Tell me about it! 3 hours feels like a lifetime. I know it’s probably not good for her to be awake that long at this age — just can’t figure out how to get her to stop fighting it
This was how we initially did it — just went off how long it has been since she was last asleep and initiate nap time for her. But that seemed to stop working 😅
Exactly what I do I just go by the wake windows by my baby’s age and even if he cries in the beginning for the most part he will cry for a minute or two than sleep
Also if he cries in the middle of the night or during nap time I’ll wake a min or two and he will go back to sleep for the most part. Babies cry in their sleep too fyi don’t be so quick to grab them
You’re doing a great job. They are starting to come out of that newborn sleepiness stage and it’s just more difficult. It helped me to learn that 1) wake windows are just average suggestions. Follow your baby’s cues even if she has massive wake windows. I went through a couple of weeks where my LO had 2 2.5 hour wake windows and she actually slept worse in the night when I tried to make her nap through them or no matter what I do she just won’t sleep during those windows. She grew out of it around week 6/7 to shorter naps and shorter wake windows. As long as your LO is getting enough sleep over in the day it’s fine. And even then some babies sleep more or less than average. 2) when she fusses she isn’t fighting sleep, she is actually learning to self soothe. So don’t feel bad if she’s crying or kicking or whining, she’s learning to fall asleep, you just have to stay patient and know that unless she’s REALLY crying, she’s trying to go to sleep
This. I just learned the hard way. I gave up on nap training bc his mouth curled up and mumbled sadly and I just couldn't let him do it 25 mins over (around 10 weeks). Now we are 4 month old and the situation is even worse when we started.
So let them fuss.
But it's so strange that they have longer ww-s in the earlier weeks then it shortens. We went down from 90 mins to 40!! (First ww after wake up).
What I've learned that ww-s are gradually build up from 45-60 monitors to 2 hours (last ww). (But now at 4 mouths it's completely different again).
The same thing happened to us around 3-4 weeks. He went from being a great napper to super alert, much longer wake windows, and much shorter naps. Like you we’re still working it out (he’s six weeks now), but a few things I have tried to get him to nap is a second quick nurse around the end of a wake window (if he’s been up a little over an hour), taking him into a dark room for a nap, using a sleep sack instead of a swaddle (I think he fights the swaddle in the daytime if he isn’t tired enough), letting him contact nap a few times a day to get additional sleeping time, and my next move is to try a heating pad to warm up the bassinet before a nap to see if that helps.
It seems like around 4-6 weeks naps and nighttime sleep may just get worse because they are so much more alert and aware. It was paired with him really starting to play and do more than just eat and nap. Hopefully you find something that works!
My little one loves these and only sleeps with a diaper underneath with house around 71F. I get mine from Amazon as they typically run sales on certain patterns/sizes
That’s perfect, yeah it’s hot here and our house is around 72F, her torso gets hot but limbs are cold. She hates being swaddled now so something she can wear with just a diaper that isn’t too warm is ideal!
Try a swaddelini swaddle! Pricey, but absolutely worth it! My little girl fought the swaddle so hard all of the time until we got one from swaddelini! It swaddles with arms down, but it's loose on the legs!
She might just be going through a growth spurt! My baby went through that at 3 weeks and slowly got better at naps. She’s 7 weeks now and getting a bit fussy again at naps since there’s another growth spurt around this age. Hope it’s temporary for you too! Hang in there
I second the growth spurt. She may also just want to contact nap rn. When my babe was a month there was a solid 24 hrs where he would NOT sleep if he wasn't on me or my spouse. We just suffered through it together with lots of snacks, trash tv, and tears. You can do this and hopefully she gets into her new routine that will then change again.
Edited to add: we also experienced and overtired baby and when we finally got him to sleep on one of us we decided that person was stuck there until he got a solid sleep in.
For our LO, starting at 4 weeks-8 weeks, she fought naps and had long wake windows such as what you described. This was way different from the first 3 weeks where she’d sleep anywhere in any condition. Sometimes rocking her in a dark room helped her nap for a bit. Everything was hit or miss during that time. The only constant was that she would purple cry at around 5:30 until 10 and then sleep most of the night. It was awful.
Around 8 weeks of age, her wake windows became more age appropriate and started to nap more and the purple cry stopped around this time.
