If a baby sleeps better at night do they need less daytime sleep?

[Tucancrossing]

My 9 week old sleeps really well at night - he's in bed for 12 hours and probably asleep for 10-10.5 of those. However he's an awful daytime sleeper. It's a struggle to get him to sleep at all, and when he does it's only for 30-45 mins max. I know that at his age he shouldn't be awake for longer than 90 minutes or so but he'd happily stay awake for hours and hours in the day. At the end of his 'awake window' I try and get him down to sleep, but it's often 60+ minutes of work to get him down for a 30 minute nap. He used to sleep in the car or the pram on a walk but he doesn't even do that any more. The better his nighttime sleep has got, the worse his daytime sleep 😬 Should I be adjusting how much daytime sleep he needs taking into account how much sleep he's getting at night? Thag makes sense to me, but none of the advice out there seems to allow for this 🤷🏼‍♀️ I'm fed up of spending all day in a constant battle with a baby who quite frankly doesn't seem tired!

Yes from 9-12 weeks babies get more alert and will sleep less. Chances are if he’s happy and hitting milestones he’s getting all the sleep he needs. Enjoy it while you can. They tend to change sleeping patterns so fast in the first year

I’d say if it takes 60 mins to get a nap he’s not tired enough when you’re starting. With my DD I have learnt to ignore what they “should” be doing and watch her behaviour instead to see when she’s actually tired. Most of the time now I can see when she’s ready for a sleep and can bf her or head out in the pram etc to get a nap.
If he’s otherwise happy I wouldn’t stress too much about it, the range of sleep babies need is quite wide with some needing more than others.

If I had gotten a 10 hour stretch overnight at 9 weeks I’d have jumped for joy!

Babies don’t always need as much sleep as the books say- DD only ever slept about 12 hours a day at that age.

Wow, lucky you!

I'd say go with the baby. If he's gaining weight, feeding well and happy then great!

Thanks for the advice everyone, I've tried to go with the flow a bit more today and have only actively tried to get him to sleep when he actually looks tired! Which hasn't been much, but oh well!

@TheMagicDeckchair he's never done 10 hours in one go, but he will usually do 6-8 hours, then a feed, followed by a further 2-4 hours. I'm very, very lucky I know 🙈 The lack of daytime sleep makes it hard to get anything done, but I wouldn't swap it for the world!

Just an update incase anyone comes across this, after a very rocky patch around the 12-14 week mark he settled himself into a pretty consistent routine and now at 18 weeks is having 3 naps per day at regular times, alone in his cot (after feeding to sleep) and things are much easier. So glad I decided to go with the flow and follow his lead!

I would just get him to sleep when he's tired during the day. If he isn't easily sleeping during the day, but sleeping great at night, then he's probably doing fine. I never put mine to sleep unless they were tired.