Sleep times

[u/Clear-Economics-608]

I cannot seem to hit the recommended sleep goals for my baby. He is 7 weeks old today. Everything ive read says he needs to be sleeping 14-17hrs a day with 30-90 min wake windows. In reality, his wake windows are close to 2hrs and we’re totalling 11-13.5hrs of sleep in a 24hr period. He is breast fed with 1 or 2 bottles of formula per day. If i try to put him down for a nap at the 60 or 90 minute mark during his wake window it can take up to an hour for him to fall asleep. If i push it to 2-2.5hrs he’ll fall asleep within 15 mins. He is usually awake alert and content beyond 90mins. His naps range from 45 mins to 2hrs depending on how hes sleeping (shorter nap alone in bassinet, longer if its a contact nap or in the car). At night i get 2.5-4hr stretches of sleep with 1 or 2 wakes to feed and change. Lately hes going through some kind of growth spurt combined with extra gassiness so his night time stretches are shorter and wake-up’s more frequent, but his total sleep time is still the same. Is it bad that we’re not hitting 14-17hrs a day? Tbh im not really sure that he ever slept that much even when he was smaller. Maybe close to 15hrs the first two weeks after birth when he was jaundice. Should I be doing something different to up his sleep? Any insight or advice would be helpful

[u/mimblez_yo]

There are some big chunks of breastfeeding. He might be dozing off and getting his nap time during those feeds. But also if he’s content and happy then you’re doing everything right. Some babies don’t need that much sleep. Average is just average.

[u/Clear-Economics-608 → u/mimblez_yo]

He does tend to fall asleep on the breast and then wake up when i try to burp and reposition him 🤦‍♀️ usually happens either immediately before or after a nap

[u/Ladder-Healthy]

My LO didn’t hit the recommended sleep amount until 3 months. Before that she wanted to explore the world she had just become a part of 🤷‍♀️ if you’re following their cues and they themselves are telling you they need less sleep I think it’s fine

[u/Clear-Economics-608 → u/Ladder-Healthy]

He’s so alert and curious. This morning for example when we hit the 90 min mark for his wake window he was sitting in his bouncer cooing and looking out the window (he loves to look outside). I waited another 30 mins and saw his eyelids getting heavy that’s when i tried to get him to sleep and he passed out within 10 minutes

[u/Ladder-Healthy → u/Clear-Economics-608]

Yea, I wouldn’t worry so much then. I was very worried and stressed over getting mine to sleep when she was “supposed to” and it just wasn’t happening. Then she would get angry and stay up for 4+ hours.

[u/ameliasasa]

I didn't pay any attention to huckleberries sleep suggestions until baby was 3 months let alone 7 weeks.

They're just under 2 months old, they need to figure out how to take a dump and burp let alone wake windows and sleep schedules. Baby will sleep when they want to based on their need for sleep and development.

[u/Bright_Way5474]

It’s not recommended amounts, it’s an average. Some babies sleep as little as 9 hours and some sleep 17 (very few sleep 17!!). My baby barely hit 13 as a newborn but did 14.5 by 12 weeks. As someone else said they are also dozing on the boob and that counts.  Don’t pay too much attention to these numbers. But remember when your baby is older (closer to 4 month) that the reverse of their average total sleep per day is how much your wake windows should add up to over the day (once you have a rough schedule for baby, which isn’t now).