do i keep him awake?

[dizzyisacow]

do i keep him awake during the day so he sleeps at night or is it cruel? he sleeps all through the day and wants to play at night and im at my wits end
his sleeping through got knocked off when he started teething but his teeth are through now and he has no reason for beeing up.
if i do this once he would sleep all night but he would be very fussy and unhappy

 

[DolceBella]

I wouldn't recommend keeping him up all day. This has not been shown to cause better sleeping at night, because they become overtired and sleep deprived. Perhaps you could limit napping a small bit though, especially late in the afternoon.

 

[jenwigan]

when my health visitor came to visit me when rachel was 1 n half weeks old she told me to do this to get her sleep at night.... i didnt keep her a wake all day she had naps at every 2 hours just before her bottles... then at 2 weeks old exactly she started sleeping through... she is now 21 weeks old... apart from 2 weeks ago where she had a chest and throat infection and didnt sleep... she has slept all way through ever since normally from 9 - 8:30.... i also use johnsons bed time products witch i really think has helped with her. now her routine is wake at 8:30am nap at 12oclock for half an our... 2 hours sleep at 3/4pm then a quick 10 min nap about 6 then shes ready for bath bottle bed at about 8-9pm xx

 

[Sarah+]

I wouldn't keep him up all day, but I would keep him up more.

Maybe plan out some naps, like a couple of 45 min naps and one longer nap and wake him at the end of those periods. Then watch for the tired signs a couple of hours after the last nap ended so you'll know when the next should start.

I find if Max stays up all day (not on purpose!) he doesn't feed well, and ends up waking in the night anyhow. But as you say, if he sleeps a lot in the day, he's not going to want to sleep a lot at night.

 

[faille]

I don't know whether purposely trying to keep him awake during the day I agree with but definately making daytime more exciting and making him want to play during the day I'd go for. Make sure he's stimulated during the day and then make sure you do a nice wind down routine at night.

If he knows daytime is fun and for playing then he won't want to sleep! "Forcing" them to stay awake though seems a bit much for me.

 

[ellismum]

Ellis always sleeps well at night when he's had good naps during the day, usually 2 or 3 lasting about 1 1/2hrs - 2 hrs. If we've been out and he's only grabbed 20minutes here and there (always sleeps better in his cot) he's waking frequently in the night. We just make sure he doesn't nap later then 5pm and he usually goes straight down at 7.30pm. I have several sleep help books which I collected with various baby mags as freebies, Gina, Baby Whisperer etc.. and they don't recommend keeping them awake.

 

[beancounter]

can you take him out in the day? Keep him distracted? At that age, Finn was having 2 naps a day, for about 2 hours, so I'd say some sleep in necessary. So I'd get a couple of naps in too. If I take Finn out somewhere interesting he'll only sleep when absolutely necessary if it's somewhere interesting- even just the shops or someones house. And he doesnt get too grumpy either. I don't let him sleep past 4pm nowadays either.

 

[dizzyisacow]

thanks for the help girls
no i cant take him out as i currently dont see him through the day hes always home with fil and mil. and i have him at night. x

 

[ellismum]

thanks for the help girls
no i cant take him out as i currently dont see him through the day hes always home with fil and mil. and i have him at night. x

Can you speak to them about structering his day around a routine?

 

[Nickij]

Would try and keep him up for periods of time - but still let him nap. So if he has a nap for longer than say 2 hours try waking him up for a bit. x

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

I would limit naps rather than stopping them. Ruby is very hard to put to bed when she is overtired. She has a 30 min nap in the morning and a longer one at lunchtime, but I don't let her sleep for longer than 2 hours. (2.5 if I really need to get something done lol)

 

[dali]

i would not stop him sleeping during the day at all, infact there is a saying " the more baby sleeps, the more baby sleeps" meaning that they slep better at night if they are rested during the day.

anyway , the only thing i would do is make the last nap a while before bed time, ie: if he ges to bed at 7pm , then i wouldnt let him start a nap any time after 3:30 say.

maybe speak to the in laws offer them some ideas to stimulate him during the day while he is with them ? or ask them to take him for a walk etc.. ( again not to force him to stay awake but just to make sure he gets the most out of his day , and help him know that day time is for fun , and night time is for sleeping.

did you say he slept ok until teething , now teeth are through he may just have goten into a habit of waking during the night, so try to keep things quiet and dark when he wakes up at night, and dont let him play. if he was sleeping ok before he will most likely soon go back to sleeping properly by himself with a lil encouragement