Should you wake a sleeping baby from an afternoon nap?

[threetwoonezero]

My 10 week old DD had a terrible nights sleep last night - waking every 45 minutes and now I'm starting to worry about her sleeping patterns. Up until 3 days ago she was sleeping OK though so this could be a separate issue. I am waking her from her lunch nap after 2 1/2 hours but she is so grumpy and wants to just fall back asleep but at this rate I am going way over the allotted 5-6 hours of daytime sleep....also what time should they be going to sleep at this age! She is formula fed and wont go longer than 3 hours in the day? She goes about 4 hours in the night. Any advice greatly appreciated...

She's only 10 weeks, I would let her sleep whenever for however long she wants. She will eventually get into her own little routine.

If you want to guide her into a routine, then wake her up. If you are happy to let her set her own routine, then dont wake her.

If you want some ideas on appropriate routine for a baby that age, look at Gina Ford for rough guidance, although every baby will vary somewhat

I wouldn’t worry about waking her at this age, sometimes she might have a super long nap and then still sleep well at night.

I stressed a lot about sleep with my DD but actually she has just developed her sleep pattern herself as she has gotten older. I might just be lucky but with the next one I am really going to try not to stress so much as their needs change so frequently and I think they often just know when they need to sleep.... or I might be completely naive because I have a good sleeper

This all seems so alien to me as neither of mine slept longer than 20 mins at a time in the day until they were about 6 months old . And then only attached to my boob.
Personally I’d leave a 10 week old to sleep.

Oh gosh, do not look up Gina Ford! Don't get caught up on times and try to look for cues and follow your child's lead. They are still so young and will naturally fall into a routine soon. Try to enjoy these early days because it is over in a flash!

Personally, my twins were not schedulable until 12 months, and if they didn’t get the sleep they wanted in the day, their evening sleep was affected.

Are you reading/trying to follow a book? Because honestly, they are all shit. Babies don’t know the clock. Some can be “trained” some you get lucky with, but at the end of the day “you get what you get and you don’t get upset” (what DS was taught in yr 1.... good life lesson really)

Thanks for the fast responses. Perhaps I just need to try a week of letting her do what she wants. I am just so worried about creating bad habits, especially after her waking in the night so much last night. But what kind of bedtime should babies be going down at this age?

Let her sleep, especially in this heat.

You really can’t create bad habits at this age - their sleep changes constantly. You’re heading for the 4 month sleep regression and things will most likely change a lot then (hopefully temporarily!)

I always woke DD (and still do sometimes, she’s now 13 months) if she slept more than 2 hours at that nap. We loosely followed Gina Ford too and I know she divides opinion but it was brilliant for us, DD has always slept wonderfully overnight and we never had to do sleep training or anything like that. Each to their own though!

I wouldn't wake her, I also think 10 weeks is too young for routines and bad habits. Like pp said you have 4 month sleep regression hell right ahead so enjoy the downtime while you can! And although I know some people swear by her and whatever works works etc, but personally I say 👎 to Gina Ford and any other book/ website telling you what schedule your baby "should" be following. It just isn't a brick wall I'm personally willing to bang my head against! Enjoy your peaceful afternoon 😊

I think you really need to lower your expectations about night time sleep, and stop worrying about 'getting it wrong'. At 10 weeks you need to just let her do what she wants. I read on here when i was pregnant that 'sleep begets sleep' and i certainly found it to be true.

At 10 weeks she will still most likely be sleeping on and off round the clock, gradually going for longer stretches at night. Just nudge her circadian rhythm by keeping night time quiet and dark (cuddling or snoozing in a bouncer while you watch tv is fine) and daytime bright and busy.

My DS didn't have a 'bedtime' until he was 5/6 months old, he just stayed downstairs with us after his bath and PJs. One night, he just seemed to be irritated by being there and wanted quiet, so from then we started putting him in his own room and he's been fine.

At that age it's common for "night sleeps" to be quite late, even 10-11pm but again every baby is different. My child only started going down at 6.30/7pm when they were about 10months. Night awakenings are completely normal and some say it is a natural protection against SIDS. Try to take it one day at a time. I found if I could get one power nap in the day it really helped.

I cant help but read the books and dream of the predictability! Not just for me but for her, but it just doesnt seem realistic. I'm super scared of moving the bedtime earlier too in case it means a crazy early morning wake up...I look around on the street when I go out and people are enjoying their babies...I want to ask them all, what did you do with your baby, how do they sleep?! She's just started on her 4th nap of the day now, clocked up 4.5 hours already, and we're only at 4.30pm and over the past weeks she's been going down at 8.30!!

You are torturing yourself by counting hours. Sleep breeds sleep. Aim to get them to sleep as much as possible during the day!

But that’s completely normal. Until that four month regression where their sleep changes, babies sleep is very random. You can’t force a baby to sleep.

I had so many people tell me that I should enforce a schedule when my twins insisted on eating every two hours day and night. I said okay, but what do you do if they’re screaming hungry when it’s only been two hours and not three or four? And they said “oh, I’d feed them if they were hungry”. Well duh, that’s what I’m doing! Grr.

Four hour stretches at night is bloody good going at this age in my opinion.

Oh and FYI! Not every baby is affected by the 4 month regression. Try not to dread any developmental phase that is coming up, some bother them and some don’t!

We tried to put our DD down to bed around 8pm I think from very early, it didn’t really work as such as she would sometimes take ages to settle or be up numerous times before we had even gone to bed, but I wanted her to get used to being in her “sleeping space” at bedtime.

Thanks all...just put her down again and wondering what the night holds, Ive tanked her up on a bit of extra milk so fingers crossed...!!

I'd never ever wake a sleeping baby