3 months old - short naps and 5 minute feeds

P

premama

Registered User
Hi,

I have a almost 3 month old baby boy who doesn't seem to like taking long naps. He would only nap for about 1 hour max during the day, 2-3 times a day although he sleeps for 4 1/2 hour stretches at night (9 to 1:30, 2 to 6:30). Also, for some reason he sometimes refuses to feed more than 5 minutes during the day, no matter how hard I try to get him to feed more. I feel that this is causing his short nap times i.e. he wakes up hungry after an hour.

I am worried he's not getting enough rest during the day. It is also very exhausting for me as I feel like I spend most of the day trying to get him to sleep, only to have him wake up in less than an hour.

Has anyone else had similar problems? If so, I would be grateful for your advice.

Thanks!
 
When my girl was around this age, she only slept for 15-20mins for naps! Gradually it got better when she got older and she can nap for 45mins -1.5hrs. Actually for a baby a sleep cycle is 45mins. If you disturb her or make some noise around that time, she is likely to wake up. If you catch the right time and try to put her to sleep again at end of the cycle, she may enter another cycle which will be another 45mins. However, my little girl never really was a good sleeper and she constantly fought sleep and never slept throught the sleep till at 13months.
I had your similar problems, the small amount of sleep won;t really affect the baby, however I think it will take it toll more on the mommy...hang in there, it will pass
HTH
 
I don't know how long you want your baby to sleep (always more than they do!) but two to three one hour naps during the day sounds about right for a three month old. And two stretches of four plus hours at night fantastic.

Generally as babies grow their naps get longer but the number of them reduces. So an 18 month old may only be having one two to three hour nap in the afternoon.

As babies grow and learn how to breastfeed they become very efficient. It is not uncommon for a three month old only has five minute feeds especially during the day. You may find that the last feed of the day when the baby is going to sleep for the night is longer - this is often because they do most of the comfort sucking at this time.

Best wishes,
SARAH
 
My son took 45 minute naps til he was about 6 months old, and started to become more mobile. But because his naps were so short, his awake time was only about an hour or so, so that at least made things a bit easier. When he was really young, like the first few months, I barely got more than a 20 minute nap from him. It was haaaard.
Now at a year old he take 1-2hr naps, twice a day. It`s very nice.
I`m not sure about your feeding concern, but when my baby got older (4months plus) he became very efficient at breastfeeding and would feed for only a short time too. Now he`s on a bottle and can drink 240 mls in less than 5 minutes.
 
Thanks you all for your comments...I feel a lot more relaxed now that I know my baby's not the only one who takes such short naps!

Actually, I find that he sleeps for longer periods when I'm out and he's in the carrier. I've been so tempted to carry him in a carrier at home to promote longer naps, but have decided against this as I thought it might become a bad habit. Has anyone else experienced this?
 
I was also scared of this when my son was a little baby. This is partly why he wouldn`t sleep bc although he loved to fall asleep on me, as soon as he did I would put him in him bed, and then he`d wake up after 5 minutes. It SLOWLY got better and better.
If you carry him til he`s drowsy but not asleep, it`s apparently better. Then he can start to learn how to sleep by himself. Though this might take awhile....
 
Your boy sounds like completely normal. I think there are some babies that can sleep a lot - like the ones in the Gina Ford books, but I know plenty that don't. Three months was also the magic age when my elder one went from taking about an hour to nurse on EACH side to about five minutes. It was great! It fantastic that your boy has short naps in the day and long ones at night - much better than the other way around. Just enjoy him and yourself as much as possible while getting as many of the things that you need to do as you can - which includes not getting yourself too tired. If he's not ready to sleep, let him have some quiet time instead. If he's tired, do what you need to do to get him to nap and be sure you get some rest at that time, too.
 
I was very concerned when it came to my son's napping habit when he was younger. He would just nap for 15-20 min tops two to three times a day, and then he moved on to have a short (less than 30 mins) and a two-three hour nap a day! Now he's nearly 6mths old and he usually has a one-one and a half hour nap when we go for a walk and two half and hour naps in the afternoon/early evening. Their habits change all the time so relax and don't worry too much.
I haven't read any of the Gina Ford's books but when I had my antenatal classes, the lactation consultant dissed it completely. I would totally recommend a book written by an Australian midwife/lactation consultant, it is called Sleeping like a baby by Pinky Mckay. I found it extremely helpful and it made me feel so much better when I thought my son had sleep problems.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top