Low sleep baby how much sleep

[Nikamon]

I think my baby has low sleep needs. He's 4 months old. When we were watching the wake windows and letting him sleep as much as he wants, he was sleeping 11h a day (instead of recommended 14-16). Except that most of the sleep happened during the day.

I decided to inverse night and day and I now allow max 2,5h of daytime sleep. I have to force him to wake up. If feels bad. But I'm afraid to let him sleep longer, as I noticed the more he sleeps during the day the less he sleeps at night

But recently he has great difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep at night (daytime is no issue). I think it's because he's not sleeping enough. How can I make sure he sleeps enough without risking that horror of hot sleeping at night coming back?

Anyone had a similar baby?

No real advice except that my 8 month old still naps 2.5-3 hrs a day and sleeps through 8:30-8:30 (with a dream feed)- so I’m surprised you’re capping day naps at max 2.5 hrs a day at 4 months old. I’ve checked my baby sleep logs and at 4 months she was napping 3-3.5 hrs a day. So definitely suggest you let baby sleep more during the day. We’re big believers in ‘sleep begets sleep’.

It’s very normal for babies to struggle with sleep at 4 months. They wake often and take a long time to settle. Why not try letting him sleep more during the day and see what happens? As long as there is still a decent window of awake time before bedtime. Usually more and better daytime sleep improves nighttime sleep at this age. It’s only when they are older it becomes an issue.

They need good day sleep to sleep well at night

Check out Lyndsey hookway on IG! Saved my sanity with my low sleep needs baby.

My baby sleeps better at night if I let him sleep in the day. 4 months is notorious for sleep regression, their sleep cycles change and need more help to stay asleep.

I know about sleep regression, it started at 3 months and finished a week ago (so he's now 4 months 1 week old actually). Unless that was something else. Or another regression :/

I'd be really surprised if he truly only needs 11 hours sleep a day, my 5 year old needs that as a bare minimum.

My baby was really bad at napping and even as a newborn was going 5-6 hours without a nap and I wondered if he just didn't need much sleep but in reality he did need it, he just struggled. Finally at 6 months he's got better and he's probably sleeping more now than when he was tiny! Babies can just be poor at sleeping and the fact he can prefer to sleep in the day suggests maybe his sleep is still a bit muddled.

Have you looked at wake windows and nap schedules for his age? Sleep at this age can be really tricky and too much or little day sleep can really impact the nights. If he's having 2.5hr day sleep and no more than 11hr total sleep he isn't having very much sleep at night either, maybe a bit of jiggling things around might allow a bit more sleep in the day and at night.

How many naps does he have during the day?
My son dropped from 4-3 naps around 4/5 months so it could be his schedule needs adjusting instead of the amount of time he’s asleep if that makes sense? Is his last nap too close to bedtime and he’s struggling to fall asleep?