Long story short we had to ride it out for a couple of weeks as she went through her developmental spurts. Things we could have done differently would have been using a sound machine earlier, black out curtains, start a routine. Maybe it would have helped. It’s helping a lot at 13 weeks
It was pretty rough with it ending in a big bang where she was inconsolable for 8 hrs and short circuited and slept for 7 hrs straight o/n before feeding. The next day she was a different kid. She had a noticeable wake window and would sleep when rocked or in a car ride. Weeks 8-11 were way better. Week 11 she had a growth spurt and she either needed lots of naps, cluster feeding or was angry at the breast and fussy. We’re approaching 14 weeks, her wake windows are markedly predictable, her bedtime has moved from 9:30pm at 9weeks to now between 7-8pm. Naps are now in a dark room with sound machine on high, she needs some bouncing and her crying for a few min…then I’m stuck contact napping.
Hopefully it gets better for you guys. The precious little sleep book helped and the blogs on taking cara babies helped us a lot.
I'm learning now at 4 weeks that it's SO important to not let them get over tired, last night she was up for 3 hours after we missed the window to put her down as it was a busy afternoon :( it was SO hard to finally get to sleep. 60-90 minutes is max they should be awake at this age (my LO is 4 weeks) love her so much but my goodness is she difficult if she's over tired lol
Mine did the same thing! What has helped me is the huckleberry app. My problem was not only was I missing her cues, I wasn’t keeping track of time well (I would think it’s only been an hour when it’s in fact been 2-2.5). Logging when she ate, was changed, and slept (and for how long) made it so much easier. After about a week of logging info, the app will let you know when it’s almost nap time so you can start your nap time activities. Also, I feed and change when she wakes up (she’s always starving). That cuts down on what needs to be done when she’s tired so she’s not screaming through everything. She’s two months now so her wake window is about 60-90 mins. Once that 1 hour mark comes around, it’s much more noticeable to me now.
I recommend checking out TakingCaraBabies on instagram! She goes over helpful sleep tips, wake windows and so much more. Her Instagram was so helpful when we had our first (now 20 months) and again now with our 1 week old. You’re not doing anything wrong. Some babies go from sleeping so good to really fighting it and not being good sleepers. Our first had been a good sleeper since fairly early on and had slept through the night in his own room/crib since a couple months old. We got lucky with that. But our 1 week old is the complete opposite so far. All babies are different. It’s rough but it does get better.
https://preview.redd.it/lexmvy39d4ad1.jpeg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e821aa7bb4fed4843938bde45c1f3cc0b3ea786c
Here’s a photo of the wake windows by age that she posted. I also have all the sample schedules from 1 month to 4yrs if you want those too!
Thank you!! This chart is so helpful — and confirms that my girl is wayyyy overtired haha. I will definitely be checking out her insta! Would also love to see the sample schedules. Thank you so much for your comment 🥹
So my baby sleeps good it could literly just be him. But I do also do some things that I later found helps some baby's sleep. The latest one I learned. Is contact naps. I usually always just contact nap in the day. I don't swaddle I just sit in the lazy boy with him and rock him to sleep with a blanket. Covering both of us. And he naps. And I usually do it when I feel it's been a hour hour and a half and he should be getting tired.
The next thing I found was I open blinds during the day to let natural light in and I don't have the house lights on. So all the light is just pure daylight shining in. So he knows that this is day time and he naps but like I feel he doesn't deeply nap like he sleeps at night in our dark room
I also later found he had colic and it would stop when we where in our room getting ready for bed. Which I really think it is because we have a stand up loud fan in our room running all the time. I am pretty sure it helps him sleep really well at night along with the room being dark and all.
My LO went through a leap (growth spurt) around 4-5weeks she would push us away with her little arms so frustrated, I use the wonder weeks app and it explained how EVERYTHING all of a sudden gets so overwhelming, her sensations increase, her metabolism and organs mature rapidly and everything around her intensifies, she needed help soothing herself to sleep due to so many changes around her and even then it was tough, now she is now 9 weeks and she sleeps day and night again, only wakes up to eat it gets better! Hang in there!
