Heya guys, sorry I've been away. I've been dealing with a sick family all week
Lets see if I can answer some questions...
Nightwakings are often the cause of either too little sleep at night and/or too little sleep during the day. At three months, your lo should be getting around 10-12 hours of sleep at night. I think mine was up to 12 at that point...but after a rocky start, she discovered she loved her sleep. "A" time should be somewhere between an hour and 1.5 hours...although 1.5 hours is really pushing it. Three naps a day, 2 of 1.5-2 hours and one catnap of 45 mins or more should do it for the day. Early bedtimes often eliminate night wakings over a few weeks time as your lo's get the night rest they need. Total sleep for a 3 month old is 15+ hours. However, many lo's need 1-2 feedings a night yet for a few more months. This can be controlled by giving a dream feed between 9 and 11, or picking a time at night to get up and feed. Three months is also a major growth spurt period, so you're going to have a few days of sleep in general, eat like there's no tomorrow, then a few days where it seems like they can never get enough sleep.
Ok, that's the "textbook" advice based on research/experience. That said...
Obviously, not every lo is going to fit that mold (mine does but that's beside the point lol), and you have to tweak that advice based on your lo's temprement and your instinct. I've been whispering since Aariana was 6 weeks old, and the more I read posts on this site, the more I see certain trends and such that aren't in the books. I know around 3 months is when my lo's nap problems began to fester. Sometimes she would take 45 min naps, sometimes she wouldn't, where previous to this she was taking great naps. Progressively they got worse until she went several days with just 3-4 45 min naps (peaked at 4 months). I learned that this was a side effect of day sleep development, and by 5.5 months her naps were back to normal. Now, this didn't affect night sleep for my lo, but I know it has a tendency to affect night sleep. As for total sleep...well, tbh, I think 13+ hours is enough for a lot of lo's, although 15 is optimal. I had a few days in there where she "crashed"...those are the days she made up lost sleep, since sleep loss is cumulative.
Often your lo will be ready for bed by the early hour of 7 pm (or even earlier...mine has a bedtime of 6 pm), but often when they do fall asleep it is treated like a nap instead, since they get use to waking after this nap and staying up. It takes time and work to get them use to this being night time sleep time. The other possibility is (which almost sounds like greentomato's problem) that they really do thrive on going to bed later and getting up later to start the day. This happens in some, but not the majority of lo's.
Basically, go with your instinct and the temprament of your lo. If your lo isn't getting enough sleep, they'll be fussy, won't eat right, seem to be constantly tired but won't go back to sleep (overtired). If they're getting enough sleep, it'll be mostly opposite. The same is true for naps; if they wake up crying, then you know they haven't had enough sleep. If they wake up playing, cooing, generally happy, even after 45 mins, then they've had enough sleep.
BTW, I use Weissbluth's book for a lot of the basic info about sleeping; he's one of the leading doc's on infant sleep. I do recommend it as far as general info goes; but I'd stick to whispering when it comes to teaching your lo to actually get to sleep on their own.
Also...I was never really able to get out of the house very much until after 5 months or so, when her "A" time was up to 2 hours. Up until that point I was focused on naps all the time. It sucked, but it's amazing how quickly time passes when one day runs right into the other
I DID get out the stroller and take her for a short walk every day, more for me to get out of the house. Sunlight in the early afternoon is supposed to help sleep anyway.
Sorry this is so long!! Hope something in here helps
*HUGS*
Sonya =P
