When do I structure daytime sleep? DD 12weeks

[Nyunya]

First time mum with DD, who is now 12 weeks old.

Generally she's having a few naps of 45mins to 1hr a day. Sometimes she'll sleep for longer - up to two hours. I keep an eye on her cues and the clock as to when to put her down (eg, I know she'll be tired after two hours awake etc) but generally she sleeps when she wants to.

I know that many babies/children seem to have one long sleep in the middle of the day - is this something that just happens or is it something I need to 'help' her do? If so, at which point do I start to structure her daytime sleeps?

Bit of advice would be much appreciated!
Thanks in advance.

Hi, I would say it just happens. Don't worry about it too much. I had many friends who spent ages trying to get babies in routines. We all ended up quite similar really. Also sometimes it really doesn't work and they refuse to sleep all morning then drop off five mins before you leave to take them to the doctors or to see health visitor!

One long sleep in middle of day is a long way off - mine had two sleeps til over one year old and at 12 weeks were napping many times in an average day.

Hi, I don't have any more experience than you but am in the same boat - first time mum to 12 week old. Mine also tends to sleep when she likes during the day - I am trying to keep her to a max of 3 naps, so she usually does half an hour or so in the morning, 1-2 hours lunch/early pm and then another shortish one later in the afternoon. She'll sleep on me for seemingly infinite amounts of time but putting her down either wakes her up immediately or at least limits the length of time she sleeps. I usually have to take her out in the pram to guarantee a long sleep in the middle of the day. Oh and I usually have to feed her to sleep, which I hope (??) she'll grow out of but perhaps am in denial. Sorry not much use in terms of advice but I definitely think your experience is very normal from those I've spoken to! 12 weeks is still very young, or that's what I am telling myself...

I'd say don't stress too much. If it's been 3/4 hours since they woke up then they probably need a nap! My worst mistake was not noticing the signs and letting DS get over-tired and impossible to put down. I found jotting out daily routines helped as I discovered we almost had a routine I hadn't noticed!

Great. I'll stop worrying about it, then! Always nice to get a bit of reassurance, thankyou.

JJ - Although I haven't followed her, I found Gina Ford helpful in that I used her 'max daily sleep' as a guideline for the amount of sleep I let dd have - though sometimes she sleeps more, and sometimes less, depending on how tiring a day she's having/had. But its quite useful to keep an eye on!

Yes abigboydidit, I have been writing down her sleeps and feeds every day since she was born (slightly obsessive, I know but I like to have a complete record - in fact now I've started I have this compulsion to continue!) She was just getting into a bit of a pattern at about 7 weeks when she fell ill for 2 weeks, totally threw her off, and then we went away for Christmas - so only just getting back on track. It'll be interesting to see if she creates her own routine now we're back at home. Though I hope she's going through a growth spurt at the moment as she's feeding nearly every 2 hours!

I think I'm reasonably good at spotting her cues, though now she's found her fingers, she often sucks them when she's tired, which I mistake for hunger, so try to feed her. Talk about confusing!

Any more thoughts much appreciated!

DS fell into a routine around 8 weeks after I had to force the issue as he got overtired easily. He magically would have a long mid day sleep but only in the sling
There is a big growth spurt at 12 weeks so perhaps see what happens after that?

Btw I wrote down DS's feed/sleep times and found them useful now I have DD (1 month) to give me a reality check on what to expect!