Are you letting your baby nap as long as they want through the day?

Maddie

I usually let my baby nap as long as he wants (usually around an hour to an hour and a half-sometimes 2). He’s awake for about an hour then will get fussy and need a nap. But he wakes up every 2-3 hours throughout the night and it’s mentally draining me 😭 if I kept him awake more through the day would it help him sleep better at night or is that a myth? Sincerely a very sleep deprived FTM😫

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COMMENT (11)

Co

Posted at
Keeping your baby up if they’re tired during the day will only result in an overtired baby at night which can make it more difficult for them to sleep. Is your baby eating enough during the day?

Co

Courtney • Nov 7, 2019
I would try that! Maybe go in and put your hand in his chest and try and shush him back to sleep if you can.. I don’t breastfeed anymore but when my daughter would wake up for comfort she would literally suck on the bottle for 2 minutes and then be back asleep again so that’s how I knew that she wasn’t really waking out of hunger.. now when she wakes up to eat, she takes an entire bottle.

Ma

Maddie • Nov 7, 2019
Hmm I’m really not sure. How do I tell if he’s hungry or comfort nursing? He usually doesn’t even open his eyes he just eats for like 3 minutes then is asleep again. I always worry that if I don’t feed him at that moment then he will wake up in like 30 minutes and actually be hungry lol. I guess I should just try to see if I can just soothe him back to sleep more often rather than nursing.

Co

Courtney • Nov 7, 2019
Gotcha! When he wakes at night is he just wanting to nurse for comfort or is he actually hungry? My daughter would wake to comfort eat at night but she wasn’t ACTUALLY hungry.. I started waiting a few minutes to go and get her and she would end up putting herself back to sleep.. she now wakes once or twice to eat in the middle of the night.

Jo

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In my experience that’s a myth. A) it’s pretty much impossible to keep baby awake if they want to sleep and B) an overtired baby just screams bloody murder. It doesn’t actually make them sleep more at night. Just makes them more irritable until they do fall asleep.

Jo

Jo • Nov 8, 2019
And yes I let my baby sleep as long as she wants during the day and she also sleeps great at night.

Ka

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I do but he rarely naps longer than an hour unless we go out in public to a noisy place - then he will sleep forevverrr.

Mo

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My baby sleeps better at night when she takes her naps during the day. She used to do one long nap about 2/2.5 hrs then cat naps the rest of the day and also be up every 2-3hrs at night. Now shes more consistent in taking naps that are more like 45-1.5 and is doing a 5hr stretch at night.

Do

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I have the same scenario with my LO. He loves napping through the day. He will nap late afternoon and early evening too so I.e. at 6pm he will nap so that means he won’t sleep through the night because he will wake up around 8. I try to give him a bottle around 10ish but he will wake up again to feed around 3am. I also tried to increase the oz and extend the feeding hours but it didn’t work for too long, he got used to the extra milk and it didn’t fill him up enough to get him sleeping through the night. I might have to increase another oz. the problem with that is that he gets reflux and he is chunky so I am afraid that I am over feeding him.

Mo

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I still swaddle my baby and she will sleep for 4-6 hours straight. I swaddle her with one arm out to transition but it still helps a lot. When I don’t swaddle, she wakes up every 2 hours, etc.