Why does my baby seem to need less sleep than me??

[yankbabymum]

My DS is 16wks old. Yesterday after waking up at 6.30am he had 2 one hour naps during the day and went to sleep for the night at 8.30pm. He then woke up at 1am for a feed and stayed awake until after 3am! I thought he'd probably sleep in after that but no, he woke up at 6.20am and has still not gone back to sleep for a nap now at 8.56am. I'm exhausted so why isn't he?

When he's awake he's full of beans and wants to play and kick around. As soon as he yawns I try to get him to go to sleep in his cot/pushchair etc which usually works but in the last few days he seems to need hardly any sleep.

What's going on?

DS still awake at 10am, I'm knackered what gives???

You probably didn't have the 2 one hour naps that he had?
Also, he wakes when HE 'wants' to wake (ie when his sleep cycle sends him awake), you get woken up by him wherever you are in your sleep cycle.

Did you go to sleep the moment he did at 8.30? bet you didn't
Guess it all adds up...
It's really horrid, I know. DS has now finally got to a stage where he generally (what's generally?? the last few weeks, I guess) only wakes once a night, and settles pretty quickly. But it still hurts!!

You'll hear this about a million times, I know, but it WILL pass, and you WILL survive. Sounds like you've got a lovely, lively DS there. DS was the same. Never stops moving. Never has done. I promise you that one day you'll see that as a really nice thing

Sorry not much help I know, but I've been there and know how isolating it can feel, so at least wanted to give some kind of response!!

(forgot to say, DS is 15 months!!!)
another thing that everyone says... but do do do try and rest when he eventually naps, whatever happens

DS and DD both had a looong spell of waking in the night and staying awake for 2 hours. It was hell. But they did stop eventually.

DS is 16m and still wakes twice a night but doesn't stay up, DD is 3 and sleeps through from about 830 to 7/730 now, I thought it would never happen.

Do try to nap when the baby does, the washing up will still be there later. And do try to go to bed early instead of doing ironing, cleaning, and coming on MN til late at night like I do

Thank you both - lively is definitely the word for him! He's fine in all other ways, good eater and generally lots of fun...just would be more fun with more rest thrown in!

As soon as he falls asleep today I'll be getting back to bed and I do need to do that more often - he's yelling at me now so I'd better see to him.

thanks x

Maybe he's overtired, so can't get to sleep? 9 hours of sleep is not a lot for a baby this age according to [http://www.babycentre.co.uk/baby/sleep/sleepneeded/ this site], should be about 15 hours per day.

Could you maybe spend the day doing something that sends your baby to sleep like walking him in the buggy or driving round the block? I find with my 14 wo DS that if I can get a couple of days of good naps, he then is much easier to get to sleep as he is not so tired.

HTH

Good idea, I'll try that tomorrow. Too tired to drive today . He's still awake btw, happily playing with CD case!

I'd agree with GetThePartyStarted - if he's getting 9 hours per 24, that does sound like not enough. Try starting to soothe him for a nap about an hour and a half to two hours after he's woken up, even if he's not showing sleepy signs.

If it's suddenly happened, though, it could possibly be linked to the 4 month developmental spurt/sleep regression, which can mess with babies' sleep.

This has been suddenly today and yesterday that he's had trouble sleeping. Didn't know about a particular 4 month growth spurt, thank you. He is teething too which doesn't help. Took him out in the pushchair earlier which usually sends him off but he didn't sleep for nearly 1hr and then only for about half an hour.

He's ended up have naps for a total of around 2 hrs today so it'll be interesting to see what tonight brings!

Can he roll yet? Before DS was mobile I just used to lie him on the bed next to me and sleep whether he was sleeping or not. He was usually happy to kick about if he could see me.

Ensure you sleep when he does - some git is sure to ring your doorbell as soon as you get close to sleep so be sure to stick a big note on your door telling anyone to piss off go away.

DS slept last night from 8.30pm to 6am and he's now settled for a nap - hooray! I'm going to follow him back to bed now - thank you for all your help

Yay! Well done - bet it was amazing to get that much sleep

How has he been since?

Hi, he's slept really well since the meltdown last week. usually asleep by 8/8.30pm and sleeps until 6-7am . Daytime naps are still a problem but don't seem nearly so much of a prob since I've been able to sleep at night! I've ordered a copy of the no cry nap solution so hopefully that'll have some good ideas to help.