Sleeping a lot - having a wobble

[youaremychocolatecake]

Hello all,

Probably having a neurotic moment here but my almost 7 week old sleeps all the time. His most awake period is between about 10/11 at night until 1/2 in the morning (annoyingly!) but then he sleeps through until about 6.30/7 wakes for a feed and goes back off. I usually feed him again when we get in from the school run just after 9 and then he will sleep until about midday. I try and feed him again around school run time either by waking him or he wakes naturally and again back off to sleep for 3 hours. In the evenings he cluster feeds a bit (unless we are out somewhere with sling or buggy) and naps inbetween and I tend to take him up to bed when I go at around 11 and do a final feed but as I say he is then a bit unsettled for a couple of hours generally.

Now on the one hand this is lovely because he's very easy and no trouble at all during the day but on the other hand I'm starting to panic that he sleeps too much. My first didn't sleep at all so maybe in comparison this just seems too much.

He is gaining weight well. He's quite the chunk actually and has lots of wet nappies and about 7-8 poos a day.

I suppose I'm just looking for some reassurance that he is ok? I was expecting this newborn sleepy stage to have passed by now. I'm not complaining but I'm just getting a tiny bit concerned?!

Also any ideas how I turn his natural routine (I haven't implemented one) around a bit so the very awake period he has is in the day or the early evening rather than at 1am when I'd really rather be catching some zzz's myself should I be trying to keep him awake more in the day?

I had a very sleepy baby, and used to worry there was something wrong with him. I was told as long as they are alert when they are awake then that is fine. Some babies just sleep a lot. DS used to sleep about 21 hours a day, and was only awake for feeds, and nappy changes. Enjoy it, it makes life so much easier.

Thank you, he's so different to my first x

Without wishing to alarm you, my dd was very sleepy. I figured she was just a sleepy baby. However, there was actually something wrong. She was much younger than your Ds and if Hes been like this since day one I'm sure as he's gaining weight and has some wakeful time that he's fine and just relaxed and well fed but it may be worth mentioning it to your health visitor.

What turned out to be wrong?

She had an infection. Like I said she was a lot younger but I still feel really bad that I didn't notice sooner but I just assumed she was a sleepy baby but she was the complete opposite of dd1 too. She did sleep but was awake far more and was bright and alert when she was.

I'm sure your baby is fine and he wouldn't be eating and gaining so well if there was something wrong, but occasionally a sleepy baby isn't just a sleepy baby. It's worth keeping an eye on that's all. As above some babies do sleep a lot (lucky them :) ) but in dds case it was a sign of an infection I missed :(

My nearly six month old loves his sleep - slept as much as yours did in the early months. Now he sleeps 9.30ish to maybe 8.30/9am. Then 3 naps, each maybe 1 and a half to 2 hours. Sometimes a nap could be 3 hours long. I never thought there was anything wrong - just that he is a growing boy who loves to sleep!
Regarding the times he is asleep - he naps in the buggy downstairs, there would be light and noise in background. At night he tends to fall asleep on couch next to me sometime between 9 and 10 (just after last bottle) and I put him upstairs in cot, though he 's taken to coming into our bed in past week - I need advice myself on that. I would sometimes make extra noise around him during the final nap to make sure it doesn't go on too long.