My 3 month old is perfectly happy and healthy. She tracks the 9th percentile so is small but not concerning so (she was born on the 25th).
At night, she sleeps 11-12 hours bar 2 10 minute feeding wakes.
In the day however she is 100% NOT tired every hour and a half as the books say. She won't nap thar often: all thar happens is she is happily awake in the crib/sling/arms for another hour till she sleeps.
If I rock and put her down its always 3 times a day she has a good proper sleep.
It totals 13-14 hours - which many sources say is the lower end of ok.
She has no signs of over tiredness. GP, nurse and HV all state she is textbook healthy and we'll developed.
But some sources say 18 hours is ideal. They all say they can only go an hour and a half.
I feel so guilty and anxious: maybe she is 9% not 25% because she doesn't sleep enough. Maybe she will not develop properly. 
But when I look at HER it does seem she's sleeping enough for HER. And experienced mums nod and say "oh she's just a non napper ... does she sleep ok at night?" Which she does ... as if it's a harmless quirk. But am I neglecting her?
Sorry for the long rant. Anyone else feel this guilt or stress about the books (especially the sleep ones saying more is needed than the basic 14-16 hr most books say).
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"The books" v reality: amount for 3 month old
squizita · 24/12/2014 15:44
It's not aimed at your sharing of the link.
It's not just that blog I went and looked at several and a book... They all say it varies ... then all use words like "optimum", "healthy" etc. And it's always left hanging ... less is "unhealthy" but no how's or whys or what could happen ...
Squiz- do I remember rightly that you suffer from anxiety? I think you need to step away from the expert advice and look at what your baby is telling you, which is that she is doing well.
And why on earth would sleeping more make her grow bigger? And why is being on the 25th and not the 9th a good thing?
Honestly, you'll give yourself a breakdown if you assess everything against some fictional normal. You have a whole load of tiny milestones to come - sleep, interest in solids, sitting, crawling, walking, teeth, first words. Some your baby will be bang on average, and some one end of the spectrum or the other. 
Mine has decided she MUST sit on me and feed. Oh dear (not) dh must bring me prawn sarnies and a small beer. 
Yeah I think I'm getting all anxiety/guilty again.
my ds is 2 months old and frequently goes for hours without a sleep (no real routine yet). Hes at the 96th centile for his height, it definitely has nothing to do with the amount of sleep he gets! (up every hour last night, for example...) i would put the books away unless you think theres a problem, which there clearly isnt right now
Arstistic as I mentioned before she's perfectly happy ... eats well, cries maybe once or twice a day with clear cause (ie cries- poo in nappy - changed - all smiles).
If I made this huge effort you describe neither of us would ever go out, feed etc. Would that be a trade worth making? Because she genuinely isn't tired. I tried making her nap (as again I mentioned before) I just ended up trying to settle her for 2 hours ie until she was tired same as before.
Bit thanks for the anxiety boost. 
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Squiz - I suppose if she is having 3 naps in the day then you shouldn't worry. It's hard to enforce the 4th nap. Didn't mean to cause anxiety. Just shared what I was trying since my DD seemed to be having lesser than the 'prescribed' amount of sleep & we were perhaps in the same boat.
Hope it all works out..
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