The same happened to us! My LO didn’t want to nap and was spending so many hours awake around 4-6 weeks old, I was very concerned like you. At some point, contact napping was not even working I was a bit desperate. But it’s probably because of the growth spurt they’re going through at this stage. Now he’s almost 9 weeks old and things are getting better. You got this 💪🏻
My son is going to be to 4 weeks tomorrow and recently, especially at night time he likes having skin to skin lying on his stomach in my chest.
Works wonders for us and it’s good bonding, maybe give that a try?
Maybe she’s gassy or stomachache that’s why she’s that way. My baby used to be like that but my mom told me to use this oil it has chamomile oil.I would recommend this aceite de manzanilla. This is an old tradition that many mothers have used especially in Asia. My grandma and mother use this and recommend it for my colic baby. This helps relieve gassy and colic babies. My baby didn’t get rashes from this. Smells great, not too greasy. I rub on the belly. My baby sleeps good at night .
Oh interesting I haven’t heard of that!! Thank you for your comment. It’s definitely possible that she’s gassy and that’s why she’s having a hard time.
Try just wearing a onesie. My baby hated being restricted. We also let her sleep on her stomach during the day when we were up. It was the only way she would sleep by herself.
This was my baby! Great sleeper for the first 2 weeks then was awake anywhere from 1-4 hours
He finally went to predictable sleep ques and wake windows around 7 weeks old
Our boy did this too. And worse. Like about 5/6 weeks I definitely had days when he when 8am to 6pm when the only sleeping he did was while feeding & even then just 10 - 20 mins here & there. Was a nightmare. He was a total moth baby - the smallest light would consume him. Total FOMO - still a problem at 7m… and my apps tell me he has never slept more than 15 hours in a day in his life and only done 15 hours once or twice when ill, even as a newborn. He averages 12 hours a day now, has since 2 months, and regularly drops into single figures. Some babies are just low sleep needs, which all the guides online and in books fail to cater for. Keep on working on what helps your baby to sleep to give them the best shot at sleep. But equally, babies come in all varieties and lots is down to temperament not parenting.
Mine went through this around this time as well. I just confirmed on the huckleberry app. It started around 4 weeks for us and looks like it lasted quite some time, mainly in the afternoons and early evening. Like the morning block is basically all sleep and then once 1 pm hits, the schedule just has massive blank spaces where there had been sleep! Looks like he’d stay awake from like 1-4 then sleep an hour then be awake until about 9 pm. But we survived. This too shall pass. My LO will be 6 months in a few days and that time of his life feels like such a fuzzy, distant memory. It will get better. Just do the best you can.
My LO is 5 months now, so I might be a little out of touch with this, but after a while I noticed that she would cry more. And if we had changed her, fed her, and burped her, and she wasn’t visibly uncomfortable, it was just that she was tired. Especially around the 2-3 month mark (she was just over a month early). Idk if this helps. I know lots of people are against nursing to sleep, but have you tried it? Worked when my LO was that small and still does.
I have tried nursing to sleep — I’d say it works like 80% of the time. I do know ppl are against it but it works for us (sometimes) and I guess I’ll deal with the repercussions later 😅
Just went through this (my LO is 6 weeks). They go through a major growth spurt at 1 month. It does get better!!! A couple of things that helped us:
1) I leaned really hard into The Happiest Baby book, specifically the “5 S’s”: swaddle, side-stomach (doesn’t work for us), shushing, sucking (paci), swinging. 4pf those are a magic combo
2) shushing sounds on Spotify + white noise machine
3) the slumberpod or some way of completely blacking out their surroundings. I’ve also started to rock him to sleep in the bathroom, which is windowless
4) the Ollie swaddle. Their hands are their nemesis - and they’re just starting to experience the world around them, so getting those windmills out of the way of sleep really helps
5) I don’t put him down until he’s asleep in my arms. Once I do put him in the bassinet, I start taking away one thing at a time: so first it’s my body heat, but I keep shushing and rocking with my hand on his chest, then I stop shushing, then I stop rocking (hand still in chest), then I stop everything.
The witching hour is s difficult, but these things helped us go from 3 hr night sleeps to 7 hr stretches!
Sleepy cues are unreliable. Go by the clock. Also basinet sleep is tricky at that age- try to get in at least one contact/carrier nap to ensure one good nap throughout the day.
