Results:
45 minutes or less: 32 (22%)
1 hour: 18 (12%)
1 hour 15 min: 13 (9%)
1.5 hours: 27 (19%)
1 hour 45 min: 19 (13%)
2 hours: 26 (18%)
More than 2 hours: 10 (7%)
Total of 145 votes (I added a vote)
Results:
45 minutes or less: 32 (22%)
1 hour: 18 (12%)
1 hour 15 min: 13 (9%)
1.5 hours: 27 (19%)
1 hour 45 min: 19 (13%)
2 hours: 26 (18%)
More than 2 hours: 10 (7%)
Total of 145 votes (I added a vote)
Hello! I just found your blog and BABYWISE. What a gift! My baby is 4 weeks old and for the first time, my husband and I are not rocking him for an hour to get only fifteen minutes of sleep! Now my baby is asleep within ten minutes of me putting him down and he sleeps at least an hour! WOWZA!
Not sure where to put this question, but having trouble traveling with our 16 month old girl. She cries within 10-15 minutes of getting into her carseat and sometimes cries until the destination. We have a trip planned next year to NYC and I really want to work on her being a “good traveler” before we go. Any suggestions? thanks!
Wow! It’s nice to know I wasn’t the only one with a short napper at this age!Oh, and I thought of a post that might be a good idea…The best toys for certain ages. You mentioned you reserached toys a lot and I’m always having a hard time figuring this out. Also, it would be great to hear what toys other people found useful. Maybe you could do a different “toy post” for newborn, then 0-3, 3-6, 6-12, 1-2, etc. Just a suggestion! Thanks!
hey did you see by question in the comment section of the blog labels post?
atara, That is a great success story!
Christie, One good thing you will have going for you is that she will be older and easier to entertain in the car. You can get her a little magandoodle she can draw with, you can get toys that interest her, you can get a portable DVD player to watch, snacks…Until then, continue to practice with short trips. Get a toddler CD (I really like little people CDs) for her to enjoy in the car. Point out interesting things for her to look at. Just continue to try to get her used to it. Be sure to also see the traveling label. There are more ideas from me and other readers.
Good suggestion Rachel, I will add it to my list!
No Natalie, I will go look right now.
It seems “off” to me that so many responses to this poll are in the 45 minutes or less category. Shouldn’t the babies be sleeping longer?? How do you keep a 3 hour routine if they are only sleeping 45 minutes?? At 12 weeks, my son can’t stay awake 2.25 hours to make that routine work. He only stays awake for about an hour, then I try to get him to sleep for 2 hours.However, my son does seem to wake up a lot around the 45 minute mark as he transitions between sleep cycles. Sometimes he settles himself back down, other times he does not. The times he doesn’t, should I get him up?? Is that why a lot of responses to the poll we in the 45 minute category? I guess I am jsut confused. Paticularly because my sons daytime naps are not totally consistent yet even though he is STTN. So I’m wondering if his naps should be shorter. Thoughts?
Ashley, the 45 minute nap is not desirable. It isn’t what you are going for. The times your son doesn’t go back to sleep after 45 minutes, he is up. He would fall into the 45 minute nap category even if he is still in bed. This poll is for length of nap, not for length of time spent in bed.Between weeks 9-15, BW says naps should be about 1.5 hours long. Some definitely go longer. Baby can also still be on a combo 2.5-3 hour schedule this age, or even a 2.5-3.5 hour schedule. Some move to a 3-4 hour schedule.Does that answer your question?
My 11 week old has been on a perfect daytime schedule-eat and awake for 1.5 hour then nap for 1.5 hour, then I wake her up to eat. So she naps between every feeding. But now that she is a little older, I think she needs more awake time. Do you think it would be better to have shorter nap then longer nap throughout the day or just cut all of them a little bit shorter? And how old are they when they don’t nap between every feeding?
Elizabeth, I wouldn’t change anything right now. Most babies at 11 weeks can handle at most 1 hour of waketime at a time, so she has it longer than most her age. I know it doesn’t seem like much, but I wouldn’t mess with it until she drops the dreamfeed (if she has it) and is sleeping 10-12 hours at night.
