Sleeping during the day

[TeamOwen2020]

Hello lovely people.

My LO is 5 weeks old and is sleeping for the majority of the day. Up for around an hour for feeding each time then falls asleep. When it comes to night time he doesn’t want to go down to sleep at all between 9 and 2 unless it’s on us. Would it help if he was awake more during the day?

TIA

[Rox9797]

Hey, we had this issue with our little boy when he was first born and up until he was about 12 weeks old! It’s really hard to keep them awake during the day because they’re babies and they’re going to want to sleep but we had the issue of him wanting to sleep during the night too but only on us and not in his crib or Moses basket - it’s very possible that this is the issue and not that he doesn’t want to sleep because at 5 weeks they’re sleeping for majority of the day - what is he like when he’s sleeping during the day? Do you notice if he’s fussy in his sleep or anything like that? For us it was our little boy’s startle reflex not allowing him to fully fall asleep and that’s why it was easier sleeping on us because we could cuddle him and he wouldn’t startle as much. We were told to start a bedtime routine as soon as we could so we gave him a bath at the same time each night, we worked his feed in around the same time as we bottle feed and then tightly swaddled him and eventually it worked, it does take some time though! You’ll get there, although I know the feeling of the lack of sleep it brings when they just don’t want to settle😔

[TeamOwen2020 in reply to Rox9797]

Thanks Rox9797. Good to hear it’s not just me and there is light at the end of the tunnel. Bub sheep’s really well in the day3-4 hours mostly at a time. On most occasions can put him in his cot with no probs at all. We have a bedtime routine and he loves his bath so doesn’t get wound up. He goes down ok after his bath and feed fir the first sleep around 8 but subsequently after feeds around 12-4 he struggles to settle. I swaddle him but until he is exhausted he won’t comply! He does sleep longer if he remains swaddled tho which is a blessing!

[Katja123]

Hi,

Yes, seems like the babes sleeps too much during the day. According to the norms, at 1-2 months they sleep 5-6 day naps, the duration of which altogether should be 6-7 hours, night sleep 8-10 hours. Divide the norm of day nap by 5 or 6 times and you have an average duration of a single day nap. After that apply it and observe, where it should be longer, where shorter. Normally later on the last nap should be not as long as the previous ones. 4 hours of sleep during the day at a time = staying awake for 2-4 hours at night.

Good luck.

Regards, Katya