5 week old - do you still wake from naps?

[NewbieParentMango]

Baby is now 5 weeks old (6 weeks Monday)
Gaining weight steadily and all good.

He has started doing a 4 hour stretch sleep at night woohoo and then usually around 2/3 hours for the rest of the night.

My question is around day naps.
Previously I was waking him at 3 hours for a feed if he had not woken naturally but now I don't know whether I should still do this so he doesn't nap too long??

I'd don't want to give day and night confusion!

We go for a big walk every morning after the first feed and he cat naps but the next two naps can go on quite long if I leave him be :/

Goodness no, who told you you should wake him? Did he struggle to gain weight when he was tiny?

So long as he's gaining weight and healthy, you can leave him to sleep. He'll wake when he's hungry. A five week old baby will mostly just sleep and eat, you don't need to worry about a nap lasting 'too long' at this age. He's basically just a potato.

My 10 week old feeds at 10pm and bed for 11pm! All fine until 4am where she shuffles and wriggles and grunts like Crazy but Will never cry or waken up! It’s to the point where I’m wide awake and frustrated! There’s times I’ve got up and woke her and fed her and she’s taken one ounce or sometimes 3 ounces. Even at that when she goes down after that feed she’ll go back to sleep but will be wriggling again within 20 minutes! If I don’t feed her I’ll lift her and she’ll sleep on my chest until morning which I don’t want to get Into that habit! She feeds so well during the day always sinking her 6 ounce bottles! Im literally going crazy is anyone else dealing with the same ? Please help!!

Wriggly baby.

Hell no. Don’t wake a sleeping baby. Totally understand it until they’re discharged at day 10 but as long as they’re healthy and gaining weight I’d leave them.

@SnapdragonToadflax @PurBal I had read they should not sleep more then 2-3 in hrs in the day otherwise they get confused with day and night but maybe I just need to take his lead then. Such a minefield.

No issues with weight gain, very healthy weight , loss after birth and regain but they orginally told me to wake (the midwives) and I have worried should I still be doing this after I read about confusion.

@GreyBiscuit my baby can be abit like that. I worry it's wind or he is cold . Potentially some things to look at but I am no expert!

Never wake a sleeping baby (unless medical reasons).

I never woke mine at that age.

Take your baby’s lead (unless they are having trouble gaining weight). They will eventually get into a routine and sleep more at night etc but they’ll sort of do it themselves. If you’re unsure or worried though, give your health visitor a call. They will be really happy to advise (or chat to the health visitor or nurse about it at your baby’s 6 week check).

I never woke either of my babies from naps.

My daughter was super sleepy for the first 2-3 weeks and had to be woken for feeds as she wouldn't wake up otherwise. She was back at birth weight at 15 days and we continue until she was weighed again about 3 days later when she was gaining on the same line. Waking for routine feeds it really just for the first week or two when they are so sleepy and that trumps any feeding cues. Once feeding is well established and they are following their percentile line let them sleep

I would never wake a baby unless it was a medical issue.

I'm in agreement with this too!

Where did you read that, can you find the source? A newborn baby sleeps most of the time, they don't really do much other than sleep and eat. You need to wake a newborn that isn't gaining weight or is very sleepy and jaundiced (as mine was), but once they've gained back their birth weight and you're discharged from the midwife, so long as there are no other concerns, you can just let them sleep and eat when they want.

After a few weeks they wake up a bit and will have 'wake windows' where they like some interaction, but they will still sleep a lot. At this stage they might start to develop more of a routine, so you can more easily predict when they'll want to sleep and eat. We very vaguely followed the 2/3/4 schedule because it was what mine fell into naturally, but it won't be exact and you really just have to follow what they do. The main thing to watch out for is sleep signs, because if they're rubbing their eyes they're already tired. Some of my friends used the Huckleberry app and swore by it, that might be worth a try when he's a bit older (maybe 6 weeks +).

The best thing for developing their circadian rhythm is daylight - so take baby out for a walk first thing, maybe another walk in the afternoon, and keep everything dark at night.

Oh and the noisy sleep is called 'active sleep', it's just something babies do. They're fine, no need to wake.

I was told to wake my youngest because he was slightly jaundice and regular the feeding helped with that

@SnapdragonToadflax here is one of the resources where I seen it from a sleep consultant page.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C3I6gMMStCs/?igsh=MWx2cGF0azFzajF2cw==

Ok, thanks. So I think this advice is aimed more at older babies. Absolutely yes, if your six month old is sleeping 3+ hours in the day that could impact their nighttime sleep. But at six weeks they just sleep a lot, that's what tiny babies do. And they wake up a lot in the night because they have tiny tummies and aren't eating enough to keep them full all night yet. The nighttime wakings sound absolutely normal for six weeks, that four hour stretch will start to lengthen. It's more about following their cues at this age. You can of course wake them if they've slept a long time and you think it's going to mess with their feeding or nighttime sleep, but you don't have to. Trust your instincts, it's your baby.

I really liked Lucy Wolfe when my son was little, she explains things really well.

I only woke for feeds until they regained their birth weight, so 1-2 weeks. After that they slept as long as they wanted.