8 wk old super fast feeder on short naps?!

[kittten1982]

Hi all,

I used EASY on my first son for a while but it was compltley wasted on him, after about 3 months, he just didn't need to sleep during the day (slept ok at night), he would only have 1 or 2 45 min naps and that would be enough for him.  Unfortunatly, it meant I got no Y time so this time, with my new son, I want to get it right.

So, he is 8 weeks and 5 days and was doing pretty well on EASY.  He is sleeping like a dream at night, goes to bed at 7pm, wakes at 2am for five minute feed and then sleeps till about 6.30, I tried the DF but he would still wake at 2am so I stopped trying.  My biggest problem is that he is probably the worlds most eficient feeder, he can empty a breast in around 5 - 7 minutes, he only has to sit up and he burps and thats him done.  He was 8lbs 14oz at birth and at 6 weeks was 13lbs so he is obviously getting enough.  If he is on 3hr EASY this means he has 85 minutes A time, which I thought was too much.... now he is only having 30-45 minute naps and nothing will make him go back to sleep.  He seems very alert and wide awake and if I get him up, he is happy and smily.  I put him down at the first yawn but even then he just seems wide awake, he will smile and talk to me when I put him in his cot.  I usually just give him a kiss an leave him, he will shout for a few minutes then fall asleep so I know he can d it.

So, I'm unsure whether he is OT when he goes to bed or like DS1, he just doesn't need a lot of sleep, I couldn't bear it if it was the latter, I was exhausted with DS1 because he just wouldn't nap, it's just the way he was built.

If anyone can offer any advice, I'd appreciate it.

Jules xx

[brenda2]

hi
some babies just need less sleep than others!

at 8 weeks typical A time (this is all time baby is awake) is about 1 hour 15 min.  so you're about right on.  30 min naps usually mean OT and 45 min naps can mean OT or UT.  however, if your LO goes down easily and wakes up happy this does not sound like OT to me.  usually with OT they'll scream and scream before going down and wake up at 30 min and scream some more.

if he's generally happy when awake it may mean he's ready for a bit more A time.  by 3 mo most LOs are doing about 1.5 hours of A time.  since he's sleeping so well at night you could try stretching the first A time a little bit (5 or 10 min every few days) until you get up to 1.5 hours max and see if this helps his naps.  if you get a short nap still for the first one then the next A time would be less, perhaps just an hour or less.

i'm sure he won't go to 1 nap by 3 mo, this is very rare.  it may just mean he's ready for slightly longer than 85 min right now.  HTH