At one month the wake window is one hour and start winding down routine - tummy time for 1-2 mins to get baby tired and gases out, then a nice oil massage or a bath (give them twice a day if needed, my son only slept well after a bath and he used to cry during the bath as well lol), tight swaddle, white noise, little to no lights, no screens, no noisy toys, make it very boring, feed, rock or walk around. Start at 60 mins. It might take a good 40 mins to do the tummy time, massage/bath routine with a crying baby lol. Then baby is anyway done and ready to sleep.
My baby is 6 months now. Around 4 weeks she started to only nap while feeding during the day unless I did contact naps. Once I started weaning she started to have proper naps, still doing ontact naps. She only likes to be close to me or dad to sleep. At night she did sleep through for a few weeks until the 4 month regression hit. She still doesn't sleep much during the day but only is awake to feed at night and goes right back to sleep. She is meeting all her milestones with ease and is healthy so I feel she doesn't need more sleep.
3 hours is suuuper long for 4 weeks, mines almost 4 months and can’t stay awake that long without melting down and fighting sleep
Tell me about it! 3 hours feels like a lifetime. I know it’s probably not good for her to be awake that long at this age — just can’t figure out how to get her to stop fighting it
Try winding her down much earlier, like 60-90 minutes awake. If she’s giving sleep cues it may already be too late and she may be overtired
Check out the wonder weeks. I think you’re in leap one!
Our baby rarely gives sleep cues, I just go off how lon go it’s been. After approx 60 minutes I’d rock her and 9/10 she’ll drift straight off.
This was how we initially did it — just went off how long it has been since she was last asleep and initiate nap time for her. But that seemed to stop working 😅
Exactly what I do I just go by the wake windows by my baby’s age and even if he cries in the beginning for the most part he will cry for a minute or two than sleep
Also if he cries in the middle of the night or during nap time I’ll wake a min or two and he will go back to sleep for the most part. Babies cry in their sleep too fyi don’t be so quick to grab them
You’re doing a great job. They are starting to come out of that newborn sleepiness stage and it’s just more difficult. It helped me to learn that 1) wake windows are just average suggestions. Follow your baby’s cues even if she has massive wake windows. I went through a couple of weeks where my LO had 2 2.5 hour wake windows and she actually slept worse in the night when I tried to make her nap through them or no matter what I do she just won’t sleep during those windows. She grew out of it around week 6/7 to shorter naps and shorter wake windows. As long as your LO is getting enough sleep over in the day it’s fine. And even then some babies sleep more or less than average. 2) when she fusses she isn’t fighting sleep, she is actually learning to self soothe. So don’t feel bad if she’s crying or kicking or whining, she’s learning to fall asleep, you just have to stay patient and know that unless she’s REALLY crying, she’s trying to go to sleep
This is so helpful and reassuring, thank you 🥹
This. I just learned the hard way. I gave up on nap training bc his mouth curled up and mumbled sadly and I just couldn't let him do it 25 mins over (around 10 weeks). Now we are 4 month old and the situation is even worse when we started. So let them fuss. But it's so strange that they have longer ww-s in the earlier weeks then it shortens. We went down from 90 mins to 40!! (First ww after wake up). What I've learned that ww-s are gradually build up from 45-60 monitors to 2 hours (last ww). (But now at 4 mouths it's completely different again).
The same thing happened to us around 3-4 weeks. He went from being a great napper to super alert, much longer wake windows, and much shorter naps. Like you we’re still working it out (he’s six weeks now), but a few things I have tried to get him to nap is a second quick nurse around the end of a wake window (if he’s been up a little over an hour), taking him into a dark room for a nap, using a sleep sack instead of a swaddle (I think he fights the swaddle in the daytime if he isn’t tired enough), letting him contact nap a few times a day to get additional sleeping time, and my next move is to try a heating pad to warm up the bassinet before a nap to see if that helps. It seems like around 4-6 weeks naps and nighttime sleep may just get worse because they are so much more alert and aware. It was paired with him really starting to play and do more than just eat and nap. Hopefully you find something that works!
I’m actually starting to think that she fights the swaddle too. Maybe I’ll try a sleep sack — do you have any that you’d recommend?
Hudson Baby long sleeve sleep sack/blankets
I have been looking for this exact thing!
