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Sleep

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Original poster

Daytime naps for 2 month old, how many for how long??

24 replies

BananaHammocks · 15/07/2014 15:13

Just wanted to get an idea of how may naps a 2 month old should have during the day and how long these should last? I'm clueless!

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RoganJosh · 15/07/2014 15:15

My babies only went about 90 minutes awake and then slept. Or needed to be put to sleep in sling/buggy/car or by feeding.
Length was really variable, 45 mins to 2.5 hrs at which point I'd wake them.

RoganJosh · 15/07/2014 15:15

That worked out to about 4 or 5 naps I think.

allisgood1 · 15/07/2014 15:22

Honestly at that age they sleep ALOT. I can't remember even being able to count naps. My girls just slept when they slept then fed then slept more. Maybe active for about an hour max then more sleeping and feeding. It really is such a blur now!

Hedgehogging · 15/07/2014 15:32

There's a post with links to the averages down the thread a bit. My LO obviously hasn't read it though because at 10 weeks she naps for just 30-45 mins after 1.5-2 hours wake time

Original poster

BananaHammocks · 15/07/2014 15:33

Phew same here! Did you put him/her to sleep in their cot during the day? I haven't been and it's worrying me that I'm going to cause myself problems later if I don't start making her nap in her cot!

OP posts:

commsgirl · 15/07/2014 15:37

My DD slept after 60 - 90 mins awake at that age. I'd wake her if she went past 2 hours. Maybe 4 or 5 naps? Never in her cot though, I started that at about 3 months when she had a bit more of a predictable pattern.

HappyAsASandboy · 15/07/2014 16:17

I didn't count them, the day an night was just a pattern of feeding and sleeping :)

I would enjoy this time when she sleeps so much. Get on with things that you want to do - go for a walk, browse the shops, eat lunch in a cafe, go to the library, whatever you want, and let your baby sleep whenever and wherever. They really are most portable under about 6 months, so make the most of it!

My two only started to nap in a cot at about a year old, when nursery and my mum started to care for them during the day and they wanted to use a cot. Up until then, they'd slept in the pushchair/car seat/on the playmat/on the bed/on the sofa/in the bouncy chair .... wherever they fell asleep :)

They napped in a cot just fine, and even now (aged nearly four) they will nap anywhere if they're tired. I don't think an unstructured babyhood creates bad habits.

moobaloo · 15/07/2014 18:16

Not to hijack but why wake them after 2 ish hours? My nearly 7 week old will sometimes sleep for 4 hours in the afternoon and I've always let him because I didn't want to dissuade him from sleeping for that long in a stretch... I'd just like him to do it at night (he wakes after 2.5 hrs max ATM) should I be waking him during the day and will that encourage him to do his long stretch at night?

Right now, in response to the op, he is up for up to a couple of hours in the morning and then basically sleeps, wakes for feeds (bf) every 2 hours usually but sometimes sleeps for 3-5 hours in the afternoon. He can be active awake for up to 4 hours in the evening in a cycle of feed, wind, change, hiccups, smiles, feed, wind etc.

RoganJosh · 15/07/2014 19:33

I woke after more than 2.5 hrs as I found that a mega nap meant they were awake for a block of hours in the night.

commsgirl · 15/07/2014 19:58

Long naps definitely affect DD's nighttime sleeping.

Pointlessfan · 15/07/2014 20:01

My 4 month old hardly sleeps in the day. When she was really tiny she would sleep for ages on me but wake if I tried to put her down. She will now nap in cot but only for about 30-45 mins about 4 times a day. She usually sleeps well at night tho, I'm just hoping her day time naps will continue to lengthen.

mrsmugoo · 15/07/2014 20:20

Laughing out loud at those saying their 2 month old slept aaaaaaall the time... When my DS was 8 weeks he resolutely resisted all sleep and I spent my days rocking, bouncing, pacing, pavement pounding with the pushchair etc...with a very grumpy baby.

He's not that much better now!

But just so you know, not ALL babies do the feed/sleep/feed/sleep thing.

Hedgehogging · 15/07/2014 20:25

I've been starting to put DD in her Moses basket of late (past fortnight or so).

She'll usually fall asleep or nearly asleep on my shoulder or on boob and I'll try to pop her in MB. Sometimes she stirs and settles, sometimes she wakes. I'll try maybe once more if she wakes but if no go just put her in sling/hold her. Sometimes I just cuddle her till she's done though because I can't resist!

Think it is good to be occasionally putting them in cot/MB just to get them used to it

Hedgehogging · 15/07/2014 20:29

Oh, and I'm optimistically hoping for sleep consolidation too, but for now DD is bright and cheery during the day and getting decent stretches (touch wood!) at night so I'm happy to go with the catnapping!

commsgirl · 15/07/2014 22:12

DD is 16 weeks and has just started regularly having one long nap and two short ones rather than multiple cat naps.

mrsmugoo · 16/07/2014 09:57

Which is the long sleep comms? And how long?

commsgirl · 16/07/2014 12:02

Her morning one. I put her down about an hour and a half after she wakes up and she'll sleep for at least an hour and a half. Her other naps are 30 - 45 mins.

mrsmugoo · 17/07/2014 11:43

I just can't get him to sleep any longer than 45 minutes ever! His wake time has extended to between 2 - 2.5 hours now. I think I was trying to get him to sleep too early a lot of the time. Now I just leave him until he's properly tired and he goes down better.

allisgood1 · 19/07/2014 11:07

45 minutes is the natural sleep cycle time. He's just so little he can't manage to settle himself yet to sleep that longer stretch. Wont be long now until he will :)

mrsmugoo · 19/07/2014 15:00

He and does self settle now - he goes down for sleeps awake and settles himself off andsettles himself back to sleep for minor wakings through the night - I just can't understand why he can self settle past one sleep cycle for a nap?

ChickenFajitaAndNachos · 19/07/2014 15:07

I had a routine with feeding and night time sleeping but absolutely no daytime napping pattern at this stage. My 3DC just tended to have lots of cat naps and then at about 5 months 2 naps and 1 nap at about 10 months I think.

drspouse · 21/07/2014 03:55

Same here with DS and now DD. Lots of catnaps, sometimes longer in car/sling, we do put DD in her cot in the daytime when we need to put her out of the way of DS and sometimes she sleeps in there for a bit longer but it's usually short naps on sofa/in our arms/vibrating chair.

All at completely random times though she does tend to go back to sleep after 5 or 6am feed if that counts as daytime.

allisgood1 · 21/07/2014 20:23

It could be that its daytime mrsmugoo so the light/sound arouses him more versus night when its dead silent and dark.

mrsmugoo · 21/07/2014 20:29

True, although he does his daytime naps in his cot in the bedroom with blackout curtains drawn.

I've had some success the last couple of days using white noise to extend naps - I've managed to get 2 naps of an hour 20 now.

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