Baby is a night owl - is this bad for him?

[Mafi419]

Me and my wife we're both night owls and, because we work from home, we usually don't go to sleep before 3/4 AM. I've always been like this, I remember being 6 or 7 and staying awake in my bed for hours until 1 or 2 AM waiting for the sleep to come. We never wanted Lucas to follow our sleeping habits because society doesn't quite work that way and soon enough he will have to go to school and have a different schedule. The thing is, he doesn't sleep unless he is right next to me, curled up in my chest with my boobs to grab anytime (I'm EBF). I lay awake in my bed, watching tv shows or reading, from 00:00 until he falls asleep. But he has been waking up around 1:30/2 AM every day fir the last 3 weeks or so. And no matter what we do, he doesn't fall asleep again before 3:30-4:00. Then he sleeps 10 hours straight (as long as I don't get up before that...if I get up he wakes up in minutes, even if my wife holds him just like I do). We are a little worried. What if he never learns to sleep earlier? Are we causing this? Is this bad for him? I can't make myself sleep earlier, even if I haven't slept at all.
We live in Portugal so everything happens a little later here...like, services only open at 9am, shopping centers only open at 10am and people usually have dinner around 8pm. School usually starts at 9am.

 

[noon_child]

Four months is the classic age for sleep issues (4months sleep regression). It is a huge developmental stage where their brains switch out of newborn sleep routines in to what might be termed more "normal" ones. Thing is, while they are adjusting, they tend to wake often and be hard to settle.

See this link for more detailed info:
https://www.isisonline.org.uk

The good news is that when over about 12 weeks babies start to produce their own sleep hormones when it is dark so they get a better sense of day and night (although as a child of two owls maybe not :wink wink and if you want to try bed time routines to encourage sleep they are now able to respond to these better (baths, massage, soft lighting, soft music etc.).

I agree that your sleep pattern might be an issue when LO comes to school age, but that is a long way away yet. The routine of a four month old is not the set in stone routine that he'll have as a four year old! The baby stage is survival mode in my opinion so you just do whatever you need to to get by! As long as you ensure you are responding to his cues (not letting him get over tired etc.) then there is no right or wrong bed time.

 

[mummy2_1]

Agree with pp although would add I've stuck to our bed time routine since very young and think it has helped majorly helped create a solid night time routine we can differ if needed but find the security of routine helps settle lo

 

[Mafi419]

Thank you for the replies and advices. I loved the website that noon_child shared so interesting!! I do try to bed time routines, but it doesn't work that well. When he's falling asleep, he fights it. I usually give him his bath around 9-10 pm, and his last feeding (awake) after that. I make the room as dark as possible (since I'm not going to sleep at that moment...usually it's only the computer's light that stays on) and I put white noise on youtube...sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't...sometimes he falls asleep but wakes up in less than 2 hours. But I do think that we were experiencing a sleep regression! Two nights ago he felt asleep around 11pm and slept for 12 hours straight (I woke him up because I was getting a little worried since he barely breastfed during the night), yesterday he felt asleep around midnight and today woke up at 11:15
The only "bad" thing is that I can't leave the bed without him waking up and I don't sleep before 3, but as long as he sleeps well and I'm able to get 6-7hours, I'm good
During the day I try to make him sleep every two hours or so, because if I don't he starts getting reallyyyy fussy and eventually will start crying and will "cry his eyes out"...he only sleeps on me during the day, and his naps last 40-70 minutes