I hear all over the place that babies who sleep well during the day usually sleep better at night. Does this take a while to kick in?!?
We go out a fair bit because I don't really like being at home all day. Yesterday I thought we'd better have a day at home for her sake, and she had two lovely long naps of around 2 - 2.5 hours each. Went to bed at normal time, around 7pm, then woke at 9:30, 12:30, 3:30 and up for the day at 5:45! (ie I couldn't resettle after the feed - she wasn't interested in going back to sleep.) This really doesn't work for me... I just can't function this early!
Its important to note that she usually sleeps 7pm - 7-8am with three feeds overnight... So it is normal for her to wake frequently. Just not start her day so stupidly early, LOL.
I guess my questions are:
Should I persevere with trying to get longer day sleeps from her in the hope that one day her nights will improve?
Is it possible that she needed more activity yesterday? (we were home all day, but went for a walk in the afternoon)
Is it possible that she only needs 2-3 40min naps a day? (Which is all she usually gets.)
TIA for your advice/experiences.
To be honest, up to a point, i found that too much sleep in the day, as you would expect for anyone, made her wakeful in the night.
It's a balancing act - you don't ever want her to get to the utterly-exhausted-crying-and-distressed stage though lack of sleep, but you do want her to NEED to sleep at night. Luckily for me DD looks after this herself and has done since she was small.
If anything, i just paid attention to the days she slept well in the night and was cheerful during the day and gently encouraged that pattern on days when she seemed disrganised sleep-wise. For us, by the time DD was Natalie's age, that was first feed at 5am, up for the day at 7-8am, 1 hour nap after midmorning feed, 2 hour nap after mid afternoon feed, bedtime at 7.30pm ish, sometimes woke for a BF at midnight, but stopped waking at all when i put her on FF at 7 months. But the times aren't relevant - every baby is different. What is important is that if your DD usually seems to do fine and sleeps well at night on 2-3 40-60minute naps i would encourage that pattern.
DD has just moved from 1 nap to 2 and i was mystified during the precess as the nap she kept is at 11am!! This means she's up at 8am, has breakfast, a wee play (out to the library/bounce&ryhme or walk round the park if the weather's nice) then a 90-120 minute nap! Then she has lunch and goes the rest of the day fine and is ready to sleep 12 hours overnight! Wouldn't have thought it'd work but it does for her. VERY occasionally she also has a nap at 4pmish but if she does she won't sleep until 9pm.
Kimberley was a lovely sleeper during the day but she would wake at night.
Eleanor is shocking to get to have a good sleep during the day but she can sleep 12hrs at night. I find i prefer the night sleep than her sleeping a lot during the day. It only means i can't do much during the day as she wants alot of attention during the day.
my son was a shocking sleeper... and as a result we went to sleep school twice - which was the best thing we ever did.
Originally my son wouldn't sleep at all during the day - and would be absolutely feral in the evenings. He would scream for around 5 hours before going to sleep in exhaustion. (this was around 3 months old). Sleep school 'taught' me to settle him during the day, and he became so much calmer in the evening. But after a couple more months he was still getting uspset during the evening... just not as severe. So back to sleep school.
Then we realised that he was only having 40 minute naps, then I was getting him up. Babies have sleep cycles of 40 minutes - and most of them will stir/wake after that time. But we learnt how to resettle him - and within days he was getting solid 2 hour naps. At 5-9 months a babies sleep pattern ideally should be to play for 2 hours, sleep for 2 hours. As soon as we got into this habit - my son became the most happy content baby I've ever seen. His night sleeps didn't change at all... and he now sleeps right through the night from 8pm through to 9am. Then he just sits in his cot until we get up to him (great when we want to sleep in!).
He is 1yo now, and very active. When he is at home he gets a nap before lunch, and another one around 3pm. He goes to occassional care twice a week, and they have routines there (lunch etc)... so he has his nap after lunch around 12.30, and when he comes home he has another nap around 4pm.
It depends on what you want to achieve.
I am proof that getting more daytime sleep makes a more content baby and helps him relax and sleep well during the night.
Personally, I find it great when my child sleeps for 2 (sometimes 3) hours during the day. I get so much stuff done!!! The 40 minute naps he would have were quite annoying. If you want to try to extend the 40m naps, either leave your DD and she will resettle herself, or go into her room, and cofort her (ideally without taking out of the cot) - and she will go back to sleep. It took about 1 day for my child to go from no nap/40m nap to a solid 2 hour sleep. The night time routine might take a few days to a week to settle in.
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At the end of the day - you should do what you think is best for your child and yourself. But if you want changes, then you have to change your routine. Babies adapt very easily.
I've found that Daniel is an absolutely shocking sleeper during the day, but he's great (fantastic even) at night - usually ten hours straight. He goes to bed at 8pm and I don't usually see him again until 6:30am. He's always been like this.
If he sleeps too much during the day, he wakes up about 2am looking for someone to play with.
i have heard this before, and I'm so thankful that it isn't the case for us.
My babe (10 weeks old) doesn't sleep at all during the day, or if I'm lucky only a couple of 5-10 min naps, but thankfully he sleeps quite well at nighttime (wakes about twice from 7pm til 7am) or I'd be loopy by now.
I have a 'sleeping guide' i got from a website when Sophie was first born. Tells a parent how much 'recommended' sleep your baby should get at 1month of age, 2 mths, 3 mths etc....At 6 months its recommended they get 14 1/4 hrs sleep in a 24 hr period, which allows 3 1/4 hrs sleep during the day, 11rs sleep at night....obv each bubs is different yadda, yadda but i found it a helpful guide.
Like us, i guess if we lounge around in the house all day, and dont do much active stuff then it may take us a bit longer to fall asleep at night. I know with my girls, when we have a play outside for an hour or two it defn wears them out for the nighttime sleep.....
Thank you all for your replies! Its incredible - the last couple of days Natalie has really sorted herself out. I'm not holding my breath, but she has had one 1ish hour nap and one 2ish hour nap both days and has only woken twice overnight between 7pm and 7am! I'm astounded! Anyway, thanks again for your experiences.
I've always found the more my baby sleeps during the day, the better her night sleeps! IMHO sleep begets sleep. Babies who are awake all day may sleep all night, but only becuase they are completely exhausted - and the sleep they then get is not a good sleep - I never have a good sleep when I am exhuasted so I can understand how a baby can't.
Per your last post - your baby is now having 15 hours a day which is spot on for her age range.
Better day sleeps = better night sleeps?
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