7 week old gone from 3hr day time sleeps to cat napping

[MeganChloe]

Hi all
Within the last week after a hefty growth spirt my 7 week has gone from sleeping wonderful 3 hour naps during the day to only having 30-40 minute short naps. He falls asleep then wakes up after 40min and cries but he will self settle for 15 minutes then wake and cry again.
He is breastfed and loves being on the boob but I don't want him using me as a soother. He doesn't take a dummy either which sometimes I wish he did so he either screams self settles or we get him up.

He has no dramas at night going down and sleeping 3 hours straight between feeds but once the sun is up he doesn't sleep his normal naps.

Help. .. Any suggestions, thoughts or mum's dealing with same issue??

[Kazza78]

I have an 8 week old and have had the same thing for the last week. I would say that the 3 hour sleeps in the day will never return. I have read it will be 30 mins to 1.5 hrs from now on and longer at nite. Our dd has been doing 6-7 hours in a row at night now for a week.
Have you tried putting him in a bouncer after feeds? Tummy time and a bit of tv too to try and wear him out.
But I know how you feel, it's a shock isn't it when the long day sleeps end.
Won't be long until our bubs can entertain themselves a bit more

[MillieMollyMandy]

Same thing happened to my DD at about 8 weeks. I believe it's totally normal, and a consequence of them 'waking up' and becoming more aware of the world in general. I hate to say but it didn't really correct itself until we did sleep training at about 4 months. I would say just try what you can, pat, rock, feed, dummy and see if you can get him back to sleep. If its not working after 20 mins, give up and try again later. I wouldn't worry too much about bad habits, an overtired baby is awful and at a young age I think the amount of sleep is more important than how they get there. You can always change things later on. Good luck!

[MeganChloe]

Thanks ladies for the info. Re the longer night sleeps. .. is your baby breast or bottle feed?? Mine is sleeping 3 -4 hrs atm

[Kazza78]

Breast. Give it another 2 weeks and I bet he will sleep longer stints at nite. It is so hard tho at this age when they don't sleep in long stints anymore in day

[michellek]

My dd did exactly the same as soon as she hit 7wks. Thankfully she was happy when she woke and slept through the night from early on so in the end we went with her. 20-30min naps was the norm, 45mins was a blessing. I read every book and tried every 'trick' to get those naps longer but it just made me more stressed.

Sorry to say it lasted many months and wasn't until she was 8/9mths that she improved. BUT at just past 2, she is still sleeping a solid 2hrs at least each afternoon

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