How do I know if bub has slept long enough?

[UmmInayah]

Bub doesn't sleep for very long naps, and I am wondering whether I should bother resettling her or just get her up? It can sometimes take up to an hour of resettling..

If she wakes up and doesn't cry, can I assume she is getting enough sleep?

[Kittylou]

My bub is much younger than yours but she never cries when she wakes up and it definitely doesn't mean she's had enough sleep. Sometimes I know she needs to be resettled because she clearly looks tired and sleepy when I go in to get her. Other times though, she is wide awake and grinning at me so I get her up only to have her start whingeing and crying within 5 minutes or if I put her down on the floor. So then I know she still needs more sleep and try, not always with great success, to get her back to sleep. If she doesn't look like going back to sleep within about 15 minutes I give up and just keep her up and try to keep her happy until she is due for her next sleep.

[~Temet Nosce~]

I would say if its been at least 45 mins, just get her up. Some babies are just catnappers and always will be.
My bubs is nearly 8 months and for 4 months has had 3 naps a day, each lasting 45 mins to an hour, and sleeps from 7.30pm to 6.30-7am. If I let her sleep anymore than that during the day she doesnt sleep too well at night. She has an awake time of 2 to 2 1/2 hours, then goes down for 45min- hour.

[bridee]

I'm currently facing this problem so watching thread with interest. I have a catnapper, I have for the past couple of weeks tried to follow a rountine (the rountine Marna you were on I think) and therefore get her to sleep longer. So I haven't been getting her out of bed when she initially wakes. Sometimes she was going back to sleep sometimes not.

Anyway today I decided that perhaps I should just accept my catnapper as being a catnapper and get her up when she wakes, mind you she did just have a really good sleep (1.25hours). So I got her up, she would have with the routine been in bed 2 hours and then up 2.5 hours. Anyway after 1.25hours up she was whingy so put her back to bed in which she feel straight to sleep.

Anyway this has turned into a monster post, hijacking the post as well.

I'm just now wondering whether her time in bed, even though she may not be asleep may be good rest and enables her to be awake and happier longer. She is never really upset when in bed she just talks to her self.

[UmmInayah]

Kittylou, actually I am finding the same thing with DD. But I hate to think that I am trying to rock her and she is crying in my arms for up to an hour!

Amethyst, she used to be a catnapper, I had her in such a great routine where she would sleep 1.5 hours twice a day, but since she started teething about 3 weeks ago (:hair:) she has been a terrible sleeper. She will only take catnaps. I know she is able to sleep longer than 45 mins, so it's really frustrating.

bridee, I wish she was still on that routine! Everything went to cr@p as stated above. I am trying to work out if she is just needing less sleep, or if she just doesn't know how to sleep longer than 45 mins. Let me know how things go with your DD. I hope someone is able to help us with our problem!

[nicoleE]

My DD seems to be a catnapper. During the day she will have 30-40minutes sleep - like clockwork! She is then wide awake and happy and is not a cranky baby at al during the day so I figure she is getting enough, she only has about 3 naps through the day so only gets about 1.5-2 hrs sleep total in the day. At night she goes down at 10pm and wakes about 8:30am (with 2-3 feeds in that time)

[Susan78]

I have exactly the same problem with my 3.5 mnthold. She sleeps for no more than 45 min at a time and although she is grinning her head off and wanting to play when she wakes up, she gets tired and then over tired very quickly. I have tried going to her before she wakes up and shhushing and patting her, and she just wakes up and smiles at me, so now I am just leaving her when she wakes up and seeing if she will fall back to sleep on her own. She only seems to be able to do that with her last nap of the day and that is getting too close to bed time...!

Its annoying because she is too tired to feed properly at her next feed and then gets hungry before her next feed and I cant keep her on regular feeds, which is a pain cause I am going backto work next week and my husband is looking after her for the next 6mnths and I was hoping to keep mostly breastfeeding.

She is generally pretty happy and sleeps well at night so I am probably lucky and am worrying too much?

[AliCat]

I have a catnapper sometimes too, I find that if I get him up and have a bit of tummy time for 10 minutes then resettle him again, maybe 8 times outta 10 he will have another nap before needing to be fed again.

[cookies1]

Hey everyone, have been reading this thread with much interest. I too have a lovley ds who will only have short sleeps of 45mins through the day. However I don't think I have much cause for complaint. He sleeps from 630pm-530am without waking every night. He's almost 5 months old now. He's never been a great day sleeper and wakes like clockwork 45-50 mins after he goes down. But he seems a happy contented baby so I'm pretty sure he's getting enough sleep. He would only have 2-3 sleeps during the day. By then end of the day though he is very, very tired but am sure he is making up for it all with a huge sleep at night. Are others experiencing this as well?? :sunshine:

[forbetoel]

I personally could not be bothered re settling if it takes 1 hour to do so. There really isn't much point, as it would be easier to just let her play for an hour and let her get tired that way.
If she is happy then she is getting enough sleep. Some babies are fine with very minimal sleep, other babies are not happy unless they get 2 or 3 huge sleeps in.

[mischief79]

My 4.5 month old is a catnapper as well. Her daytime sleeps are never longer than 45 minutes. She wakes up in a good mood, so I'm not too worried. Only problem is that she used to sleep 9-10 horus solid at night, and now she's waking 2-3 times and needs either a feed or resettling.
During the day she's awake for 2 hours on the dot and then asleep for 45 mintues. She puts herself to sleep during the day and at bedtime. Just follow bubs cues. If she looks tired when she wakes up and grizzles really quickly, try resettling then. But if it takes an hour she's not needing more sleep then.

[Sars]

hi all,

I too have a 9 mth old bub who is not exactly a catnapper coz when he wakes up from his 40 min sleep cycle he is still tired. what i normally do is stay next to him after he goes down for a nap and as soon as he makes some movement i keep my hand firmly on him or just gently pat him and 8 out of 10 times he goes back to sleep. during the time when i'm sitting near him when he is asleep i do whatever work i cud like folding laundry, reading a book,etc. he too used to wake up after 40 min and smile at me and not go back to sleep but i kept trying and now sometimes he does open his eyes little and goes back to sleep. i'm still working on his night sleep though which is really bad as he is teething.hope that helps some of u.

[Susan78]

Up until 2 days ago my daughter (3.5 mnths)was a catnapper. My husband has started looking after her and I have gone back to work. I could never get her to feed every 3 hours or sleep for more than 45 mins. Now it seems that she has a carer who doesnt smell like milk, she waits her 3 hours and feeds really well AND sleeps for an hour and a half at a time. Its amazing! I am still breastfeeding her as I work a couple of blocks from home and it is excellent. I am hoping her night times get better too...