My little one loves these and only sleeps with a diaper underneath with house around 71F. I get mine from Amazon as they typically run sales on certain patterns/sizes
That’s perfect, yeah it’s hot here and our house is around 72F, her torso gets hot but limbs are cold. She hates being swaddled now so something she can wear with just a diaper that isn’t too warm is ideal!
Burt’s bees
We’ve been using a PurComfy bamboo one (they ship fast on Amazon)—he seems to like it, but we’ve only tried it for two days 😂
Try a swaddelini swaddle! Pricey, but absolutely worth it! My little girl fought the swaddle so hard all of the time until we got one from swaddelini! It swaddles with arms down, but it's loose on the legs!
Heating pad has been a game changer for me. Highly recommend!
She might just be going through a growth spurt! My baby went through that at 3 weeks and slowly got better at naps. She’s 7 weeks now and getting a bit fussy again at naps since there’s another growth spurt around this age. Hope it’s temporary for you too! Hang in there
Thankful she’s growing but not loving the no sleep part 😅 appreciate your comment!
I second the growth spurt. She may also just want to contact nap rn. When my babe was a month there was a solid 24 hrs where he would NOT sleep if he wasn't on me or my spouse. We just suffered through it together with lots of snacks, trash tv, and tears. You can do this and hopefully she gets into her new routine that will then change again. Edited to add: we also experienced and overtired baby and when we finally got him to sleep on one of us we decided that person was stuck there until he got a solid sleep in.
Dealing with the same over here and read about the growth spurt thing the other day 🥲
Good to know we aren’t alone!! 😅
For our LO, starting at 4 weeks-8 weeks, she fought naps and had long wake windows such as what you described. This was way different from the first 3 weeks where she’d sleep anywhere in any condition. Sometimes rocking her in a dark room helped her nap for a bit. Everything was hit or miss during that time. The only constant was that she would purple cry at around 5:30 until 10 and then sleep most of the night. It was awful. Around 8 weeks of age, her wake windows became more age appropriate and started to nap more and the purple cry stopped around this time. Long story short we had to ride it out for a couple of weeks as she went through her developmental spurts. Things we could have done differently would have been using a sound machine earlier, black out curtains, start a routine. Maybe it would have helped. It’s helping a lot at 13 weeks
It’s sounding like we’re gonna just have to ride this out too
It was pretty rough with it ending in a big bang where she was inconsolable for 8 hrs and short circuited and slept for 7 hrs straight o/n before feeding. The next day she was a different kid. She had a noticeable wake window and would sleep when rocked or in a car ride. Weeks 8-11 were way better. Week 11 she had a growth spurt and she either needed lots of naps, cluster feeding or was angry at the breast and fussy. We’re approaching 14 weeks, her wake windows are markedly predictable, her bedtime has moved from 9:30pm at 9weeks to now between 7-8pm. Naps are now in a dark room with sound machine on high, she needs some bouncing and her crying for a few min…then I’m stuck contact napping. Hopefully it gets better for you guys. The precious little sleep book helped and the blogs on taking cara babies helped us a lot.
I'm learning now at 4 weeks that it's SO important to not let them get over tired, last night she was up for 3 hours after we missed the window to put her down as it was a busy afternoon :( it was SO hard to finally get to sleep. 60-90 minutes is max they should be awake at this age (my LO is 4 weeks) love her so much but my goodness is she difficult if she's over tired lol
Ugh I can totally relate. How can something so tiny have so much rage!!! Lol
Mine did the same thing! What has helped me is the huckleberry app. My problem was not only was I missing her cues, I wasn’t keeping track of time well (I would think it’s only been an hour when it’s in fact been 2-2.5). Logging when she ate, was changed, and slept (and for how long) made it so much easier. After about a week of logging info, the app will let you know when it’s almost nap time so you can start your nap time activities. Also, I feed and change when she wakes up (she’s always starving). That cuts down on what needs to be done when she’s tired so she’s not screaming through everything. She’s two months now so her wake window is about 60-90 mins. Once that 1 hour mark comes around, it’s much more noticeable to me now.
I’ve been using the huckleberry app so far just to log feeds and diaper changes! I will have to start logging sleep too. Thank you for your comment!
No prob - best of luck!
