Is there such a thing as letting a 3 week old nap too long?

[1990shopefulftm]

My 3 week old son has always had some trouble sleeping for longer stretches at night but has had 3 hour naps during the day.
We thought he might have colic and constipation so he's been on comfort milk since Saturday which seemed to be making a difference but now he's had about 40 minutes sleep since 1am so i m wondering if I shouldn't have let him nap so long during the day yesterday. There's not been much time where he hasn't cried in the past few hours so I have put him in his crib for a couple of minutes to take a breather which I still get a bit guilty about.

[DorisDaisyMay]

When my baby was three weeks, I felt a little bit like I was in a spin cycle of a washing machine. As a parent you feel wrecked and it’s relentless. No one had ever told me that having a new baby was so hard. I honestly though I wouldn’t get through it.

I wanted to share that story because your baby sleeping 40 mins since 1am sounds very usual.

You baby is very little. I followed a routine but the key is to follow it the best you can when you can and the rest you just follow your baby’s lead. Eg if nap time is 9am try to put your baby down then but if he’s not sleeping then you have to follow his lead.

Check his bum, burp him, rub his tummy - all this can be reasons for crying.

Try to cast off the guilty feeling though because this new stage is very hard.

[1990shopefulftm]

@DorisDaisyMay thank you. Yes it's is a bit relentless, DH and I are sharing the nights and I feel a bit guilty about that as he's back at work now so feel like I should be letting him have more sleep although he d do anything he could for both of us.

[Aquicknamechange2019]

This is really normal. Google "4th trimester".

[Harrysmummy246]

At 3 weeks old, it's not a nap, it's a sleep when they need to sleep- they haven't got circadian rhythms sorted out yet.

The best thing you can do when they sleep, if you can, is sleep yourself, whenever that is