Daytime v night sleeps

[loz]

I am getting confused as have heard different information about how long a baby should sleep during the day. Emma is having dreadful nights where she will wake up through the night although seems to be able to nap at least twice during the day. This morning she slept from 9.15 until I woke her at 12.0. She is now having another nap.

Some people have said dont let her sleep too much during the day or she wont sleep at night, but then I have read info that says if babies dont get good naps during the day then it will be harder for them to sleep at night!!

Usually she will have about an hour in the morning and about half an hour in the afternoon, I dont know why she is sleeping so much today although she has had a bit of a cold.

I dont know what to think!

Emms is coming up 8 months and I dont know whether to wake her up if she is having a long nap during the day or whether to leave her if she needs the sleep? Does it influence the night sleeps or not?

Helpppppppp!!!

 

[charlie84]

There is a saying - the more a baby sleeps the more a baby sleeps

However i doubt this applies to all babies

Calleigh is nearly 8 months and her normal sleep patterns are
Night 7.30pm til 7.30 am
Daytime Naps 11.30ish and 4pmish and they vary in length usually an hour to 2 hours long.

Sometimes at 7.30am she will stay in bed with me and we will have an extra hours sleep.

If she misses any naps in the day she does go down to bed easily but then tends to wake at 5.30am for a feed.

She had a little cold the other day and she didnt settle at all well and woke early morning for a feed. I think having a cold could eb the reason she is sleeping more as if you think about it thats all we want to do when we have a cold (well i do anyway )

I do try and always put Calleigh down for her naps as i find that she really needs them or else she is grumpy and i find it certainly helps with her sleep at night.

 

[mum's the word]

If you haven't naturally got a good sleeper then it's all about establishing a routine and sticking to it. Ricky slept for a total of 16 hours a day between the ages of 6 months and it's only now I'm cutting him down to 1 nap a day, 12 hours at night and 2-2 and a half in afternoon.
It is nonsense that keeping them awake during the day helps them sleep longer at night, they can have a daytime nap til they are over 2 and still sleep all night.
Sticking to times and keeping the same pattern worked for me, some ppl think it's too ridgid but he was such a grump without sleep I had to sort it out.
He has his own room, goes to bed at 7 p.m and 12.30 p.m, I only have the odd bad night when he's really poorly but he still goes back to sleep in his cot without a fuss.
It depends how important it is to you and how willing you are to stick to a routine really-any baby will sleep through if you persevere with a sleep programme (around 2% of the population don't need much sleep, if you are one of them then your baby prob won't need much but they'll be happy not grumpy as they don't need the sleep)
If the next baby isn't as grumpy as he was I may not be so strict with bedtimes etc, but I won't hesitate to sort it out if there are constant sleepless nights and whinging!

 

[loz]

Thanks guys, Emma had 3 naps yesterday and then went to sleep from 9.30 - 4am. Had a feed then back to sleep in 20 mins. A real result for her!!!

I wont worry about her naps then, maybe she just needs the sleep at the moment