napping

[sleepycat13]

ds is 8 weeks old. sleep isn't great over night but slowly improving. currently seems to sleep about 4 hours or so from 10pm until 2am ish then wakes every 1.5 - 2 hours after that until 7ish. question I have is about day time naps. if i have a day at home i really struggle to get him to nap. he might take 20 mins or so on me but seems more interested in feeding however if i am out and about and he can be rocked to sleep in sling or car seat he tends to sleep well. last two days I have been out then left him in car seat when I got back to continue the nap and in total he slept for 4 hours which is obviously such a difference from when we stay at home. Will leaving him to sleep this long affect night time sleeping? should I wake him? would the difference between days in and days out confuse any pattern? any experience or advice please

At 8 weeks, I would be expecting baby to have 45m-60m awake between naps. It sounds like when at home baby is having too long awake whereas when out, the extra movement to help lull to sleep is assisting baby to getting your sleep.

Do you use movement to get baby to sleep at home? You could try a bouncy chair. The idea would be to get baby to sleep before showing any tired signs (tired signs mean baby is over tired and actually needed to be asleep half an hour or more earlier).

Lack of daytime sleep often leads to unsettled nights. More sleep is always better.

@FATEdestiny thank you for the helpful response. I do try to put him in a bouncy chair with vibrate on it at home. I have managed to get him to sleep like this once or twice but it's not a fool proof method and he seems to wake again after about 30 mins. perhaps il try the sling at home to get him to sleep sooner and persist with the bouncy chair but a bit sooner than I have been. I don't think he has slept after an hour awake since he was about 1 week old!! he just seems to want to feed instead.
if he does have a longer nap am I ok to leave him to keep sleeping?

8 weeks is tiny. It all sounds very normal, have you read up about cluster feeding?

@crazycatlady5 thank you for the reassurance. he fed pretty much constantly for the first 6 weeks, it's not settled into more defined clusters but I don't know much about it so off to Google it now!!

Kellymom and Milk meg have lots of great info! Also some great groups on facebook like ‘breastfeeding younger babies and beyond’. It’s hard work isn’t it xx

I don't think he has slept after an hour awake since he was about 1 week old!! he just seems to want to feed instead.

That sounds like you are mistaking tired signs for hunger signs. They are identical outward signs at this age - baby has ways to show you "I am not happy" and uses exactly the same "shows" for tired, hungry, uncomfortable etc. So it's very east to assume hunger when in fact baby needs to sleep.

It is not unusual for a first time mum to be surprised at quite how much baby needs to sleep (day and night) and how little awake time is expected. For example I wouldn't expect more than 90 minutes awake time, an occasional maximum of 2 hours, in the whole if the first 6 months. For the first 3 or 4 months, when baby is still in the fourth trimester, it's much shorter awake times.

I do try to put him in a bouncy chair with vibrate on it at home

It's not vibrate baby wants. It's rhythmic bouncing. Think of it like rocking, but hands free (I would bounce the bouncer with my foot from the sofa).

It's not unusual that baby needs significant help to get up sleep. Over time you can reduce the amount of bouncing but for now, you might be bouncing solidly and rhythmically for 10-20 minutes to get baby you sleep. Through more over tired baby is, the longer it takes.

it's not a fool proof method and he seems to wake again after about 30 mins

If baby needs even more help than movement to get to sleep then first of all assume baby is over tired so use this to inform future naps by having less awake time in future.

You could also add a dummy for comfort sucking - nature's natural way to sooth baby is your suck. Dummies are ace.

The 30 minute naps are fine. They are developmentally normal after the newborn phase. You can help baby learn to extend naps and link sleep cycles by resetting (restart bouncing in the bouncer) but don't stress too much if the nap doesnt extend. Just keep awake time short to avoid over tiredness.

thank you for the advice @FATEdestiny
it's all very confusing!

I did mean i rock him in the bouncy chair then leave the vibrate on once asleep but will try re-rocking and giving this a go more often too.

what about during the evening cluster feeds? he tends to want to feed from 6
5ish until about 9 or 10pm. i rock him in the chair whilst we eat dinner. he doesn't fall asleep but tends to be relatively content. the rest of the time we flop on the sofa and just let him feed when he wants. he will have 5 min doses during this time sometimes a bit more, is this enough?

All bets are off through the evening cluster feeding stage. But that stage should start finishing at around 3 months, so it's not like it's forever.

Through a cluster feed baby should still be napping though. You basically just have a few hours of baby feeding and dozing at the breast on and off.

Thank you! at least I know the cluster feeding is going as expected then as he is having a nap on the boob as I type!!