What are 'average' sleep patterns for a 4/5 week old baby?

[joanneg20]

I'm just curious.

My 4 1/2 week old baby is basically sleeping from around 10pm until 7am, usually waking 3 times to eat - so waking approx every two hours. He goes straight back to sleep afterwards.

I had been pretty pleased with this, but talking to friends from my antenatal group (I know, I know), they all claim their babies are sleeping 4 or even 5 hours stretches in the night. One said she had to set an alarm to ensure her baby didn't sleep longer than 5 hours!

Are they all lucky? Or lying? Or are their babies the 'average' ones, and mine a bad sleeper? Would be interested to hear others' experiences.

I think you are lucky!! Seriously, we were pacing the floors at this stage and a night feed took about 1.5 hours by the time DS had fed, been changed and then settled down again.

It may be that they are sleeping for a longer stretch sometimes, some every night maybe but things change and nothing is really 'normal'. DS slept through from 12-18 weeks and then started waking 3 times a night again.

I think at this stage my LO was sleeping from about 11pm to about 2/3am but then would stay awake for a couple of hours before finally dropping off and sleeping again until about 6 or 7am. I do remember a period when I was almost totally nocturnal - up between about 2-5am most nights, urrgh. It did improve though. By about 2 months she was going 11pm to 5am and for the last 3 weeks or so (now aged 20 weeks) she has been sleeping through. However, Aliba's post (and others I've read) suggest that this is unlikely to last ...

Your baby is probably going through the 4 week growth spurt. Your baby is absolutely NOT a "bad sleeper." Your baby is normal, and so are theirs. You're all blessed that your babies can already tell night from day. The "average" baby doesn't until 6 weeks.

I think it sounds like your baby is doing what mine did - I think it's pretty good going to have a 4 week old feeding and then going back to sleep without expecting a play! Ignore those women who say they have to wake their babies - they'll have horrible teenagers