Yes, ANOTHER catnap query

[Mmm Dessert]

Since there are so many of us with little darling catnappers, I was wondering if anyone else had been told the same thing as me: that if I 'let' my DS continue with his catnapping ways, he will eventually lose the ability to sleep at night.

At the moment he is sleeping for about 45 minutes maximum during his day sleeps, but will often sleep through at night (he's 10 weeks old). I've been putting him down awake and he's falling asleep fairly easily, but nothing will keep him asleep past that pesky first sleep cycle.

I've been to a sleep class and contacted the experts at Tresilian and Karitane in Sydney, and they have all told me that he must be exhausted and if it continues then he'll start to cut down on his night time sleeping as well. I'm kinda confused, because he wakes up absolutely raring to go and no amount of settling will get him back off to sleep. He will only go back down again once we've gone through the whole feed and play cycle. (I usually hold off on the feed for a while and that doesn't bother him, so I know he's not hungry...)

Does anyone have an older bub whose still catnapping and sleeping well at night??

[Crazy Monkey]

My DS was a catnapper when he was younger, 45 minutes to an hour was the most he would sleep.. As he's gotten older, he has slept better during the day and at night... Personally, I wouldn't be too concerned if he is still happy...

Good luck...

[SilverStarfish]

Yup, that sounds familiar. My DD usually only sleeps for 45 - 50 minutes at a time during the day - and 3 times a day if I'm lucky!

I worried about it for a while, but at 5 months (today!:thumbsup:) she's still sleeping beautifully most nights. She's not cranky or crying at all during the day, so I figure now if she's happy, then I'm happy :yes:

[Wivi]

My son wasn't ever really a catnapper but I certainly heard this advice a lot. I know heaps of people with catnappers whose babies sleep beautifully at night. I think all babies are individual's and at 10 weeks if your bub is happy then just go with the flow. You will probably find that as he gets older and more active he will probably have longer day sleeps.

Do you have the BabyLove book? She suggests that it is terribly hard to get catnappers to sleep longer and that what you are doing is just right! The most important thing is that your bub learns to fall asleep by himself and he is, so I would just keep going how you are. I think you are doing a great job!!!

[Mmm Dessert]

Excellent! They're both the answers that I wanted to hear. The only time my little man is upset is when I'm trying to force more sleep on him than he seems to really want/need. Now he can spend more time playing, and I can spend less time stressing about what's going to happen a few months down the track!

[pmaus]

Hi there catnapper baby Mums,
i am so glad there is a heap of us out there with this catnapping "problem".
i too have been to Karitane and tresillian and also paid a lady to come and help me settle Max. He is nearly 4 months old (on 4th October) and I have been battling to get him to nap during the day (for any length of time initially then to get him to stay asleep) for over 2 months now. it is exhausting and frustrating and affects his feeding so that his weight gain has been slow. He sleeps well at night from around 6.30/7pm until 6am with waking for a feed at about 3am or 4am. I tend to space his feeds four hourly where possible as he seems to feed better then but this is chaotic as the day goes on with him napping only 30 - 50 mins at a time. He usually can fall asleep on his own with a bit of crying and fussing which lasts from 5min to sometimes nearly an hour.
I now top him up at some feeds with formula to make sure he is getting enough to eat. Does anyone else have the eating problem as their baby gets more and more tired?
I too was told that if he doesn't sleep better soon he will start to not sleep at night and that it is all accumulative so that he just must be tired all the time! I have decided to stop stressing about it but that is hard work too pretending it doesn't phase me!
help

[pickles]

My first was always a cat napper during the day . I wasted so much time on trying to get her to sleep. she was always a fantatsic night sleeper. At around 19 months she started having one day sleep of 2 hours , that lasted until 2 1/2. As a small baby my second was a brilliant day sleeper and a terror at night. I know which one i would pick if i had a third.
Good Luck
Pickles
DD 02/03
DS 03/05