Four month old - sleeping too long?

[Nicola98]

This is a genuine worry not a gloat!

I'm a bit worried about my baby boy's sleep habits - due to being born with tongue-tie which wasn't picked up until he was 10 weeks old, we had a lot of problems with his early weight gain, although throughout he has been a really good sleeper. He was born a good weight but lost 8% of his birth weight in the first few days which then took him four weeks to recover, and he dropped two lines on the dreaded weight chart to about the 7th centile (always a happy, healthy, active and normally developing baby though in all other respects). Because of these weight problems though I was always advised to not let him sleep too long and to wake him up to ensure he got night-time feeds.

However for the last two months on health visitors advice I've been topping him up with formula milk and thankfully he's now steadily following the weight curve on about the 7th centile.

He's always been an absolutely amazing sleeper, and if I didn't wake him up for feeds he'd easily go 8 hours from just a few weeks old. But now he's four months old and putting on weight normally people I talk to tell me I'm crazy setting my alarm clock to wake a sleeping baby! So I'm wondering what's normal...

Currently (four months old) he sleeps about 12 hours a day, and if I didn't wake him up he'd go about 9-10 hours of this at a stretch, and even then not be particularly desperate for a feed. At the moment I'm setting my alarm clock to stop him going more than seven hours in one go, but sometimes he's really fast asleep and I feel terrible waking him up. I can't remember the last time he woke me in the night for a feed rather than vice-versa. I'm also worried I might be causing him long term damage by never letting him wake naturally...

In summary, how long did everyone else's babies sleep in one stretch at four months old - what's normal? And how long should I let him sleep before waking him - is 10 or 11 hours too long? (and has anyone else ever had a similar problem?)

Apologies for the tirade, and any advice would be much appreciated!!

nicola

Hi,

I used to worry about this with my DD and used to think people thought I was gloating. My DD used to sleep lots during the day. It used to be difficult to get out of the house. I think at 4 months she was waking for one feed in the night. I put her down at 7pm and she would sleep until about 4am (9 hours) then she would sleep through until about 8ish

She didn't start sleeping through the night until she was six months. Even now at 2.5 she will sleep for about 2.5 hours in the afternoon. She would sleep longer but I wake her up. I did so much googling of "baby sleeping too much" when she was little and I never found anything to worry me.

If you and your HV are happy with his weight gain and he is meeting his developmental goals then I wouldn't worry too much - just enjoy!