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How much do your babies sleep?

My DD is now 6 weeks old and some days she barely sleeps at all in the day. Last week one day she slept for 30 mins from 5.50am to 11pm, and today she has been awake the entire time since 8.30 this morning.

I reckon she averages about 7-8 hours during the night, usually about 10pm - 1am, 3am to 5.30am and maybe 7am to 8.30am on an average night. Some days she will nap for maybe 3 hours, but this is quite rare, maybe 2-3 days per week. The rest of the time it's just 30 min catnaps.

Is this normal? I'm am knackered! A lot of the time when she's awake she's quite alert but she's been crying almost all day today which is pretty wearing.

Replies

  • DS is 13 weeks today as is very simliar. He doesnt have set naps during the day he does the exact same as you describe with the "catnaps" .. he is far to nosey and wants to be doing everything. Yet when it comes to bed time he does 11 hours straight through the night.

    I can remember at around 6 weeks he would wake around 2/3 times a night but now he goes through. I wouldnt say it wasnt normal, give it a couple of weeks and i rekon she wont be up as much during the night, and take more or longer catnaps image She will just be trying to find her own little pattern still thats all.

    Jade x

    [Modified by: jadeb5 on June 09, 2010 05:46 PM]

  • Hey Liz - Matilda varies it (keeps us on our toes!). Some days she only has the equivalent of about 90 mins spread over the day (those are the days when she is a nightmare to get to bed because she is SO tired!). Other days she has maybe 3 90 min naps and is so much better at going down at night.

    We had a friend whose little girl was 'diagnosed' as being 'excessively wakeful' because she needed such a little amount of sleep...

  • Hi lizzie76 - Amelia is similar - until she hit 8-9 weeks old, Amelia just didn't sleep during the day at all and it is very tiring. However, I am starting to find that she will nap now - about 45mins in the morning and around lunchtime and 90mins in the afternoon which means I can get some stuff done. Also as your LO gets older, they'll be able to play on the mat/bouncer etc so you won't be a constant mobile entertainment unit for them.

    The main thing is that she sleeps at night!! At 6 weeks - if she's crying - it could be a growth spurt.
  • blimmey...at 6 weeks i struggled to keep my LO awake for more than an hour at a time! when she does fall asleep is it on you? being rocked? in pram? i would imagine she is getting over tired as 7 or 8 hours sleep isnt really enough for an adult let alone a baby! my DS is 6 months and sleeps 13 hours at night and 2 or 3 during the day (although he has always loved his sleep!) im not surprised you are exhausted you poor thing...the only thing that got me through the early weeks was having a rest when LO napped during the day!

  • Oh I feel for you - no naps must mean you are exhausted.

    I agree with shockedmummy that it may be that LO is getting overtired. The more sleep a baby has the more they want I believe, which is why generally daytime naps lead to good nights - I did say generally!

    It may be that you do just have a very awake baby, but I would try and get her down for more npas by whatever means possible (holding, rocking etc) to see if that makes a difference.

    If not get on the caffiene! x

    Sorry in answer to your question my LO is 9 months, sleeps around 12 hours at night and has 2 or 3 45min naps x
  • I'm pretty sure she does get overtired, sometimes I can see her fighting the sleep like crazy! She will only sleep at night if she's fallen asleep on me, but when she naps during the day, she usually falls asleep of her own accord. I don't understand when she is tired though that she'll go to sleep and only stay down for 20 mins or so.

    We went for her newborn hearing test for the 2nd time yesterday, they couldn't get a reading the first time as she was too wide awake and wriggly and it was the same story yesterday. The nurse said she'd never seen such an alert baby! We've now been referred to the ENT though which is a pain (she turns her head to noises and startles at loud noises so I know she can hear!).

    Hopefully she'll start to find more of a routine as she gets a bit bigger.
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