Too Much?

I had a lot of questions about normal sleep amounts too when my son was that age. I agree with Joan, "Healthy Sleep Habits, Healthy Child" by Marc Weissbluth is a great book. He describes average sleep patterns for babies at different ages. That being said, I think the most important thing to remember is that every baby is different. Sounds like your son knows he needs sleep right now :) My son was not a very good sleeper (night or naps) until around 9 months when he started sleeping 12 hours at night and napping twice a day for 1 to 2 hours at a time. Nothing I did differently, it was just him!

Sounds like a normal baby, so don't worry! I do worry about a lot of things too. I am a first time mom of a 6 month old and he slept a lot at that age. He slept through the night for about 7-8 hours, then I had him on the EASY schedule (the baby whispher) so he would wake up and Eat, then have Activity for maybe 1/2 to an hour, I watch for signs of tiredness. (every day was different, some days he slept even more) then Sleep, which he would sleep 1-2 hours until his next feeding. the Y is for your time, when they are sleeping you get time for yourself! Lots of people commented on how much my son slept but he needed and when he was awake, he played well! So, he slept a total of 16-18 hours a day! Every kid is different, but I did read that most kids are lacking sleep at all ages, so sounds like you are a great mom giving your child the sleep he needs to grow. (they grow SO fast at that age and they need the sleep to grow!)
Hope that helps,
M.

Hi-I am new mom again! I have two boys- an 8 year old and a 3 month old-its very normal for your little one to be sleeping alot. 16-20 hours a day is not uncommon- Take advantage of it-before you know it you will be wishing for atleast a one hour nap!

I have two kids and they both slept 11-12 hours at night. My daughter took four 30 min cat naps during the day but my son (who just turned 1) takes a 45 min-75 min nap in am and a 60-120 min nap in afternoon...it varies depending on if he is sick, going through a growth spurt etc.

A really good book to get which talks about sleep at different ages is "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child". I can never remember the name of the author but if you search on Amazon.com I am sure you can find it. This book is really good because it does acknowledge that all kids are different. It presents some graphs in the book which show the amount of sleep per day for different ages at the 5%, 50%, and 95% ranges. I think it also has a graph that shows typical bedtimes at different ages. It is a great book overall in helping understand the importance of sleep to children and how to deal with any problem sleep issues (which may appear later).

S.,

Your baby sleeps as much as he needs right now. It is not uncommon for a little baby to sleep up to 16 (sometimes more) hours a day. He is growing and developing yet and it takes a lot of energy so he will likely sleep through a lot of it and just wake up long enough to eat! Relax and get some rest for yourself while he is sleeping. You'll need the energy when you go back to work... trust me. Good luck balancing school, a baby and work! You can do it! ;o)

My mother always joked that I woke up at 3 months. My daughter was much the same. When I was a new mom the folks at nurse on line and the nurse at the Moms Chat at St. Joseph's hospital got lots of questions. You don't say how much sleeping, but I can tell you my daughter would wake up -- I would change her diaper; wash her up as needed; change her clothing / bedding as needed she would eat and go back to bed. I was looking forward to all my good teaching and bonding moments and so frustrated that she wouldn't cooperate. At 3 months (like her mama) she woke up happy as a clam and ready to explore. (And I gave up on making every one of her waking moments a "enriched"...lol.) Congratulations on the new baby!

All babies are different. My 16 month old slept a lot when he was an infant, but my 5 week old doesn't seem to like sleep s much. As long as he's eating and gaining weight I'm sure he's fine. If you're concerned that he's not gaining weight you should talk to his doctor.

One thing I know about sleeping babies is there are two ends of the spectrum. You baby is just at the upper end of that. Mine was at the opposite end and still is. It's totally normal to worry but don't stress much about this. Take it from a parent that's lacked in sleep for quite some time. For now just count yourself as lucky and enjoy it while you can. You never know when things might change.

I was extremely lucky with my son. First day/night home from hospital, he slept through the night. He was 8 days old since we stayed for a while because of some complications for me and I was a single mom then. Mostly, I think this was because I had to change to formula as I had no breast milk.

My aunt bout hit me when I fussed at him and tried waking him because the nurses SAID he would wake every few hours to eat! LOL! My son woke up after 10 1/2 hrs sleep, ate and played for 2 hrs then went back to sleep for 3 hrs. He woke, ate and played for 1 1/2 hrs and slept again for 3 hrs. Then he woke, ate and played for 4 1/2 hrs. My son went to sleep for the night and slept 12 hrs. We had this scheldule til he was 3 months old when HE decided he didn't need a morning nap. He continued on this schedule til he was 18 months old at which time I noticed if he had a full afternoon nap, I had trouble getting him to sleep at night. So I ended up letting him have a "relax" time for an hour ro so in the afternoon and this worked.

My friends all had trouble with understanding our schedules (at 1st they thought it was too much and later it was too little) but his doc said not to worry. His doctor had told me all along that most babies know how much sleep they need and some times it will change a little ( 1/2 hr here and there) each day. And depending on their development rate (lifting head, supporting head, rolling, crawling, talking and walking), this will cause their sleep habits to change accordingly.

The only time my son's doctor said I should worry is if he was lathargic (sp?) during his waking hours. As this was never a problem, I didn't worry. I have helped to raise many more children and each was different with their sleep patterns, even the siblings.

Today my son is a strapping teenager! Course his sleep habits are really driving me crazy these days! But that's another subject all together! LOL!

My baby is 2.5 months old. According to what I've ready they should be sleeping about 15-16 hours a day. I don't think my son sleeps anywhere near that. We struggle with naps and he is still up 1 or 2 times a night. Please!! enjoy it! I don't know how he's going to do when he goes to daycare. I'm terrified that he'll be very overtired because it takes so much effort to get him to nap!

Hey there. For a while it will seem like all your babe does is eat and sleep and poop. Totally normal. Take advantage of the sleepytime now, cause later you'll be wishing for it.

When my daughter was 2 months, she was aleady sleeping through the night. Anywhere from 10 to 12 hours. She only took cat naps throughout the day, but I didn't care because she was sleeping all night long.

They know when they need to sleep so just let your baby. I wanna say somewhere between 2-4mos. they start to be awake more often and start to have a personality and are more fun. I was quite shocked when I brought my daughter home how boring she was. That sounds bad but it was kinda true. I just expected more interaction or something. As time goes on they sleep less and become loads of fun.

I can't remember and my baby is 5 months...LOL I know she woke up 1-2 times a night and she slept most of the day with an hour here and an hour there of wake. They sleep a lot. I know at 5 months she's awake for 2-3 hours at a time and now wakes at least 3 times a night.