I am afraid my baby gets too much sleep

[Koehni]

Hi,
I try to put my baby down as soon as see seems tired. Usually her activity time is an hour to an hour and a half. She is 6 weeks right now. But her naps wary. Sometimes she sleeps 45 min., sometimes an hour, sometimes little over one and a half hours. So here is a situation which accurs a lot: She wakes up e.g. at 10 am. I nurse her and play with her and she goes to bed and falls asleep at 11 am and sleeps until 12 am. By then only 2 hours have passed. Should I already feed her again to keep her on track, even though it has not been the 2 1/2 to 3 hours since the previous feeding? But if I feed her and the same happens again = an hour E/A + and hour Sleeping she will get way to many naps. Sometimes we have 6 naps a day. (We live with my mother in law and she thinks I put my baby to sleep way to often) At night it takes her a long time to fall asleep. Anywhere from 20 min to the longest 4 hours. Usually it takes her an hour to fall asleep at night before her long stretch, but about twice a week it takes forever and she will cry a lot. Do you have any advice?
Thanks!!!

[~Karen~]

Hi and welcome to the boards!

I don't think your dd is getting too much sleep.  The reason she'll have 6 naps a day is because they're not very long.  If you can try and increase them then she won't need as many naps in a day.  If anything the reason she's taking a while to settle at night could be because she's a bit OT.  What's her last A time? 

You don't have to feed her as soon as she wakes up if it's only been 2 hours since her last feed.  However, I would feed her a bit earlier then she's due as you don't want to be putting her down for the next nap if she's going to be due a feed soon as she'll just wake up hungry. 

[Koehni]

Thank you so much for replying so fast. That is amazing! Here is how the day went yesterday:

1.10 am nursing, right back to bed
3.25 am nursing, right back to bed
7 am nursing - A: swing 10 min , singing, talking to my mom on Skype
8. 15 asleep in crib
9.30 nursing A:
10.45 asleep in crib
12.45 nursing
2.05 asleep in crib
3.05 nursing A: going to great-grandparents (she slept there for 30 min in our arms)
5.30 asleep in crib
6.30 nursing A: talking, singing, bathing, massaging, being with grandpa (Rocking Chair)
8.00 asleep but only for 15 min.
8.20 cluster feed, put right back to bed but only asleep by 10.45 (missed dream feed)
1.45 am nursing
4.45 am nursing didn't really go back to sleep, was babbling and trying to get out of swaddle - got her out of bed at 6.00 am talked, put her in swing for a little bit and she started yawing by about now 6.30 and i swaddled her again and put her in the crib, her eyes are already closed
I thought it takes her maybe so long at night to wind down, because she sleeps so much during the day. What do you think about it now? Her last A time is usually being with grandpa in the rocking chair. Yesterday was actually the first time I did the cluster feeds and putting her down that early. I wanted to try it out letting her sleep only those 40 and then 30 min. with the cluster feeds. Usually before that I didn't do the cluster feeds, I let her sleep like all other naps one to one and a half hours and put her back to bed around 9.30 pm. And then it usually took her those 20 min to unfortun. sometimes 4 hours to fall asleep. Her last activity in the past was usually being with grandpa in the rocking chair - they talk and she gets rocked for about an hour. She slept fine during the night, usually slept first 4 hours and then 3 hours again. Thanks so much for your help!!!

[~Karen~]

Hi, sorry I haven't got back to you yet.  I was away for the weekend and working in the riots last night

How are things going now?  Do you have any new questions or anything I can help you out with? 

[Koehni]

Thank you so much again for your help. The past days has been so much better. She was indeed overstimulated. I cut down the intensity of her activities and had more quiet time with her (like sitting on my lap or letting her look at the ceiling fan). It was a lot easier for her to take her naps. I also started to stick more to the cluster feeds twice at night and started bathing her every night like the book recommended. It took her longest an hour to fall asleep the past week.

[~Karen~]

Defiantly sounds like you're heading in the right direction.  You'll likely find that things naturally settle down as she gets older.  Apart from when teething/illness/jabs/vacations get them off track and then you have to get them back on track!  The joys of motherhood