40 min sleep cycle

[lucyp]

Hi - During the day my (5month old) bub will generally only sleep for 40 minutes unaided. By that I mean around about the 40 minute mark I have to go in and pop the dummy in and maybe pat for a few minutes to get another 40 minutes out of him. Is this normal???

He sleeps very well at night - only waking once for a feed. We have tried leaving him to "self-settle" after the first 40 - but unfortunately just ends up with a tired and very awake baby that cries...... We have attended Tresillian and their policy is that bub does not leave the cot in his supposed sleep time........ Any suggestions - or is this perfectly normal for a baby of this age?

[BJelly]

Hi,

I don't have any advice as such, but my 4.5 month old will normally only have about 3 - 4 day sleeps of 30mins to an hour. She sleeps really well overnight 10pm to 6ish. As long as she's happy (and she is a very jolly baby) I'm not worried.

She had a few longer sleeps last week- a couple of 2 hour ones - and I was very excited about that, but she's returned to her old pattern (bummer for me - I was thinking I might be able to fit some yoga into my day).

Best of luck!

[jamb]

I just think you have to go with what is. My bub is 4.5 months and has only ever had two 20 min (to the second) sleeps a day. Like BJelly I really hoped to do pilates but that has not happened yet due to bub just not needing to sleep.

He sleeps from 6pm to 5am and wakes up happy, he seems to be recharged by his power naps during the day so I have stopped trying to get them to be any longer.

[Chickadee]

Lucy,
I think it's pretty normal. Your boy probably knows how to self-settle, he's likely waking (or at least surfacing from deep sleep) a bit more in the night than you realise but putting himself back under easily most of the time. As he gets older he might get better at doing it on his own during the day too. Darkening the room a bit more might help.

I always found that Chloe needed the second 40-45 min and would help her back to sleep if necessary. She was much happier with a 1.5 sleep than just 45min. But each bub is different and you'll know best when he really needs to be encouraged back to to get a bit more sleep, or when he's probably ok with just 40 min.

I don't think I'd take the Tresilian advice (or any advice) without a bit of flexibility too. I always tried (and still do) to re-settle in the cot, but if Chloe got really worked up then I wouldn't hesitate to pick her up for a cuddle. Keeping her in the cot only made things worse! I guess I keep the rule that she stays in the room. And if she does wake early and is happy playing in her cot then I'll leave her there. If she's not happy then I won't leave her there on her own.