waking babies from daytime naps

[GirlWithTheMouseyHair]

I know I've just posted about DS and his short naps, well on the other end of the spectrum he sometimes naps for aaaaaaaaaaages...I used to wake him if he'd been sleeping longer than 2 hours or hadn't fed in 4 but recently he's been doing this once a day and is in a horribly foul mood for ages and ages afterwards (understandably, I would too) but I can't let go of paranoia he'll wake more in the night...he's now not fed in 4.5hrs and I'm too tired to wake him and deal with a very angry baby...he's 11wks btw

How long is ages? I let DS sleep for up to 3 hours, more or less. He only ever sleeps this long if we've been out in the pram. If I do have to wake him, I do it very slowly, so I would stroke his face, he might stir and resettle, I then go back in another minute or so and stroke him again or talk to him gently, etc, and I'll do the whole thing over 5 minutes or so. Then shove him on to feed immediately. Or sometimes just pick him up asleep and put him on to dream feed.

If you are having to wake him, try and pick a point in his sleep cycle when he's wakeful, rather than jolting him out of a deep sleep.

But TBH on the whole I go with 'never wake a sleeping baby', within limits. How many total hours is he sleeping in the day? He's still quite small isn't he, so might need 4 or 5 hours anyway. Remember that good naps breed good night time sleep!

Also he may need more sleep when he's been doing more too! DS is a very lively kicky baby and at nearly 6 months still seems to need about 4 hours a day in naps, and then 11 or 12 at night (with night wakings, but that's another story!).

I would not wake him. If he starts sleeping 4+ hours and being up for ages at night then I would gently shift the time of this long sleep so that it happens at a more polite time of day.

I agree with Ches. Let him be, see what happens. It'll be best if his body finds its own rhythm, and then you can shift it to suit your needs. Early days.

thanks everyone...stoopid intuition shot!