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Sleep

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Original poster

Baby sleeping from 4pm to 1am

16 replies

Jemima90 · 30/10/2015 19:26

Hi Everyone,

Not that I would ever want to complain about the amount of sleep LO is getting I do wish he had better timing.

He has started sleeping from 4pm in the afternoon all the way through to 1-2am when he wakes up for a feed. Whilst this isn't necessarily a bad thing he is missing his bath every night, we have no routine and he wakes up buzzing in the early hours, full of beans and wanting to play!

Do I just ride it out and wait for him to change again as he no doubt will. I have never once woken him from sleep and am not about to now, just wondering if anyone had experienced the same?

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Lunastarfish · 30/10/2015 19:30

How old?

mamapants · 30/10/2015 19:39

Yes how old is he?
What time are other naps? I'd try shifting them all by half an hour and then by another half hour and so on until its a more reasonable time. I never woke mine from naps either.

Original poster

Jemima90 · 30/10/2015 19:43

Sorry, that would probably help. He's 12 weeks old.

Lovely happy baby. When he is awake he very content and I'm always being told he is a smiley chap.

Feeds fine, and really have no other qualms. I'm just exhausted as he will not go back to sleep until around 5am and then he naps but I can't sleep.

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ffffffedup · 30/10/2015 20:07

Wake him up for gods sake!!! Wake him after an hour or so maybe 2 play feed bath whatever then put down for a night time sleep

Lunastarfish · 30/10/2015 20:14

I think you need to wake him up.

My dd (14 weeks) has a 2 hourish nap around 4 pm but I wake her at 6 if she is still asleep so she will go down at 8/830. She'll then sleep until 4ish (although I expect this will change soon!)

Lilipot15 · 30/10/2015 20:55

Fairly normal to nap at this time, but if he is napping in same room as you as he should be I would manoeuvre so there is some noise / bring him in from pram if out on a walk etc to wake him up. My 4 month old baby just seems to wake up but there is noise as tea is prepared. She enjoys sitting in a bouncy chair / on someone's knee and "chatting" whilst it's tea and will often have a short breastfeed.
We then go upstairs for a bath and if the room is warm enough I put her on a towel on top of a waterproof sheet on the floor for her to have a nappy free roll around whilst I tidy up / play with toddler. This "exercise" seems to mean she's ready for a good feed after bath and then sleeps for the evening (although still feeds up to 3 times a night but sleeps in between).

mudandmayhem01 · 30/10/2015 21:01

Unless you can sleep from 4 til 1 as well that's not great, I would try and wake him after a two hour nap in afternoon. If it makes things worse you always go back to letting him sleep.

Lilipot15 · 30/10/2015 21:01

Ps not always easy as weather getting worse but I would also suggest lots of daylight and fresh air in the daytime to help tire him out and get the difference between night and day.
Also, I have seen people post on Facebook photos of their baby up in middle of night watching TV with them "because they won't sleep" - of course they won't sleep if you bring them downstairs to watch TV! Likewise later on, bringing downstairs to sit in highchair for a snack in the middle of the night - we'd all be buzzing if we did that!
(I'm sure you're not doing those by the way).
I hope it improves. He's getting himself a nice long block of sleep - wish mine did such a long stint without feeding!

Fluffy24 · 30/10/2015 21:03

I would try to wake him after an hour, then aim to have him fed bathed and back in bed by 6, initially.

If it works after a few nights (think you need to give it 3 at least) then try pushing need time back a little bit more if necessary.

Original poster

Jemima90 · 30/10/2015 23:41

So I woke him, fed him, and he's been throwing serious shapes ever since.

#itsgoingtobealongnight

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Purpleboa · 31/10/2015 07:13

How did it go Jemima? I'm really hoping he got back to sleep! As mum to a DD who likes to throw shapes from 1am to 4am you have my sympathy (and that's after very little sleep, gah! You'd think I was feeding her redbull not breast milk!)

JoeMommuh · 31/10/2015 07:16

You need to wake him at 6pm so he can be awake and have his bath. His jet leg won't magically fix you need to help him.

Original poster

Jemima90 · 31/10/2015 17:50

He stayed awake until 2am from the time I woke him. He has 3 feeds and screamed for an hour straight at one point because he was over tired which is very out of character for him.

He is awake now, bathed fed and tired so I'm hoping we are on target for normal bedtime as I won't be waking him again.

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StopShoutingAtYourBrother · 31/10/2015 17:54

I think you need to help him reset his click here. A nap at 4 is fine, I'd just wake up by 530 for his bath and final feed before putting him down to bed for the night. I'd aim for a final bedtime of 645 ish and keep the time between 530 and 645 ish low key. Sounds like he can push himself through, you just want it to be more conventional hours!

FATEdestiny · 01/11/2015 19:21

Jemima

What is the rest of your day like? In terms of naps I mean.

I think he's not getting enough sleep in the "daytime" (his 1am-4pm daytime) and/or his awake time between naps is too lengthy.

At 12 weeks you want to be aiming for about 60 minutes awake time between daytime naps. So for example your awake time of 1am to 5am is way too long for a tiny 3 month old.

I suspect that by 4pm he is so completely exhausted that waking him will cause an over-tired meltdown and make matters worse. More daytime sleep is the answer, so that the 4pm sleep turns into a nap that he wakes from rather than being so exhausted he stays asleep.

Original poster

Jemima90 · 01/11/2015 19:35

He sleeps lots in the day too!

For example - his usual pattern is as follows :-

7am wake up - bottle, play etc
9am - sleep
11am - wake up bottle, play etc
12 pm - sleep
1:30 - wake up bottle sleep etc
4pm - sleep until midnight

When he is awake we play with sensory toys, attend play groups or go on long walks (which he usually sleeps through)

I thought I was over stimulating him but I don't know.

The past two nights he has gone back to his old routine of sleep at 7 ish, up at midnight, 3 and 5 for feeds.

I think he just does what he wants. I've caught up on sleep now he is not staying up so I don't mind as long as he's ok.

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