4 month old sleep pattern

[Murl]

Sorry if this has already been discussed on another thread...

My 4 month old daughter has settled in to a good night time routine (although wide awake at 5am - getting black out blinds in the hope this will help!).

However, day time naps are all over the place - whilst this does not particularly concern me if she does not get the sleep she needs she is very unsettled and if i can help her by making sure she gets the right day time sleep then that would be good.

At the moment she sleeps in her pram / cot / bouncy chair for naps. Sometimes she sleeps for two hours+ in the morings, other days it is 45 minutes. She really fights sleep in the afternoons, leaving her upset and 'overtired', - sometimes only a micro nap of 45 mins.

Bed time is 6.30 / 7pm, usually waking once in the night for food.

Can any of you experienced Mums out there give me some advice on how much sleep she needs during the day and when good times for naps are? I do not want a rigid routine for her but she improved loads once I established the bed time routine and I think she would be more settled if the day time sleep was a little more structured as well.

Sorry for rambling post!

I'm afraid I'm not an experienced mum but I do have a 4 month old - my first. The books I have read suggest about 3 hours napping in the day to be best, spread out over the day, with the last nap ending at least two hours before bedtime so they are tired enough to go to sleep.

Mine sleeps about half an hour in the morning, then (ideally) longer at lunch and a short nap around 4pm. It's all gone a bit t*ts up though at the moment as he doesn't sleep that long at lunch, which means I have to try and make sure he has longer in the afternoon otherwise he is very tired and cranky by 5pm.

In earlier weeks, he would go off to sleep very easily, nowadays I find I have to make sure he has plenty of stimulation between naps, including walks outside.

Try soothing her to sleep after she's been awake for about an hour and a half to two hours as babies get overtired and find it difficult to sleep if they've been up for too long. Try watching for sleepy signs, but have a go by the clock if you can't spot them. You will soon get a feel for how long your DD can happily stay awake before needing a nap.

A 45 minute nap is normal and fine: it's a whole sleep cycle. Sleeping for different lengths of time is normal. At 4 months my DS never slept for more than 45 mins during the day, but he has 'grown into' longer naps over the last month or so (now 5.5 months).

Books I've read suggest 5-6 hours' daytime sleep at 3 months and 3-4 hours at 6 months. My DS didn't manage even 3 hours a day at 4 months, though, mainly due to the short napping thing.

Agree with illumina on lots of stimulation between naps.