I have a question regarding total sleep time, as it relates to naps during the day. I have a 9 week old (she’ll be 10 weeks in 2 days) and here’s her rough schedule.8am feed/wake9am nap11am feed/wake (sometimes 10:30am)12pm nap2pm feed/wake3pm nap4:30 or 5pm feed/wake6:00pm catnap (maybe 30-45mins)7:00 feed/bedtime routine, in bed by 810pm DF5 or 6am DF (I consider this DF since optimal waketime is 8am eventually!)With this schedule she is getting about 17 hours of sleep every day – maybe a little less with the time it takes her to fall asleep. That seems like A LOT to me, babycenter recommends around 15 hours at this age as a guideline. my 3questions: first, is this amount of sleep what you experienced with your LO’s? A part of me feels like I’m missing out on time with her since she sleeps so darn much…and feeding takes 30 mins of the hour she’s up. Second, my daughter is REALLY fussy between the hours of 5-7pm, I try to put her in her crib, sometimes she’ll catnap, other times she won’t. She won’t take a bouncy or a swing for longer than 5 mins. should I just do whatever it takes to get through those hours and hope she eventually grows out of it? I’m wondering what ideally I should be doing between 5-7 when it’s right near bedtime…It’s very frustrating because every time we have people over she is a mess! Lastly, am I doing her a dis-service by making her take every nap in her crib? The only exception is if I’m running around, she’ll sleep in her carseat (though not as good/consistent.). She’ll eventually be going to daycare and I wonder if it will be a hard transition if I don’t ‘practice’ in other places (like grandma/grandpa’s, etc) now rather than later.
becoloradogirl,1-Total sleep in a day does vary from child to child. You will likely find guidelines in various sources to be lower than what you are actually experiencing. See this post for how much sleep my kids got at all ages up to one year:Sample Schedules : http://babywisemom.blogspot.com/2008/03/sample-schedules.htmlsee also this post to see the variety of total sleep in a 24 hour period at that age:Poll Results: How many hours did baby sleep in a 24 hour period for ages 11-13 weeks? (approximate) : http://babywisemom.blogspot.com/2008/10/poll-results-how-many-hours-did-baby.htmlandPoll Results: How many hours did baby sleep in a 24 hour period for ages 7-10 weeks? (approximate) : http://babywisemom.blogspot.com/2008/09/poll-results-how-many-hours-did-baby_18.htmlSee this post for thoughts on spending time with baby:Spending Time with Baby/Child : http://babywisemom.blogspot.com/2008/08/speding-time-with-babychild.html2. Yes, do what you need to for those hours. She should be over that before too long.3. See this post:http://babywisemom.blogspot.com/2008/11/sleeping-tip-vary-sleeping-locations.html
Thank you so much for answering my questions and referring me to other articles on your blog – really appreciate the sounding board! Very helpful information!
You are most welcome! Thanks for the thanks!
Hey there! Love this site, it is nice to know that there are so many other mums out there trying to figure it all out! My 11 week old baby girl has started to wake early from some of her naps since she started to sleep through the night, if I do feed her at those times she wakes early (45 min after I put her down for nap) she feeds well, and we just continue the eat, wake, sleep cycle. She feeds about 7 times in a day -with alittle top up right before bed, 4 of those nap times sometimes only last 45 minutes. I thought this was the 45 Minute Intruder so I fed her when she started, but I am worried she is learning not to nap well during the day- should I allow her to CIO until the 2.5-3 hour feeding time? Her wake time is 1 hour each time. it says in the babywise book that mom decides when nap time is over, and she should wake happy- she cries each time she wakes early. Should I just keep feeding her when she wakes early or start trying to curb it even if she cries the whole time?
