Wake baby?

[siobhan1995]

Hello everyone, just a quick question about naps. My LO is 6 weeks, and after much battling with him, he's starting to get into taking naps more than he previously was 😊 it can take a fair amount of time to settle but this is a far cry from the baby I had two weeks ago who would point blank refuse to sleep until the afternoon and would then happily sleep for hours and hours!
My question is, should I be waking him from his naps? It's rare that he wakes himself from a nap. Nap times vary dependant on how long it takes him to get to sleep, and sometimes he is very hard work to wake up as he is obviously still shattered and when he's hard to wake, it's also extremely difficult to actually keep awake and usuly feeds quite poorly.
For example yesterday's chain of events

Wake 810
Wind down 910
Sleep 1015-1115

Wake 1115 woken by me, woke very easily and was happy and alert
Wind down 1215
Sleep 1215-1410

Wake 1410 woken by me, difficult to wake but alert once woken
Wind down 1500
Sleep 1530-1700

Wake 1710 woken by me, difficult to wake, difficult to keep awake
Fell asleep on my shoulder at 1750, had been a nightmare to keep up so let him sleep
Sleep 1750-1845

Wake 1845 woken by my partner, easy to wake, very alert
Started bed time routine
Wind down 1915
He then proceeded to scream at me for two hours
Eventually fell asleep at 2145

As he isn't waking from any of his naps naturally, should I be leaving him a bit longer? I am probably clock watching too much to be honest, not really sure what the best course of action would be!
Thanks guys x

[Kellyjs]

Sorry you haven't had a reply yet hun. Personally yes, I would wake from naps if a feed was due because I'd want to fit as many feeds in the day as necessary in order for them not to wake more at night for extra feeds.,

However, I notice you woke him after an hour in the mornings? Any reason for that one? I would allow to sleep to to 2hrs if a feed wasn't due. Also, the A time looks a little long first thing, have a look at this link hee Average A times- BOOKMARK ME!

 I'll post some sample routines for you, but tbh it looks like you're doing absolutely brilliantly. I wish I was doing that well at that age! Or even when DD was a few months older for that matter    xx

chronological EASY samples, 0-3 months

[siobhan1995]

Hiya thanks for the reply!

I woke him as it's been about 3 hours since his last feed, he sometimes takes a fair amount of time to settle as he's more interested in staring at me and head butting my shoulder instead of winding down haha. Do you think I should be leaving him a bit longer if he takes a long time to settle, or wake at 3 hours? That's what I've been getting a bit confused about, whether it's best to leave him a while or wake him if he hasn't fed in 3 hours

Thanks for your help much appreciated xx

[Kellyjs]

I would ake at 3hrs hun. 1hr nap is considered restorative and he is getting a longer nap in later on too. He's obviously happy at being woken for the first one.

As I said before I would much rather wake and get the feeds in so as he doesn't need an extra feed at nighttime. It's so difficult to know isn't it? Soon he'll increase his A time slightly and you might consider a top up feed 15mi s or so before his nap time in order not to wake him after 45mims. It's all a case of winging it a little when they're this age and trying to follow a rough EASY or EAEASY pattern. You're doing so well hun, don't forget it!  xx

[siobhan1995]

Okay yeah, that's what I've been doing so far and he's down to one late evening feed and one night one! We're having a rough few days as HV said to try taking away his dummy as that's a big reason why he takes so long to settle sometimes, because it falls out within 5 minutes of falling asleep and then is awake again!

Thanks for your help, it's nice to get a bit of reassurance xx

[Kellyjs]

My pleasure hun, pop back if you need to xx