My 7 month old DD is constantly tired. She has always been a catnapper (30-40 min naps) so I attributed her tiredness to her sleeps not being long enough, and figured it would go away when she eventually settled into a better sleeping routine and matured enough to stay awake for longer periods of time.
Of late I've been able to resettle her between sleep cycles, so she's had a few longer naps (1.5-2 hours). The other day she had a 3 hour nap and was rubbing her eyes ready for another sleep not even 15 mins after waking up. After that happened I started monitoring it her sleep/wake/nap cycle and realised that she had very few periods of alert wakefulness, and the periods she does have are very short (20 mins max). She naps, then wakes, then spends about 30 - 60mins (sometimes 90 mins) tired but awake, and then naps again. Has anyone else experienced this? Any ideas what could be causing it? I took her to the GP who said that it's unlikely she's low in iron, being that she's exclusively BF'd. ETA: plus some solids since six months - fruit, vegies, yogurt & chicken mainly.
Has your GP done a complete check up on her? If you aren't happy with what your GP has said, perhaps a second opinion is in order? Mummy intuition is a powerful thing, and if you think something is not right, I'd be getting it checked out. She may just have a virus, but it's worth pushing.
Hi Jennifer, thanks for replying. No the GP didn't check her at all. I think I will take her to the MCHN to see if she has any suggestions, and another GP if that doesn't lead to any answers.
I wonder if anyone else has had experience with a constantly tired baby? Could it just be that she's not sleeping long enough? Eg today she had 4 x naps ranging between 25 and 50 mins.
How many naps per day is usual at 7 months of age?
4 naps is fine at this age, but I would be trying to get longer sleeps out of her. Maybe by trying a carrier, swing, hammock, changing sleep position or being wrapped?
Does she go back to sleep easy even if shes only been awake for 15 minutes? Rubbing her eyes, could she have an allergy?
Sometimes she can be resettled if she has just stirred or needs a burp, but if she actually wakes up and opens her eyes after a short sleep (which is often the case), we can't usually get her back to sleep easily. Just needs to be held and cuddled for the next hour or so until she's exhausted enough to go to sleep again.
She is still wrapped for all sleeps. She sleeps equally badly in bed or in her bouncer. She gets agitated in slings so they're out. I sometimes use the pram to get her to sleep but that too yeilds short naps. I don't think rubbing her eyes is due to allergy because she's only doing it when she's tired. She tends to sleep on her side (either side), what other position could I try?
Any ideas for how to get her to sleep longer? I try to resettle when she wakes by walking her or feeding her, but she usually arches her back and tries to wriggle out of my arms.
Constantly tired baby (7 months)
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