Eva,I believe waking happy from naps is something an older baby does–not an 11 week old. What you need to do is figure out the reason she is waking early. If she is waking early because she is hungry, it could be a growth spurt or it could be something like low milk supply on your end. If she is hungry, you need to feed her.She could also be waking early because she has learned to snack. In that case, I would hold her off until it has been 2.5 hours so she will eat more. She could be waking early because of a lack of ability to soothe herself or something is waking her. See these posts for help: Waking Early From Naps/Won’t Fall Asleep For Naps: http://babywisemom.blogspot.com/2008/01/waking-early-from-napswont-fall-asleep.htmlNaps: Troubleshooting: http://babywisemom.blogspot.com/2007/12/naps-troubleshooting.html
Hi, I have a ten week old son who I believe needs to increase his official wake time. Right now he seems to get very tired after one hour, but he wakes up before he has slept two hours. He sleeps great at night, but has never been a good napper. We have done a lot of CIO with naps and sometimes he will be in his bed, awake, sucking his thumb or talking to his mobile for more than half of his nap. This tells me that he needs more awake time. How can I extend his wake time without wearing him out? Basically, how do I get him to have all of his awake time at the same time and stay on the sleep, wake, eat schedule? Thanks so much
Elizabeth,If he is staying awake at the beginning of his nap, it first might be an age thing. If he is still doing it at this point, I would try adding just 5 minute increments and see how that goes. Keep stimulation levels low for him so it doesn't get to be too much. See "optimal waketime" blog label for lots more.
To the lady who responded to Ashley on Dec 1, 2008, I have the same pb for my 11 week old son, he only sleeps for 45 minutes, at pretty much every single, every day, and he is not even hungry every 3 hours, he can easily go 3.5, your answer doesn't really help me deal with that situation… what should you physically do when he wakes up early ? You CAN'T MAKE a baby sleep longer, I have tried every possible length of waketime from 45 min to over 1hr, and he still cries when put down (I let him CIO) and he never sleeps very long… what is there to do ?? thanks !
That was me. See the post "Waking Early From Naps/Won't Fall Asleep for Naps"
oh, also, see "Naps: Troubleshooting Revised and Updated"
My LO is 11 weeks old. He goes down for naps easily but during 1 of his naps he only sleep for about 20-30 mins then wakes. He stirs in the crib and fusses minimally. He drifts to sleep off and on for about 20 minutes or so then falls back asleep hard. Then we have to wake him for next feeding. I am trying to figure out the cause of this. He was waking in the morning around 5, eating and going back down til 8. We were on the 8, 11, 2, 5 schedule and that seemed to be working but recently he's been sleeping until 6 or 6:30. Bed time is usually around 9:30 since our last bottle is ending up around 9. He wakes around 1 or 2 in the middle of the night and then going back down til 6 or 6:30. I am trying to keep his morning wake time consistent because if this is off it throws everything off for the rest of the day. Today is saturday and I woke him at 6 and fed him then put him right back down – he slept til 8:45 so that worked well. However, when he went down to nap at 10:30 it was again a very restless nap. We woke him at 12 to eat and then he usually naps hard at the next nap. So my question is… are we going to bed too late at night or do you think we are having too much wake time in between naps? Could it be that he needs to be back on the 8, 11, 2, 5 schedule? If that's the case I feel like I will have to wake him at 5am to eat because he won't make it from 1 to 8am. I am also concerned that he should be dropping the 1-2 am feeding by now but he isn't. We are getting about 3.5-4.5 hour stretches at night but nothing more. I don't understand how to stretch this any longer. Usually his last feeding is around 9pm and he's down by 9:30. I didn't really begin following babywise strictly until about 3 weeks ago. He has always been on a 3 hour cycle with 1-2 hours of wake time in between but we are trying to now keep those times the same every day where they were just different every day based on the time he woke up. He is eating 5-5.5 ounces at a time so I KNOW he is getting plenty to eat during the day. He is taking much more than most babies his age. However, he is sometimes very sleepy during bottles and I don't know why. We wake him to eat, he is very sleepy and then after the bottle is finished he wakes up and plays. Any help you could offer would be great! Sorry for the rambling.