do any REAL babies have 1.5hr sleeps?

[bec05]

Quick question - are there any babies out there who sleep 1.5-2.5 hours every time they go down for a day nap???

The reason I ask is that we are trying to persist with sleep and settle techniques - I was quite opposed to them before and thought they were way too rigid but we have become desperate (3 month old is only sleeping 25 mins at a time during the day, takes hours to settle at night and so often looks tired and cranky). However, I'm not sure about their theory that babies should sleep 1.5-2.5 hours at every nap because I have yet to meet a baby who does this. Does anyone have one???? At the moment I'd just be happy if she slept slightly longer, but if the theory really works then maybe we'd set our goal even higher.

[Nickster]

Like us adults, Bec, all babies are different. I come from a family of light sleepers, my DH comes from a family of deep sleepers. As luck would have it, DD is a light sleeper, and at 3 months was also only having catnaps of about 30 mins at a time, and then she was up for about an hour (if memory serves me correctly) before needing to go down for another sleep. Sometimes she'd surprise us and sleep for one whole hour!! Once she even slept for 2 hours straight during the day!! Now she's nearly a year old, she's settled down a little more and will usually have 2 naps during the day, one solid at about 1 1/2 hours, the other a catnap - but we keep our fingers crossed because sometimes 2 half-hour naps seem to suffice! You just have to be gentle and loving with them as they're only babies and trying to figure everything out themselves!
In regards to your night-time settling, do you have a set routine for her? We have always done the bath-breast-bed routine and rocked her to sleep in her dimly-lit room with an appropriate lullaby and dummy so she KNOWS it's bedtime. Some nights, especially when developmental changes like learning to crawl were happening, it could take a lot longer, and we'd have to give up, bring her downstairs and try again a little later, but she would eventually sleep. Having her in the Baby Bjorn/sling really helped to get her to sleep some nights when nothing else would do.
I'm not sure what else to advise, but will reiterate that gentleness and love will go a long way while your little person is learning about life. I hope someone else can further advise you, in the meantime, big hugs to you and lots of sleepy baby dust coming your way!!

[Chickadee]

Yes, my DD did and still does. Sometimes up to 3 hours even if she's had a busy day. She would as an infant, in her swing, but from about 2.5 months she slept shorter sometimes until we started some settling techniques at around 4 months old.

[wattle]

Hi Bec. My little one was a napper as well, until I had a friend come and stay who said 'sleep promotes sleep'. I thought this sounded like a load of....... well you know, but it seemed to be true.

I put a timetable up on the fridge with wake times and feed times and within a week he was sleeping like clockwork!!! (Maybe he can secretly read????)

I just stuck with it for the week - same feed time and down time and it worked. I put him to sleep at 10am (until 12) and 2pm (until 4). And fed him at 9am, 12.30, 4pm and 6pm, plus a bedtime milk.

We're pretty flexible now with his routine, but it was a big switch from the cat naps. Usually he'll sleep 1 - 2 hours, but if he's teething anything can happen. But he seems a lot happier now that he's getting more sleep.

(We started the timetable when he was 6 months)

Hope this helps a bit.

[AM]

I would truly recommend that you read the book "Night-time Parenting" by Dr William Sears, it is simply the best book I have ever read that actually explains in detail exactly how babies sleep differs from adults, how it evolves etc.
It took such a weight off my mind.

[JanetF]

Knowledge is power :D So knowing all you can about the wide range of what is normal for babies and sleep will really help you feel comfortable with your perfectly normal baby.
You can also get lots of info from Dr Sears at his website
www.askdrsears.com

Enjoy your little one, they're only young for such a short time. :)

[xkwzit]

Hi Bec
DD1 cat napped - never longer than 45 min at a time. How I envied those whose babies would sleep for 2 hours in the morning AND evening. As she got older, her naps got longer. I think she may have even been 12 -18 months before they started getting really long, 1.5 hours+.

Just to prove that they are all individuals, DD2 loved her sleeps and usually slept for 1 - 2 hours from early on. I didn't really treat them any differently - they are just individuals.

Cheers

[H&B'sMum]

I hate to say it but Harry does and he's 19 months. He sometimes even has a morning sleep for 2 hrs and an afternoon sleep for 2hr. Sometimes it's 3 hrs in the morning and only an hour in the afternoon. This of course all depends on what time he got up and how busy he has been during the day.
But every baby is different and what my baby sleeps is not what your baby will sleep.
Good luck in finding the perfect balance for your bubba.

[Terrible2+1cutie]

Both my boys were catnappers when they were tiny babies, they would fall asleep on the floor for 5 minutes at a time , when they started to roll i started putting them asleep in the cot and they both slept for 2 hours at a time. Now that Blaze is in a bed he sleeps anywhere from 1 hour to 3 hours of a lunch time.

Catherine

[funnyfarm]

My daughter would only have 40 minute sleeps at the most at that age. She is now 17 months old and since about the age of 13-14 months old, she is now having one day sleep of about 2 hours long. Before that she would never sleep long. I would get myself soo worked up about getting her into a routine and sleeping longer and it did me no good because in the long run, she would do what she wanted anyway. It seems to be the more people that i spoke too the more normal she sounded so i stopped stressing soo much and just went with the flow.

With regards to nighttime sleep, have you tried setting a regular routine, bathtime, relax in rocking chair (cuddles in chair), then bed (maybe a little bit of patting for a few weeks to help her get to sleep and then slowly cut the patting out). I'm sure you have been told that she is not going to sleep well at night because she is overtired which is what i was told all the time when DD was a baby but it didn't help me much to know why she was not settling, i just wanted to know what would work. I realised that there is no real answer and it's just trial and error.

Hope this improve for you soon and don't worry too much, your daughter sounds very normal to me.

Janet

[channy]

My DS was the same when he was younger. He would have 20-40min cat naps and then be cranky again an hour later. Was getting very frustrating. Not to mention no routine whatsoever. Then all of a sudden he started having a bigger sleep in the morning and staying up for a few hours and having another sleep in the afternoon. He is 7 1/2 months and has two sleeps a day ranging from 1hr-2 1/2 depending on his mood! He started crawling not too long ago and that is interfering a little bit with his sleeps and have had some unsettled days lately. Just when they get themselves into their own routine something happens and you have to wait for them to settle all over again! :) What I did find though was when he was a little younger I did not put him down the second I noticed he was looking tired, I kept him up a little longer and played with him and then put him down and he seemed to sleep longer. You do have to be careful they do not get overtired though.

[cobysmummy]

my son (7 months) sleeps for 2 hours in the morning usually from 9-11, then lunch and play and pick aunties and uncles up from school, play with daddy and then he is back to sleep around 4.30 for half an hour till its his dinner & bath time.
All bubs are different.. i just must have got a good one!