Naps erratic - do i need to be worried?

[bayneddie]

Hi,
I'm new to the board and i'm looking for some reassurance...!
I have a 9 week old DD who is generally a pretty easy baby. I like what i've read about EASY and it does seem to fit in with what i've been doing naturally anyway.
DD sleeps from 7 til 7 and only wakes once during the night now (not including dream feeding). She hardly ever cries - just a couple of seconds if i'm not quick enough with her bottle!
Her naps vary in length between 45 mins and 2 hours. She only has two a day - one in the morning and one at lunchtime - and then generally a catnap whilst we're out in the car or buggy in the afternoon. My question is this - given that the night times are going fine and she doesn't seem to get over tired, should i not worry about trying to standardise her nap lengths? She does sometimes wake at the 45 mins mark but at other times will happily sleep past it without any intervention from me. Is the fact that she does sometimes wake up at 45 mins a warning that trouble is coming? Also, i read that if a baby wakes up crying then they're still tired. So how do you know when the nap has truly finished or whether to let them get themselves back off to sleep?
Sorry - too many questions in one go...
Thanks a lot.

[Diego's Mama]

I think you're doing superbly.  As you continue to learn your baby's cues and needs, you'll be able to answer the question if it's enough sleep for her.

Given that she's taking a catnap in the evening (how long usually) -- I bet she's spot on.  If she's not overtired and cranky, I'd leave her be.  My boy's naps improved as they got older.  Your daughter's biorhythms may still be settling in. 

Check the announcement at the top of this forum for typical amounts of sleep for babies at various ages.   Remember that this is a gauge and every baby's needs are different.

Keep up the great work!
bless

[bayneddie]

Oh dear, spoke too soon...
Yesterday DD only had a nap of an hour in the morning, 45 mins max at lunch then half an hour in the afternoon. The end result was a cranky overtired baby come evening. This is because I did some further reading and came to the conclusion that i'm doing everything wrong. I usually let DD go dozey on the vibrating chair then take her up to nap whilst very drowsy but just about awake and just stick her straight in the carry cot. I think this is a prop. I tried skipping that bit and doing shush pat yesterday and the result was a very overtired baby. She seemed to hate the shush pat thing, it really wound her up. Today i tried doing the four s bit and again she screamed like i've never heard her scream before. I came to the conclusion that she might be hungry (i can see you smirk from here!) and gave her some milk. She took about 30ml and fell asleep. She's now been down 45 mins. I can her her  babbling away now but she'll hopefully go back off. She always goes down awake in the night and we've never had a problem with it.
Am completely mixed up now and don't know what to do for the best.
I would add that i considered the hungry option as she's only had a couple of 90 mls today (4am and 7.30). Getting more into her at either of those times was just an impossibility. Occasionally she'll take 150 in one go but that's rare. Her weight gain is fine so i've not really worried about it.
She's crying now - kind of intermittently - and i don't know what to do for the best.