Can sling cause baby to sleep too much

[cogitosum]

DS will only nap during the day in his sling. In pram etc he'll only do 10 mins before waking himself up. Even in my arms he'll only do a couple of moments and the Moses basket was relegated very early on! He will sleep in his carseat but only for a limited time. However in his sling he has one 3 hour nap and two 2 hour naps. Also if I'm out and about he'll sleep at other points.

He sleeps in his crib at night but he wakes quite a bit and it takes him a while to settle.

I recently read that a downside of baby wearing is that they sleep too much during the day and so don't sleep at night. I wouldn't have thought it was possible for a baby to oversleep. Also it said they may miss feeds but I'd have thought they would wake up if they were hungry (particularly being so close to the breast )

I only ever put him in when he's fed and showing signs of tiredness but could I be forcing him to sleep when he's not tired. Also he sometimes stirs in there but generally settles if I pat his bottom. Should I just take him out as soon as he stirs?

He won't spend time in there awake.

I may post this in slings as well. Does anyone know anything about this?

Watching. Ds2 (12wks) will sleep for hours in the sling. After the scream-filled overtired hell early months experience of Ds1, I mostly subscribe to lots of sleep in the day helps with lots of sleep in the night, but he goes for a long time between feeds he's so content in there on my chest.

Oh and Ds2 does sleep pretty well at night, he's been a lot more settled since he was big enough for the grobag and we turned off the night lights and kept the room as dark as possible.

You're not forcing him to sleep when he's not tired - it's more than he needs x amount of sleep in 24 hours, and if he gets 7 hours in the day he might sleep less at night.

How old is he? If you're having trouble with night time sleep it might be worth limiting/re-organising day time sleep - for example just have 2 sling naps and then making the last nap a short cat nap.

I also always encouraged frequent day time feeding (every 2-3 hours) to try to get as many calories in during the day as possible and reduce the need for night time feeding.

Sorry he's 5 weeks Saturday so still very little!

If he's not hungry it's not worth trying to get him to eat as he will always want to suck but fusses and spits out milk and screams if he latches on when he's not hungry.

If I wake him he'll sometimes wake but sometimes will just be sleeping on and off for hours so it works out more sleep just very broken and it's in my arms do I don't get to rest or do anything!

At 5 weeks I wouldn't worry. They're supposed to sleep all the time anyway.

A newborn baby is supposed to sleep 18-20 hours out of 24 so I don't think a baby can over sleep

See I've heard 11-15 for a 5 week and that was what was worrying me... If 7 hours are during the day that would only leave 5 hours for night! 18-20 seems a lot more civilised but he's nowhere near that!

7 hours a day and 8 hours a night (broken) is probably about right though - how much does he sleep at night now?

www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Childrenssleep/Pages/howmuchsleep.aspx

Actually some places recommend more or less.. However It's 16.5 hours according to NHS as a guideline for you. They are saying 8 hrs in day, and 8.5 at night. The link gives guidelines up to adults

He does about 5 at night. So around 12 in total. Between 6 and 10 he doesn't sleep at all and gets over tired.

I would be overjoyed with 8 at night!

Is he in your bed at night? You might find he sleeps better with you than in a cot.

12 hours seems on the low side for a 5 week old - my 3 year old has only just cut down to 12 hours.

He's in a bedside crib. I hold his hand in his sleep as it seems to settle him. He'll sometimes do 6 hours if I'm lucky 10.30 - 1.30 then 3-6. He'll sometimes do 10-15 minutes lying next to me at 7.30 but he can't settle as he wakes up windy. (that's also why it takes 1.5 hours to settle in the middle of the night). I would love to feed lying down then move him back to his crib without getting out of bed but he'd spend the next hour gagging and gasping if I didn't wind him

I had a similar thing - at 5 weeks I let dd sleep as much as she liked in the sling, as also running after toddler! Come 10 weeks though I was waking her after 2 hours (if she wanted to go back I let her) and this did improve night sleep.

I wouldn't worry. My 'slinged' more baby is a much better sleeper. Enjoy it, I think they are calmer and grow better being closer to mum. Mine would wake and try and suck my skin to find a boob though :/