why is night time sleep different from daytime? Anyone know?

[nello]

My 12 week old sleeps well at night, going down at 7.30/8 and only waking once or twice for a feed in the night.

In the daytime she can't nap for longer than 45 mins, seems she wakes at the end of a sleep cycle....so, why does she not have this problem at night?

I'm just interested as to the difference, as i hear her stirring in the night but she manages to put herself back to sleep, whereas in the daytime no luck at all.

Any one know?!

I've no idea, but if you find out I'd love to know as we're in the exact same post. Didn't dare ask myself in case of jinxing night times!

ha ha! I know, as soon as i tell people my LO is doing well at nights i start panicking that it'll all go wrong!!

I want to know too

My 6 month old twins are the same, but can someone tell me why oh why they think the day starts at 5.30am?

Come on!...some one give us an answer!!!

I'm guessing hormonal and the circadian rhythm (how your body knows night from day). At night time, your body is ready for a nice long deep sleep. Day time, its different - activity, sunshine and your brain wants to be awake more and it's harder to properly switch off. Especially a baby that's got three million new things to learn and process every day!

That's my (rubbish) answer.

wiki page

There have been experiments where animals are kept in the dark and lose this natural rhythm of wanting to sleep for long periods at night.

Babies when first born haven't quite got the hang of it, hence waking/sleeping at funny hours when newborns. There's a theory that if you take your baby outside in early afternoon, they get the hand of it much quicker (which I will try with DC2!)

Thanks Iggly! so, basically it is easier for her to put herself back to sleep at night than in the day time becuase of this natural rhythm.

thanks, makes more sense now! I guess i would struggle to sleep a whole 9 hours during the day, whereas no problem at night, so the same thing for her.