difference between nap and sleep?

[futuremum]

Hi

What is the difference between nap and sleep? My partner tells me that when a baby is napping he keeps waking up and falling asleep. I thought a nap was a good sleep but for a shorter period of time.
At the moment , Thomas is not sleeping really, just closing his eyes for a few minutes and then opening them until he cries. Is this a nap then?

How long should babies of 4 weeks old sleep during the day? Thomas slept from 9.30 pm till 2.50 am, then from 4 am till 6 am and then from 7.20 till 8.20. Then he slept for 50 minutes during the afternoon but that is it really for the day.

Can a baby sleep in your arms ? I read it is a risk of cot death.

 

[Kim]

Yesterday Rubie slept all day and all night, but today she has been awake all day, she doesn't seem to have a pattern, every day is different. She is 4 weeks old too.

 

[kellie80]

Aimee is 6 weeks and she sleeps around 7-8 hours at night and she seems to have one day where she will have about a 3 hour sleep in the afternoon and nothing else really and the next day she will only spend about 2 hours awake. She always has me thinking that i'm not going to get any sleep when she has been asleep all day but she'll sleep at night also.

 

[Kim]

Lucky you!!

 

[BubbleOne]

Phoebe is now sleeping from 9pm until about 6am and then from 7am until any time from 8am - 10.30am. She has 20min naps in the day and some days she'll sleep loads!!
I think every baby is different. So long as they're not grumpy the whole time they are awake because they are tired I wouldn't worry.