Daytime naps at 8 weeks?? Possible?

[milkmoustache]

My DD sleeps brilliantly at night, but I've started to wonder whether I should try to actively encourage her to have daytime naps too. She gets around 11 hours at night (including one feed at about 5 am), which seems plenty, but she tends to seem happier when she's nodded off in the late morning as well. Since her night time pattern was one that she came up with herself, and I am not inclined to tinker with it, I'm not sure whether at 8 weeks I should just accept that sometimes she sleeps in the day and sometimes she doesn't, or whether it is worth trying to establish a routine or not... I am really not keen on the Gina Ford school of thought, but on the other hand DD does seem a lot more cheerful when she does have extra sleep so I'm wondering if we should be supporting her in this.

an 8 week old needs a morning nap and an afternoon nap

at least

if they've been awake an hour or 2, put them down and let them sleep

agree with Twiglett at that age 2 hours awake is enough

Yes 9-10'ish, 12-2.30ish and 4-4.30'ish and then 11-12 hours at night.

Lots of lovely sleep for baby and peace for you

Yep at eight weeks ds was going thro night 11/12 hours and also having 3 or 4 daytime naps of bout 45 mins to 1 hour each. Also not a gina fan he sort of designed his own routine and definately needed them bacause woud crash out wherever we were and whatever he was doing.

My DD (now 14 weeks) slept 4-5 hours during the day at that age, as well as sleeping 12 at night. She was a miserable baby if she didn't get those naps. She could only go about one and a half hours without a nap. All the sleep books say that the naps are vital but that children do vary in how much sleep they need.

if it helps DD is 13 months and sleeps

from 6/6.30pm to 7.30am
mornign nap 9am to about 10.30
afternoon nap from 3pm to 4.30pm

I expect her to start dropping morning nap over the next few months

and by the time she's around 2 to 3 she'll probably drop afternoon nap too

Twiglett, DD (3.5) still has an hour's nap in the middle of the day... she shows no signs of wanting to jack it in, and sleeps well at night.
DS, 21 wks, has 3 daytime naps, about 3-4 hours in total, and sleeps 7-7.30

Now I feel as if I have been making my poor DD miserable by not putting her down for naps - that would explain the grumpiness!!

I don't really know how to get DD started on this: I'd like her to get the naps she needs to be happy, but really don't like the idea of having to be at home for her naps - this feels very Gina Ford-ish. Any advice on how to start a routine off? I am currently wondering whether it's a good idea to spend a few days at home to put her down in her cot every 2 hours or so, just to get her used to a new rhythm - any thoughts?

Her night time sleeping was very much baby-led so I feel a bit clueless about how you get a routine started... any ideas would be gratefully received!

just put her down when she seems tired (at least after 2 hours of waking)

if you happen to be out, lay her flat in a buggy, she doesn't need to be cosseted in a cot with people tip-toeing round her, she just needs to be allowed to sleep

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If she doesn't settle easily - an old fashioned bouncy chair might help (and you can sit down and have a coffee and a read while you bounce

Don't knock Gina Ford. Her routines are a good guide as to when a baby should be eating and sleeping. Just don't be too hung up on it. You can use it and tinker with it. My baby is 18 weeks and sleeps 9.15-10, 11.30-2 and takes 20 mins when I'm out in the car about 3.30ish. The routine is about the same for an 8 week old baby. One thing about Gina is that she advocates putting them down even though they don't look sleepy and they do actually fall asleep. Some of them keep their eyes open with matchsticks!!!