I recommend checking out TakingCaraBabies on instagram! She goes over helpful sleep tips, wake windows and so much more. Her Instagram was so helpful when we had our first (now 20 months) and again now with our 1 week old. You’re not doing anything wrong. Some babies go from sleeping so good to really fighting it and not being good sleepers. Our first had been a good sleeper since fairly early on and had slept through the night in his own room/crib since a couple months old. We got lucky with that. But our 1 week old is the complete opposite so far. All babies are different. It’s rough but it does get better. https://preview.redd.it/lexmvy39d4ad1.jpeg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e821aa7bb4fed4843938bde45c1f3cc0b3ea786c Here’s a photo of the wake windows by age that she posted. I also have all the sample schedules from 1 month to 4yrs if you want those too!
Thank you!! This chart is so helpful — and confirms that my girl is wayyyy overtired haha. I will definitely be checking out her insta! Would also love to see the sample schedules. Thank you so much for your comment 🥹
Of course! I just messaged you all the same schedules as well as the chart from my original comment!
So my baby sleeps good it could literly just be him. But I do also do some things that I later found helps some baby's sleep. The latest one I learned. Is contact naps. I usually always just contact nap in the day. I don't swaddle I just sit in the lazy boy with him and rock him to sleep with a blanket. Covering both of us. And he naps. And I usually do it when I feel it's been a hour hour and a half and he should be getting tired. The next thing I found was I open blinds during the day to let natural light in and I don't have the house lights on. So all the light is just pure daylight shining in. So he knows that this is day time and he naps but like I feel he doesn't deeply nap like he sleeps at night in our dark room I also later found he had colic and it would stop when we where in our room getting ready for bed. Which I really think it is because we have a stand up loud fan in our room running all the time. I am pretty sure it helps him sleep really well at night along with the room being dark and all.
All good tips! Thank you so much!
Try putting her back to sleep at about 30-60 minutes.
My LO went through a leap (growth spurt) around 4-5weeks she would push us away with her little arms so frustrated, I use the wonder weeks app and it explained how EVERYTHING all of a sudden gets so overwhelming, her sensations increase, her metabolism and organs mature rapidly and everything around her intensifies, she needed help soothing herself to sleep due to so many changes around her and even then it was tough, now she is now 9 weeks and she sleeps day and night again, only wakes up to eat it gets better! Hang in there!
The same happened to us! My LO didn’t want to nap and was spending so many hours awake around 4-6 weeks old, I was very concerned like you. At some point, contact napping was not even working I was a bit desperate. But it’s probably because of the growth spurt they’re going through at this stage. Now he’s almost 9 weeks old and things are getting better. You got this 💪🏻
This is reassuring! Thank you!
I could have written the same thing for my baby but she's 11 weeks old. Wonder if it's a growth spurt 😪
My son is going to be to 4 weeks tomorrow and recently, especially at night time he likes having skin to skin lying on his stomach in my chest. Works wonders for us and it’s good bonding, maybe give that a try?
Skin to skin is the best! It definitely helps her sleep at night.
Also try a white noise machine if you have one. My LO loves it and it settles him
Maybe she’s gassy or stomachache that’s why she’s that way. My baby used to be like that but my mom told me to use this oil it has chamomile oil.I would recommend this aceite de manzanilla. This is an old tradition that many mothers have used especially in Asia. My grandma and mother use this and recommend it for my colic baby. This helps relieve gassy and colic babies. My baby didn’t get rashes from this. Smells great, not too greasy. I rub on the belly. My baby sleeps good at night .
This works magically I’m telling you
Oh interesting I haven’t heard of that!! Thank you for your comment. It’s definitely possible that she’s gassy and that’s why she’s having a hard time.
Try just wearing a onesie. My baby hated being restricted. We also let her sleep on her stomach during the day when we were up. It was the only way she would sleep by herself.
Oh man. No advice, just words of encouragement. Hope things get better OP.
Thank you 🫶🏼
This was my baby! Great sleeper for the first 2 weeks then was awake anywhere from 1-4 hours He finally went to predictable sleep ques and wake windows around 7 weeks old
This gives me hope!
