Wondering how many and how long are young babies napping for?

[Chocoholism]

My 4 month old sleeps from 7pm to 6-7am (fab I know although she does have 1 or 2 nights a week where she wakes up at 3-4am, also we dream feed at 10.30pm)
Anyway she has 4 naps during day all lasting about 40 - 60 mins. Staying awake no more than 2 hours really in between.
Is this what others do? Is there like a general consensus of naps a day per age?
I.e. 4 months has 4, 6 months has .... Etc?

[TheresLotsOfFarmyardAnimals]

I love this link as a general guide - it really helped me with routine as I followed the eat, wake, sleep idea of things //www.mybabysleepguide.com/2009/02/wake-time.html

[Imnotbeverley]

My DS is exactly the same with naps in the day. 4x 40-60 min naps. Sadly he doesn't sleep through the night though!

[Imnotbeverley]

PS he's nearly 4 months.

[Geneticsbunny]

Mine too (4 months) and also doesn't sleep through the night.

[Lozzapops]

Until recently, my 5 month old was sleeping 7 til 7 (with a 10:30pm dream feed), however over the past two weeks has decided 6am is a good time to start the day! Anyway, on a good day, she will have 4 naps of 40 minutes each. She is a monkey and just won't sleep longer than 40 mins in the day. I find we have about 2 hours of awake time between naps.

[Imnotbeverley]

Out of interest, all of those whose DCs also only have 40 minute naps- are you ff or bf? I am bf but have a permanent worry that the cause of these short naps is hunger, I spend a fair amount of time each day wondering whether my baby is starving and I should switch to ff so that I know what he is getting at least!

[BertieBotts]

At that age it's the other way around, you look at what's normal in terms of how long they are awake. 2 hours sounds about right for a 4 month old. I don't know that it matters how long they are napping for as long as it isn't hours and hours.

beverly if he/she was starving they would let you know! :) Babies who are dehydrated or undernourished are sleepy, even when awake. If your baby is alert when awake and producing at least 6 wet or dirty nappies in a day then that's fine.

[callamia]

Five months; half hour naps every 1.5-2 hours, or longer if we're out and he's distracted and interested. Longer naps if he's out in the pushchair/carrier.

At home he naps for almost precisely 30m

[TarkaTheOtter]

imnotbeverley my dd was a catnapper til she walked, by then she had been weaned for ages so not hungry. I think short napping is really common, it's just a developmental thing.

[Imnotbeverley]

Bertie and Tarka- thanks for the reassurance. He is a happy and alert baby, plenty of nappies etc. We had a difficult start to bf and I am still not very confident about it.

He also has his fists in his mouth almost permanently, this also makes me worry that he is hungry, although my rational brain tells me it's normal.

Apologies for hijacking your thread OP

[Chocoholism]

Hey thanks for all answers, my DD is ff so I don't think you need to worry imnotbeverley about that as long as pp mentioned that nappies are wet and all the good signs of thriving are there

[Chocoholism]

Also imnotbev my 4 month has fists in mouth all the time, started doing that at maybe 8-10 weeks, maybe for comfort and more now as I think her gums are doing something to do with teething possibly

[TarkaTheOtter]

Once they're past the first few weeks hands-in-mouth is also developmental - he's exploring them, the mouth has lots of touch receptors.
It's all much easier when you're on no 2 though and know what to expect!

[Imnotbeverley]

Thanks again all of you- I thought that I was going to be such a relaxed and cool mother- turns out that I find something to worry about constantly!

[Chocoholism]

Me too immotbev easy to get caught in the panic of what should they be doing, what are they doing, I reckon pp is right that by no.2 ( if I go there) I won't worry so much