8pm-10pm, before we feed him and put him to bed in his cot between 11pm-7am (with a feed at around 2am).

Is this normal for an eight week old baby or should he be sleeping more during the day?

[Laylor]

I've had this same convo so many times about my baby. He is 17 weeks and is a poor sleeper. People will say yes but I think just he led by baby. I dont listen to those who say 'babies can only stay away for x amount of time' I look for the ques. If baby is feeding well and relatively happy and sleeping okish at bed time I would say absolutly fine. X

[atvh]

I would love him to sleep more during the day but struggle to put him down. He will sometimes fall asleep on me but as soon as I transfer him to his cot he will wake again.

He does sleep relatively well from 10pm onwards - just not before!

[SomeoneElseEntirelyNow]

At 8 weeks he almost certainly needs more sleep, that's barely 12 hours. If he wakes up when you put him down, i would let him sleep on you so he gets proper rest. Invest in a decent sling and some good books.

[Letsallscreamatthesistene]

Does he seem happily awake?

[Laylor]

If you are happy to have baby sleeping on you then do so. I read so much online about awake times and sticking to them religiously but my health visitor explained this.

Do we stay awake the exact amount every day
Do we sleep at the same time every day
Do we eat the same amount of food a day
Do we eat at the exact same time every day.

I answer no to all them so dont expect baby too. If you look it up on the internet it says babies need between 30 mins up to 3 or 4 hours per nap. Your baby might be able to function on just that amount. If hes grumpy all the time then I would say needs more sleep. If not that carry on the way you are going. I'd love my baby to sleep more during the day but he dosent and I'm learnt to live with it. Hes such a happy baby and when hes tired dont I know about it x

[Laylor]

Plus 8 weeks is still so young. He will probably change again next week. You've got to remember they have been in your tummy for 9 months. Everything is still so new to them. Baby led all the way - xx

[ballsdeep]

I've started putting my four month old in her cot when she is tired and goes to sleep herself. She loves being swaddled but started rolling really early so we bought her a zipadee zip and a myhumny bear and she loves it . I look for cues so if she rubs her eyes or doesn't want her milk, it's a sign she tired.

[Rubyroost]

My first baby would not sleep at that age, was a nightmare. He would fight and fight it and often would only have 9/10 hours a day. I was told in mumsnet this was really bad for brain development etc, but it didn't matter what I did. Sometimes his eyes would just stay open all day and then he'd be awake quite a bit in the night for feeds. Bhe eventually settled into a nap routine at 5 months and developmentally at 2.5 he is doing fine. These babies are so different. My 3.5 month old drops off to sleep easily and sleeps so much in comparison and when he was newborn hardly opened his eyes. I'm not doing anything different, in fact I'm doing less in terms of rocking etc