How long can your 10 week old stay awake?

[VomitingVeronica]

I am desperate to get my dd closer to sleeping through her middle of the night bottle so have been trying to stretch her waking hours in the day while packing in as much feed time as possible. She has recently started to be able to stay awake for an hour and a half at a time which is great but I keep on reading books (gina, argh!) and forums that suggest that babies of this age can manage 2 hours so base their routines off them. Is this really realistic, it seems crazy for my little one! (I understand that every baby is different ect, just curious)

So please, while you mumsnet away the early morning, tell me your routine/expectations!

Hi there,

Not sure if i can help at all, but here's our story...My DD's 13 weeks now and has been sleeping through the night for a while now and pretty alert during the day. I think it's different for every baby though. When I meet up with NCT group I'm often gobsmacked at how the majority of babies just lie, fast asleep in their prams whilst mine insists on being up and contributing to the discussions the whole time! She's a nosey wee thing and can't stand stuff happening without her.

Her daytime naps are getting better it must be said, the past couple of weeks they're extending to about an hour and generally happening around late morning and early afternoon. Before she'd 'power nap' for about 20mins only. Her night time sleep is well established though so that's not really disrupted (apart from a few nights recently when she had a hip dysplasia harness fitted - but we're back to normal).

I think you'll find they just change a fair bit between 10-13 weeks. For example every time I used to take her out in the carrier she'd fall asleep within 2mins, from about 11weeks however she's wide awake and taking it all in when we go out in it.

Do you have an activity mat or bouncer you can stick them in/on? If there's stimulation they'll be less likely to fall asleep as they grow ever inquisitive. The downside is getting rather grinchy when overtired, but at least it gets them to stay awake for longer.

Please don't push her to stay awake in the day if she's napping well. Every baby is different. The sort of precise regime that Gina promotes can't possible be right for every baby.

If your 10 week old is only waking once in the night for a bottle, you're extremely fortunate. Little babies need to eat regularly. She'll probably need that bottle for some weeks/months to come. I forget the stats but its something like 80% of babies don't sleep through at 6 months and 60% at a year.

It's also well known that the more they nap in the day the better they sleep at night. Tiring her out really won't help the overnight.longer times awake will come when she's ready.

If Gina is stressing you please file it in the nearest bin!

My ds is 9wks. So far this morning:

up at 6 for feed, eczema cream, dressed,another feed then back to sleep (had prob been up an hour)

after about an hour asleep he was up again for feed, time in bouncy chair for songs with mummy walk round garden,quick 5 mins with nan,tummy time,feed and back to sleep again (maybe awake for 1.45)

quite often a feed will send him to sleep so it depends on when he wants feeding. The only times he's stayed awake long periods of time is when we've been somewhere and there's been loads going on (eg his baptism and a recent wedding) - ended up over tired and very cranky

I haven't read any of the routine books. happy going with the flow

I agree with HPSauce on being lead by them. We don't work to any 'routine' and DD is finding her own way. Today is interesting for example she's had 3 naps so far this morning. She's a tired wee thing so we're just going with it. She's down for another now.
However many naps she has during the day thankfully doesn't seem to disturb nighttime sleeps.

Some babies just need more sleep. My almost 3 year old still has far more sleep than books suggest he should at his age - 12 hours at night and three hours at lunch time. And my new baby (7 wks) struggles to stay awake for more than 45 minutes.

I do like a feeding routine (feed her every three hours which she's happy with) and a bedtime routine, and I kind of know what routine I'd like her to edge towards, but never try to keep her awake to stick to a napping routine. Sleep begets sleep!

my LO could only do 90 minutes of awake time until at least 4 months, maybe even 4.5 months. 2 hours by 5 months, and now at almost 9 months, she can do only one 4 hour awake stretch between her last nap and bedtime. She slept through the night early on and consistently.

In my (limited) experience, keeping her awake against her will during the day resulted in overtiredness and more night wakings.

Oh god, seems like my little one is the odd one out! 7 weeks old, and regularly goes 6-8 hours without a nap - and never appears particularly grumpy. It's driving me bonkers, but she does sleep well at night. I'm trying to put a routine in place to get her to take regular daytime naps, but I don't think she'll ever sleep every 2 hours...