Day sleeping HELP!! New mum

[Babyholly]

My DS is nearly 4 months old, I just wanted to know how much your 4month old sleep in the day and what their schedule is for feeding a napping.

My DS wakes around half 6 / 7 has his first bottle then about half 7/8 then will nap form about half 9 till 12 this can be the whole time or broken up if he wakes in-between, then bottle at 12. If we are staying in we will play etc and he will stay awake till his bottle about 4 then maybe have an hour nap but if we go out e.g. a walk or I meet friends somewhere he goes back to sleep in his pram and this come be for another 2 or 3 hours wake for bottle at 4 and then at 6 when DH comes in we keep DS awake till last bottle at 8 then bed at half 8 after being soothed. DS will fall asleep in my arms after his bottle. We keep him up right for about 20mins after food as he did have reflux and were told to do this, we still do it eventhough I think its gotten better.

How do I stop him from sleeping so much when we are out? He will easily fall asleep in his pram even on weekends when me and DH take him out, is he having too much sleep in the day for his age?

He will have his last bottle at 8 then go till about half 3 till his next but from then on till like half 6 hes loud and fidgets and grunts does this means he's having too much sleep in the day? He sleeps ok from 8 till half 3 but after that not good at all. I've read so many different things I just need advice from mums who have been there.
Thank you

Don't stop him sleeping!!! There is no such thing as too much sleep! And why are you keeping him awake for a last bottle? TBH, DD is 7 now so all I really remember is wishing she would sleep for more than half an hour in the day so she would sleep better at night.

Let him sleep as much as he needs to sleep. Sleep is hugely important to babies. Can I ask why you keep him awake?
I never put mine into a routine, I let them naturally fall into their own but even those who do want to put a routine in place will leave plenty of sleep times.

The grunting thing is pretty normal, it sounds like maybe a touch of wind.

We don't really keep him awake between 6 when my DH comes in and 8 we have our food DH plays with DS and he has a bath etc so he's just awake. If he is sleeping we allow him to sleep.

Sounds fine. At that age mine did 9-10, 12-2.30, 4.30-5.30. So roughly 4.5 hours of naps between 7am and 7pm. If they needed more, they had more!

I've been told too much sleep in the day will not allow them to sleep more at night

@Babyholly

I've been told too much sleep in the day will not allow them to sleep more at night

By someone who had kids 25 years ago right?

Imo sleep begets sleep.

Im just getting conflicting advice form everywhere and dont know what to do and whats best, getting me down and frustrated and im not sleeping well because of it and full of anxiety and guilt if im upset and my DH has to do things if im too tired or upset.

The better they sleep in the day, the better they sleep at night.

If you're looking for some actual stats to help then babies at this age should be having (on average mind! All babies are different) between 3:5-4.5 hours of sleep during the day.

If you're worried about the impact on nighttime and bedtime sleep then try to focus more on their awake windows and make sure they're awake around 2 hours before bedtime. I.e awake by 5pm for a 7pm bedtime.

Also it's perfectly normal for babies to have very unsettled sleep in the second half of the night from 2am onwards. Babies still have undeveloped circadian rhythms at this age (which is what drives their 24hr day/night pattern) so it shouldn't be expected at this age for them to have perfect uninterrupted 12 hour sleep stretches.

It might help for you to start reading up on the four month sleep regression too, so you're prepared for what's imminent.

Good luck 😊

I think he doesn't have enough sleep! If you are at home he is awake from 12 until 4?! 4 hours for a 4 month old is far too long. You need to go by wake windows- will be less than 2 hours for that age. Wake windows tend to be shorter in the morning and longer before bedtime.

I would used to cap naps at 1.5hours first nap, 2hrs next nap and then last nap awake before 5pm to ensure enough awake time before bed time at that age.

Your little one sounds like a great sleeper! I don't think you have anything to worry about. I would just go with it for naps, at this age they should still only be awake a few hours at a time before sleeping again. As someone posted above, at this age, good sleep in the day means better sleep at night. Eventually you'll need to limit day sleep, but not yet. An overtired baby will never sleep well. Mine only ever slept 30mins a few times a day until 6 months and her night sleep was a riot, as soon as she slept longer naps, she slept better at night too!

The grunting is normal. Mine went through that phase too. I think it was a combination of wind & just being in a lighter sleep as we approached morning time. 8pm - 3am'ish is honestly amazing. Mine didn't do that until she was about 6 months! It sounds like you're all doing great.

It's so hard having a new baby & the sleep deprivation is tough to get through. So it's totally normal to feel upset. I remember for a while thinking it was important to spend a bit of time with my DH after the baby went down, but then I realised it was more important to just go to bed early & get a long stretch of uni interrupted sleep. If you don't already do that, I'd suggest it!

Sleep breeds sleep! Let him sleep honestly. Ignore the conflicting advice and just be led by your baby, follow his cues.

You could try the huckleberry app - you can track sleep on there and it gives you an indication of when they’re likely to need their next nap, it’s been fairly accurate for us.

I’ve read that at 4 months they tend to sleep at least 14 hours a day sleep, but 10 to 17 is within the normal range.

My dd is 9 months old. I’ve never tried to stop her from sleeping unless it was say within about an hour of bedtime (although we probably didn’t have a set bedtime till she was at least 4 months, maybe older I can’t remember now!) The nights she sleeps best are when she’s had loads of sleep in the day.

It’s really hard and confusing at first and it does make you so so anxious.
Take a breath, you’re doing great. Let your little one lead the way and sleep if he needs to - it’s really fine. If something stops working you can change it but for now just try letting him have as many naps as he needs.

At that age how much sleep my DD had during the day didn’t affect her nighttime sleep - that only started happening when she was older, 7 months plus.

He’s doing really well I’d say, my DD barely done 4 x 30 minute naps at that age.

He sounds like he’s doing great.

Mine does the same after her bottle during the night and she doesn't sleep much during the day at all. She's 14 weeks. She has half an hour naps during the day and feeds every couple of hours.