Babies Born June 1st - 15th 2008

[amyhunz]

Hi everyone,
Can I take a quick survey to see how much sleep your bubs do in the day?

I'm trying to figure out if I'm expecting too much sleep of my LO. At the moment, her awake time is still only about 1.5hrs, obviously more if we're out and about. Her total day sleep can vary between 3hrs and 5hrs depending on the happenings of the day. I supposed a normal day if we stay at home is 4-4.5hrs. She's taking longer to settle off to sleep over the past couple of days and I'm wondering if it's a phase or whether I need to extend her 'up' time (???)

Would love to know what your LO's are doing! Thanks...

[MummyPig]

Hi Amy

Day time sleep is something I'm interested in too. I understand that all babies have different patterns (if they have them at all!), some are really good nappers, some are terrible, some sleep in only batches of 40 mins (one sleep cycle) and others will sleep for hours apparently. I've read it should be on average 15 hours sleep out of 24, with 10 at night and the rest during the day in naps. Obviously that varies by baby and day to day. Also, I've read that for some people keeping their babies awake longer works, but for others it just leads to an overtired baby and an overstressed mum.

How are we ever supposed to know if what we're doing is right?

I've spent a few weeks trying to track her sleepy times and all I can tell is that Freyja is one of the crappy nappers. She tends to sleep for 40mins IF you can even get her down. Some days, no matter how tired she is or how well you read her sleepy cues, she just will not go to sleep. I have had many days were most of it was spent dealing with a screaming, overtired baby who is hyperalert and still won't go to sleep.

Occassionally I will be able to resettle her. More often than not she will seem to be completely wide awake and playful when I go through, so I think, "ooh, she's had enough sleep for once!", then within a few minutes it becomes obvious that she is still tired and I have to deal with her being grumpy until I cam try and put her down again.

She tends to need to sleep after being awake for an hour and a half like you mention Grace does, but sometimes it's only 40 mins, others she can go several hours and these periods don't seem to relate to how much napping she's done. Although the longer periods do tend to coincide with us being out and about, or her daddy being home. Very occassionally, perhaps once a week at most, she will sleep for several hours at a time - it's bliss!!

I was told yesterday by another mum that her daughter was crap at napping until they upped her solids to 3 meals a day, including a big brekkie. Freyja had a big brekkie today, which she loved, but it made no difference to her sleeping. She woke up at 6am today and has only had two 40 min naps since, despite a cumulative total of several hours of trying to get her to sleep.

Also, since Freyja learnt how to turn onto her tummy, settling her day or night have been impossible. She will just be nodding off when all of a sudden, she turns onto her tum for no reason and then of course she starts howling. She also now seems to favour sleeping on her side - all the easier for turning onto her tum accidentally! At least it has allowed us to start patting her bum to help her settle (give that a go btw, I was amazed at how well it works), rather than allowing her to hold our hands to her face and pat herself on the head with them. She has a death like grip so you're there for the duration when she does that.

Problem is, no matter how good your baby is at napping or night sleeping, it all goes out the window when they hit a development point - I'm now convinced Freyja is having a 6 month long one!

Freyja is now going to sit in her high chair and watch mummy doing the housework because she is still awake. Perhaps I can bore her to sleep?

[amyhunz]

Hi Kerry,

Thanks so much for your reply. I know what you mean about the confusion re: are we doing it right?!! Don't you just wish they could tell you when they're tired!!

Well, a few people have told me that kids that need less sleep are often intelligent so maybe you have a genious on your hands :-)

I think with Gracie I've developed a thick skin of late. Sometimes it can take up to an hr for her to settle and these days I just go about doing whatever. When she was younger, I'd sit nervously waiting with baited breathe to see if she was going to settle to sleep and then at the 40min mark pray that she didn't wake completely. Ohh...how we traumatise ourselves! These days I just go with it a bit more. If she wakes at 40mins, I leave her for up to 30mins (unless she's screaming the house down which she rarely does) and then if she doesn't re-settle I get her up and make sure I put her to bed 1.5hrs (or less) the next time.

At night, if she wakes, I go in and check her and if she's not hot/cold, out of her wrap, head up against the bars, etc then I leave her. Sometimes it can take an hr for her to re-settle but patting, rocking etc never worked for her.

Anyway, it'll be interesting to see what the others have to say...thanks for affirming that sleeping is different for every bub and isn't easy!!

[Mirandabelle]

Zeke is a fairly average napper, he has 2 or 3 short naps during the day that last about 30-45mins and a longish one that is about 1-2 hours. I just kinda go with the flow and start trying to get him down when he is tired. When all else fails I just feed him and snuggle... at least that way he is resting.

When he wakes at night, it's usually for food so he eats, and goes straight back to sleep... which is fantastic, he's rarely up for more than 20 minutes!

I've been packing a bit more into his days now, so he's sleeping a little longer for naps... but has made no improvement on the night sleeping, which is what I'm really trying to work on, at least dropping the 2am feed. He doesn't really seem to want it, so I'm just trying to comfort him first, and most of the time it's working, occasionally he is still hungry, but most of the time he's woken out of pure habit... cheeky boy!

[skye+cammi]

hi girls,

i havent been on in a while,i think cammi is going throu a long development point and she just got over a virus she wont be put down to play for 5mins the past week its stating to drive me nuts...lol hope it passes soon...as for her sleeping she only sleeps 40min at a time and only has 3 maybe 4 sleeps throu the day...she is a excellent sleeper of a night we go to bed bout 8:30-9 she gets up at around 4 but only for a feed and is asleep within 5min but i co-sleep she wakes again round 9-10am..its good to hear how other bubs sleep...

[leesha]

Hi all hope everyone is well.......
Taj is a great sleeper during the day!
His daily sleep pattern is usually up btween 6am-7am...has a feed and a play and about an hour and a half later goes down for a sleep. This is usually at least an hour sometimes 3!!!
Up again for a feed and more play time then about 2pm he goes back down for a sleep for about an hour and a half sometimes a bit longer.
Once his up at 3.30 I keep him up and bath time is 5.30pm then a feed then bed by 7pm and he has been sleeping till 4am then waking for a feed and half an hour later back asleep till 6-7am!!
He dropped his 2am feed himself about a week ago which has been great!!! More Sleep!!!

He is still not interested in solids so he is sleeping a lot for this age and just being BF(Ebm and bottle fed due to his cleft lip) So I don't think eating solids has anything to do with how they sleep, it just means they will probably cut out a few milk feeds and have more sleep or nap time!!

He isn't always routine tho and these times can vary a bit and also depending on wether I am at home or if I have gone out! I have noticed tho that he needs a morning and an afternoon sleep definately!!! We play heaps during the day and lots of tummy time really tires him out!!

My neice is 8 months old and she and Taj have almost the same sleep patterns and she has been on solids for 3 months!! It's weird how they all vary in what they do and when they do it!!!

I week and 3 days till Taj's surgery...Agggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[Mirandabelle]

I totally agree... it's amazing how different all our babies are... all the different patterns they have and yet they were born within a few days of each other.

Leisha... I will be keeping my fingers crossed especially tight for you over the next couple of days. I hope that Taj's surgery goes well, and he recovers quickly!