I've been back at work for 2 weeks and my 10 wk old daughter is not sleeping during the day at all while she is with the sitter. I drop her off at 6:30am and pick her up at 4:30pm. For 10 hours she is awake. She doesn't really sleep when we get home either. I finally give her a bath at 8pm and she is so exhausted. She should be sleeping about 20 hours per day. The sitter keeps telling me that it's no big deal when I suggest ways to help her sleep. Not sure what to do but I'm really worried. Babies need sleep for their brain development.
Thank you all for your comments. The sitter who is in her 50's also a friend watched my 4 yr old from 8 wks to 13 months. I think she just doesn't want me to be worried but I am. As long as the sitter holds her she is fine and awake but if she is put down she cries. I'm going to take a bouncy to the sitters house and hope that helps the baby sleep. I don't understand how she can manage to stay awake that long either. There has to be something that I'm not aware of. My 4 yr old would sleep 4-6 hrs straight during the day between feeding and til this day is a great sleeper and takes 2-3 hr naps every day. I try putting the baby down earlier because she is so tired but she fights me on it and my 4 yr old also makes it hard. I might need to take a day off work and actually watch the sitter and see what she actually does and see if I can show her how the baby likes to be held and how she likes to sleep. I've told her but I think I have to show her.
I had a daughter that never slept either. I kept saying I don't understand this I thought babies slept. I found that she would sleep if and only if she was placed on her belly to sleep. I talked to her Dr. and she said although it's not recommemder that if it was the only way she'd sleep then go ahead and put her on her belly. Both my girls have been belly sleepers.
My baby is a bit older (14 weeks), but we've been fighting with the sleep thing for weeks. She hates to nap during the day, and I make every effort to help her sleep. If she falls asleep, she's down for 20 min. max. I've decided to help her make up for that, I put her to bed as early as 6 most nights. I would put her down earlier if I could, but my toddler makes it hard to do that! Maybe you could start doing an early bedtime?
I agree with you and I would make it clear to the sitter that she NEEDS naps or she will need a new sitter. If your daughter is overtired already, she is less likely to go to sleep easily. This sounds like a problem where your sitter doesn't know what she is doing, not where your child doesn't need sleep. I don't think anything terrible is going to happen to your daughter immediately since lots of people think thier child doesn't need a nap and keep them up without bad results. However, you are absolutely correct, to develop to her full potential her brain does need time to sleep (this is when lots of the connections for learning and growth happen). They are finding more and more that lack of sleep is bad for the body and even causes things like obesity. Also she is establishing sleep habits now, and the ones she is establishing are not good for her. A great book for your sitter would be "Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child" if she would read it. Your daughter should be going back to sleep after no more than 1.5 hours of being awake at this point.
Hi AV,
You are RIGHT. Your child needs all the sleep she can get for appropriate brain development. The sitter, nice as she may be, doesn't know the facts.
Take care,
t
You are right. She needs more sleep at her age. It may take some time to adjust being a way from you and her usual surroundings. However, I would make sure the sitter listens to your suggestions - if she doesn't seem concerned, as hard as it is, I'd start looking for a new sitter.
I'd ask your sitter exactly what she means when she says she doesn't nap. Does she fall asleep at all during the day, and wake up when she's put down? Or is she honestly wide awake all day long?
That does not sound right at all , is she just awake or is she unhappy while awake? I am not sure how she can physically manage to stay awake that long at her age. You are right to be concerned and you should talk to the sitter again about this.
I think situations like this make a good case for co-sleeping. I know when I went back to work when my daughter was three months old, I would've felt like I never got to spend any time with her (and perhaps she felt the same) if we didn't co-sleep. Even though she was asleep, she knew that I was nearby if she needed me during the night. Maybe that is why your daughter is not sleeping when you pick her up. She needs that time with you. Also, I've found that not getting enough sleep just grows exponentially, turning into a vicious cycle. Less sleep during the night equals less sleep during the day turns into less sleep at night again.
