How much sleep / naps for a 8 week old?

[newbiemum22]

Hi all

I've posted some threads before and everyone has been really helpful answering them, sorry if these may overlap slightly, still having a few difficulties with naps...

How much sleep does a 8 week old normally need in the day? The cycle we seem to have adopted is 3 - 3.5 hour EASY although instead of being EASY it is fast becoming EASAEAS... I can only seem to get her to have a 1 hour nap max between feeds so may day is something like this:

E at 6am
A from 6am - 7am
S from 7.15am - 8.15am then she wakes and doesn't settle...
A from 8.15am - 9am
E at 9am
A from 9am - 10am
S from 10am - 11am then she wakes again (1 hour early)
A from 11am - 12noon
and the cycle repeats...

I try settling her for a nap again when she wakes and sometimes this works and we get a full (approx) 2 hour nap but other times she's just really touchy and crys most of the 1 hour before her next feed. I've tried feeding her sometimes to see if she's hungry and on average she has approx half a feed. FYI when she wakes after the 1 hour nap she crys - do you think she is UT or OT or neither (wants to play)? She seems to be a spirited baby (slightly touchy).

She is sleeping in her bouncer in the day and moses at night - slowly moving to travel cot in the day (although she doesn't seem too keen on it).

I guess I must be missing her sleep cues, at the min I try putting her down for her nap at the 3 yawn mark.

How much sleep do babies this age need in the day? On u-tube I saw a video that said 3 x 1 hour naps and 1 x 2 hour nap - currently this is what she is having but in the 1 hour gaps she is irratable and crys.

Please help - what am I doing wrong!! 

[brenda2]

hi and big hugs!

a 2 month old should be on a 3 hour EASY.  with 3 x 1.5 to 2 hour naps and 1  x 45 min to 1 hour nap.

something like this:
6am E
7:30-9 S
9 E
10:30-12 S
12 E
1:30-3 S
3 E
4:30-5:30 S
6 E
6:30 bedtime

her 1 hour nap in the morning may be because she wasn't tired enough, having only been awake for 1 hour 15 min.  but then she is awake way too long before her next nap, so she is probably OT by then.  kwim?  you can do a EASAEAS but you have to watch her A time,  and adjust her next nap based on that.  it should be no longer than 1.5 hours at this age, less if it's following a short nap (maybe only an hour).

also with touchies/spirited, a dark room, swaddling and short consistent winddown is important.  are you swaddling?  i would try to move her naps to the basinette, as the bouncy chair may be too stimulating.  swaddling should help her sleep through any jolts too.

how are your nights?  are you doing the DF?

the routine i outlined above is only a suggestion, if you think her A time is less than 1.5 hours then you should be putting her down earlier.  i would watch for sleep cues like looking away, getting a glazed look etc as by the time she yawns it may be too late and you may have missed the window.  definitely by the 3rd yawn it would be too late.

HTH

[newbiemum22]

Thanks Brenda

Normally after approx 1 hour she has already yawned a few times and sometimes she's even fell asleep on the spot (e.g. tummy time seems to do this to her). So I then swaddle her and put her into her bouncer. She can sometimes go to sleep quite easily but then wakes after the 1 hour mark. If she can only manage to be awake for an hour, should her S time be 2 hours?

Night time is fine, we follow the same bedtime routine although this has 2 feeds instead of one - is this ok - below:

E at 6pm
A from 6pm - 7pm (including quiet play, songs, book, bath, mobile)
E at 7pm
S from 7pm - 11pm
E at 11pm (dream feed)

Then it's either:

S from 11.30pm - 5/6am or
S from 11.30pm - 2.30am (E) then S again until 6am

Thanks
M

[brenda2]

if she's falling asleep on the spot then she's definitely OT and you need to get her into bed earlier.  by the 1st yawn you should be heading that way.  i would swaddle and put her in the basinette - try to wean her off the bouncy chair.  some LOs can only handle 1 hour at that age, this is fine, S can be 2 hours.

how long does she take to feed?  you have E at 7 and S at 7...what time does she actually fall asleep?  at this age E can take a long time so i would think you don't have time to do 2 feed sessions between catnap and bed.  especially after just a catnap the awake time is going to be really short - maybe just 45 min.  time for short bath, feed and into bed before 7.

[newbiemum22]

We've got a travel cot for her which is in our lounge / living room but it doesn't have a basinette - is this ok? It's a bit difficult to do any attempt at shh/pat as I can only just reach to the bottom of the cot to pick her up / put her down..!

She normally gets through her bottles really quick - about 10 - 15 mins. The E at 7 normally lasts till approx 7.15-7.20 then she falls asleep at 8pm lastest (normally).

Today my partner has been looking after her and she only had about 3 hours sleep all day! When I got home at 5.45, her last nap was 3pm (for 30 mins) so she was really tired and irratable, although I couldn't get her to catnap at all so just had to hold her and walk round the house quietly as she looked around...

I'm with her tomorrow so will try again for 1 hour A and 2 hour S and use the travel cot. 

[brenda2]

hi

poor LO, she sounds tired!

if she falls asleep at 8 then this is a 2 hour A time after just a catnap?  i think that's too long at only 8 weeks.  bubs this young can only tolerate 1.5 hours max usually, probably less than an hour if after a catnap.   i would cut one of thos e feeds in her last A time.  after catnap just bath, feed and into bed.

as for the travel cot, this is better than the bouncy chair as it has less visual stim, but will be really hard for you to do shh pat.  in the early days i know i spent so much time hunched over the basinette shh ing and patting i was glad at least it was at a high height.  can you borrow one?