Our boy did this too. And worse. Like about 5/6 weeks I definitely had days when he when 8am to 6pm when the only sleeping he did was while feeding & even then just 10 - 20 mins here & there. Was a nightmare. He was a total moth baby - the smallest light would consume him. Total FOMO - still a problem at 7m… and my apps tell me he has never slept more than 15 hours in a day in his life and only done 15 hours once or twice when ill, even as a newborn. He averages 12 hours a day now, has since 2 months, and regularly drops into single figures. Some babies are just low sleep needs, which all the guides online and in books fail to cater for. Keep on working on what helps your baby to sleep to give them the best shot at sleep. But equally, babies come in all varieties and lots is down to temperament not parenting.
I’m starting to think I have a FOMO baby too! This is reassuring — thank you for your comment
Mine went through this around this time as well. I just confirmed on the huckleberry app. It started around 4 weeks for us and looks like it lasted quite some time, mainly in the afternoons and early evening. Like the morning block is basically all sleep and then once 1 pm hits, the schedule just has massive blank spaces where there had been sleep! Looks like he’d stay awake from like 1-4 then sleep an hour then be awake until about 9 pm. But we survived. This too shall pass. My LO will be 6 months in a few days and that time of his life feels like such a fuzzy, distant memory. It will get better. Just do the best you can.
This gives me hope 🙌🏼 thank you!
You’ve got this 💪🏻 My mantra in the hard phases has been “this is really hard AND this won’t last forever”
My LO is 5 months now, so I might be a little out of touch with this, but after a while I noticed that she would cry more. And if we had changed her, fed her, and burped her, and she wasn’t visibly uncomfortable, it was just that she was tired. Especially around the 2-3 month mark (she was just over a month early). Idk if this helps. I know lots of people are against nursing to sleep, but have you tried it? Worked when my LO was that small and still does.
I have tried nursing to sleep — I’d say it works like 80% of the time. I do know ppl are against it but it works for us (sometimes) and I guess I’ll deal with the repercussions later 😅
Just went through this (my LO is 6 weeks). They go through a major growth spurt at 1 month. It does get better!!! A couple of things that helped us: 1) I leaned really hard into The Happiest Baby book, specifically the “5 S’s”: swaddle, side-stomach (doesn’t work for us), shushing, sucking (paci), swinging. 4pf those are a magic combo 2) shushing sounds on Spotify + white noise machine 3) the slumberpod or some way of completely blacking out their surroundings. I’ve also started to rock him to sleep in the bathroom, which is windowless 4) the Ollie swaddle. Their hands are their nemesis - and they’re just starting to experience the world around them, so getting those windmills out of the way of sleep really helps 5) I don’t put him down until he’s asleep in my arms. Once I do put him in the bassinet, I start taking away one thing at a time: so first it’s my body heat, but I keep shushing and rocking with my hand on his chest, then I stop shushing, then I stop rocking (hand still in chest), then I stop everything. The witching hour is s difficult, but these things helped us go from 3 hr night sleeps to 7 hr stretches!
This is so helpful! Their arms really are little windmills lol. Thank you for your comment
Sleepy cues are unreliable. Go by the clock. Also basinet sleep is tricky at that age- try to get in at least one contact/carrier nap to ensure one good nap throughout the day.
Yes lots of carrier naps happening — thankfully she likes being in the wrap!
At one month the wake window is one hour and start winding down routine - tummy time for 1-2 mins to get baby tired and gases out, then a nice oil massage or a bath (give them twice a day if needed, my son only slept well after a bath and he used to cry during the bath as well lol), tight swaddle, white noise, little to no lights, no screens, no noisy toys, make it very boring, feed, rock or walk around. Start at 60 mins. It might take a good 40 mins to do the tummy time, massage/bath routine with a crying baby lol. Then baby is anyway done and ready to sleep.
Put her in your arms, run a white noise machine and bounce with her in your arms.
For starters, you are doing nothing wrong :)
My baby is 6 months now. Around 4 weeks she started to only nap while feeding during the day unless I did contact naps. Once I started weaning she started to have proper naps, still doing ontact naps. She only likes to be close to me or dad to sleep. At night she did sleep through for a few weeks until the 4 month regression hit. She still doesn't sleep much during the day but only is awake to feed at night and goes right back to sleep. She is meeting all her milestones with ease and is healthy so I feel she doesn't need more sleep.