Sleepy baby!!!

[BumpyMo]

Hello, my baby is 12 weeks old but was born 4 weeks early and seems to sleep a lot at the moment. She never used to sleep this much and I thought that by now she may have started to be more awake during the day?! Any ideas or advice would be great as this is my first baby, thank you x x

bumpymo - my ds is 10 weeks and sometimes seems to sleep the entire day on and off! Other days - like today - he hardly sleeps at all. I know what you mean about wakeful periods but I guess they are taking in more information when they are awake which is probably more tiring, hence the need to sleep. How are the nighttimes? Does lo sleep well then?

cruisemum- Yes, thats the thing my dd does sleep well of a night, mostly only waking once at about 3/4 for a feed. But I have noticed that when she sleeps a lot in the day, it gets later than normal when she settles down for bed. What sort of time does ur lo go to bed and wake etc? x x

Is there anyone else with any advice please? How much should she be sleeping at her age? x x

Bumpy - your LO adjusted age is 8 weeks ... at this age sleeping a lot is "normal" for some babies. Also at 8 weeks my LO could maybe stay awake a maximum of 35 mins after a feed before needing to be put down again. As long as when your LO is awake she is alert etc and not sleeping through feed times, enjoy the time to yourself. There will come a point where she will change again and be more active and sleep less ...

Taylormama- Thank you! That sounds about right for my lo too, she will feed then only stay awake for about an hour before sleeping again!! when she is awake, she is a lot more contented than before which is good. When do babies start sleeping less in the day and settling down to bed earlier? x x

hi - with my LO there was a definite shift at around 12/13 weeks when he started to stay awake for longer ... i think he became more aware of his surroundings etc. Now at 24 weeks he can go for up to 3 hours before a nap but the usual is 2 - 2.5 hours. whatever is right for your baby is good!

Ok, thank-you. I just wasn't sure if i should be trying to keep her awake or not!! i know some people only let their babies have a certain amount of sleep. But i guess that my lo is still sleeping well of a night so its not causing a problem. plus, my partner says its too hard to keep a 3 month old awake when their tired!!!! x x

as long as your LO sleeps well at night then leave her daytime sleeps as they are - you know your baby best and it sounds like she is doing well. xxxxx

let your little one sleep as much as she wants, particularly if she's good of a night time... i remember hearing once that sometimes babies are more restless of a night time because their not getting enough sleep during the day... i can't remember where i got this from, but i followed this with ds and he's alsways been a fab sleeper! gradually over time he's dropped his naps in the day.. but i always made night time boring and daytime fun.

goodluck with your little girl!!

thats what i was thinking, i'd be more concerned if she wasn't sleeping of a night coz she is sleeping too much in the day but at the moment, thats not the case!!

Bumpymo and Saralou - quite agree with the theory that less sleep in the day results in fractious baby and restless sleep later. One of the little gems I heard from MN was that sleeping is like a skill for babies - the more of it they do the better at it they get! It certainly made me feel a lot better about the fact that ds sometimes sleeps quite a lot during the day. We too have good nights. He goes from around 9pm to around 5 or 6am without waking inbetween. He actually sleeps from before 9pm, but in my arms so that he can have the occasional suck (he is bf). I was totally and utterly stressed about sleeping/routine/waking/feeding - you name it! But it is true what everyone says - baby's find their own 'routine'. The art is in learning to understand their cries/needs and pre-empting them. Good luck. Also, my ds seems to sleep a lot during a growth spurt. Also, our days are quite erratic. Sometimes he naps beautifully and seems so settled and happy but other days - like today and yesterday - he was unable to stay asleep for more than about 40 mins and cranky all day!! Babies hey - who'd 'ave 'em!!

Just had to agree with cruise - my DD is 10 weeks also and like Cruise's lo has some 'perfect' napping days and others when she is like a stroppy teenager giving it "whatever" attitude lol
I have also posted on here in the past re how much sleep during day - and it is true, the better they nap the better they sleep at night. DD goes to bed around 7 to 7.30 and goes through till 6 to 7 (with a dream feed at 10.30) has only been going through this week - until then was taking a feed around 4am until a friend suggested I hold fire before leaping out of bed at DD's first mumour, and what do you know, within 3 mins DD was back to sleep!!! I would of carried on for weeks had my friend not tipped me off - this sleep malarky is hard - I have just posted re my DD now starting to cry at bedtime after weeks of going of like a dream....??? these little darling are sent to confuse us lol

Jam - what is your other thread title? Would be interested to join in. Is it in same category as this one?

jam - just re-read your post and realised that you don't have another thread at all!! That's what happens when you try to read the messages and make the breakfast at the same time. Doh.

bumpymo - forgot to answer your questions re: sleeping times etc. I'll start from morning
5-30/6am wakes for feed
sleeps
7am - have to get up for dd school sometimes has top up before school run
8:15am asleep again for around 45 - 90 mins
wakes/feeds stays awake for around 90 mins
sleep again. Beyond that he normally wakes/feeds/sleeps randomly during the day but I have noticed that cannot usually stay awake for more than around 90 mins to 2 hrs. At the end of the afternoon he usually stays awake longer and I put him in the bath around 6.30 - 7ish when he starts to get cranky. He dozes/feeds from around 7:30pm till I put him to bed at 9:00pm. Hope that helps!