Baby won't sleep in the evening?

[Peony94]

Hi! I'm a first time Mum with a 7 week old daughter. I keep reading that babies need on average 16 hours sleep and shouldn't be awake for more than 2 hours at a time. My daughter is almost always awake at least 2 hours between naps and in the evenings she can sometimes stay awake for 4-5 hours! She doesn't really cry, she just doesn't sleep.

She is swaddled in a sleeping bag every night with a dummy and a white noise machine. I have tried rocking her to sleep, cuddling her, leaving her in her bed (not crying, if she cries I will cuddle her) but nothing seems to work. We have even sat in the pitch black for ages to see if that helps!

I have asked my health visitor and she has advised it is normal for babies to be unsettled in the evenings but I'm worried she isn't getting enough sleep. Is anyone else's baby like this?

Babies sleep when they sleep....they won't starve themselves and if she's not crying then she isn't struggling to sleep or settle.

Try not to read too much, every baby is different 🙂

She sounds like a contented baby OP! does she sleep at night? Mine used to stay awake in the evening but at that age had colic so was agitated and restless for a few hours. The upside was he slept 11-6 most nights after a last feed at 11 so we all got a good chunk of sleep.

Both of mine only seemed to wake up at about 5pm and then used to proceed to feed or scream for hours on end. We used to play pass the baby over the dining table so we could eat and used to watch TV with the subtitles on. Eventually nod off about midnight for a decent few hours until 4am party time started. Got a bit easier at about 3mo and both of them have had a 7pm ish bedtime since 6mo (they are now 4 and 1 and were both fast asleep by 7.30 tonight 🍹)

Thank you, not long after I posted this she fell asleep and slept for 5 hours 😂

@mrsfollowill I think she's slowly starting to sleep longer at night. We fed her at 2amish last night and then she slept right through till 7am. She cries a little in the evening when she's awake but nothing too bad! I think I just overthink 😂

@Bornsloppy Oh gosh! Luckily she doesn't cry too much, she just kind of seems like she doesn't know what to do with herself bless her 😂 ooo that's a good bed time! 🥳

if it's of any comfort my DS, 12 weeks, will fully fight his sleep, has done from earlier weeks. Only yesterday we went out to a friends house and he took a half an hour nap in the car, then went on to fight any urge to sleep for the next 6 hours, bearing in mind he had only slept those 30 minutes between 7am to 5pm (with two 15 minute naps earlier).

he should be sleeping a LOT more through the day, but he fights his sleep way too much, MIL says his dad was the same as a baby.

got to the point where LO was screaming and crying for a good hour and a half because he was overtired, we managed to get him to sleep at roughly 10pm and slept through until 6am today, with a 10 minute feed at 3am, and he's okay.

just be patient and try not to worry, babies are stubborn and little, they only know so much, don't stress yourself out, it'll only makes it worst!!

@Bornsloppy

Both of mine only seemed to wake up at about 5pm and then used to proceed to feed or scream for hours on end. We used to play pass the baby over the dining table so we could eat and used to watch TV with the subtitles on. Eventually nod off about midnight for a decent few hours until 4am party time started. Got a bit easier at about 3mo and both of them have had a 7pm ish bedtime since 6mo (they are now 4 and 1 and were both fast asleep by 7.30 tonight 🍹)

This was exactly my experience with 2 year old DS, who is now an excellent sleeper. Absolutely wretched as a newborn though! I genuinely think he sleeps more now than he did at 2 months!

At 7 weeks old this is totally totally normal.

@charlottecruz Thank you! Last night she actually slept well, she's started to sleep for 5+ hours overnight so fingers crossed this will carry on ☺️

@littlejellyfish Thank you ☺️ It was just worrying me that everything I read said she should be sleeping sooo much more. She seems content though so that's the main thing!