Do babies catch up on sleep after days of bad napping/being over tired

[Ellie977]

Hello.

Just want to know what the title says really. My 7 week old boy had a terrible couple of days of being over stimulated (the world is so exciting to him now), over tired and fighting sleep when I tried to put him down for naps (screams, arched back ect). However, last night he pretty much slept through the night (9.30pm till 6am) and has pretty much napped all day apart from feeds.

Should I be worried that he is now sleeping too much or should I just count my blessings that he is 'catching up' on sleep?

Congratulations on your baby! My DD is nine months so I’m no expert, but I found that in those early weeks sleep was very variable - so some days she’d just sleep loads and other days she would hardly sleep at all. You might notice that he’s suddenly loads bigger or he can do something new after a very sleepy day. Or you might not notice anything at all!

I wouldn’t read too much into anything just yet as he’s so small. Honestly everything just seems random at that age! If he’s asleep, just be thankful that he’s asleep, especially if it’s nighttime. But if you’re worried or if you think he’s lethargic when he’s awake, make sure you speak to your health visitor or GP.

Hmm I’ve just read my reply and thought you probably won’t think it’s very helpful.

For when your DS is older - like over 6m - I have noticed that my DD tends to average 13 hours of sleep over 24 hours. If she doesn’t get them at night she will during the day. So for a long time I had a great napper and she’d be up half the night. Recently, she’s been sleeping great at night, but she’s napping no more than 2h in the day. If I let her go over 2h she’s then up in the night. So I do think they can ‘make up for it’ in the day if they’ve slept badly. But my DD seems quite sensitive when it comes to sleep - it’s a very fine balance! Whereas other babies just aren’t - I think it depends on who you get, quite honestly. So it may be something to keep in mind for when your baby is older, but it also really might not be an issue by then! I can tell you for sure that my DD never slept a stretch like that until this month! (I live in constant fear that she will never do it again,
!) So hopefully you’ve got a good sleeper on your hands!

They can do. DS1 was a horrific sleeper (severe reflux until he was 5 years old - didn't sleep through the night until he was 7 years old).

But DH and I have fond memories of when he was 5 weeks old. We had a terrible day when he didnt nap even 1 minute. He then slept 24 hours, waking every 3 hours to feed then go back to sleep. It was fantastic. We just vegged on the sofa.

After that he was back to his normal - feeding every hour, never napping more than 45 minutes, waking 10 times a night... sigh.

(He is now 9 and sleeps 10-11 hours straight every night. Bloody love it)