Are some babies just sh*t sleepers?

[TS123]

I'm so tired and I have a very tired baby (14 months). He never wants to sleep. I enforce a strict nap schedule and leave him in his cot for 1 hour in AM and 1 1/2 h in PM. Often he'll only sleep 30 minutes and is visibly tired (yawning, rubbing eyes) all day. Sick of people saying "your baby looks tired". He sleeps 10-101/2 h per night straight. Are some kids just always going to be tired and sleep little? Or is there hope for him (and me?).

[Pitchounette]

Message withdrawn

[Mumpbump]

Ds is 11.5mo and has only ever slept for maximum 10 hours at night. He used to have three naps during the day totalling about 2 hours on a good day which now seems to be consolidating into a nap in the middle of the day. That's it! I think some babies need more less sleep than others, but ds only yawns and rubs his eyes occasionally during the day, not for the whole day. Hate to say it, but he does seem to sleep better with blackout curtains...

[pointydog]

I think sleeping 10 hours at night is plenty with one small nap during the day. I wouldn't call that a bad sleeper.

[belgo]

you're right, some babies are just bad sleepers I have two of them. And believe me, 10 hours straight at night and two short naps during the day is reasonably good.

[oranges]

10 hours straight and you think he's a bad sleeper?? I'm delighted if ds manages five.

[belgo]

TS123 - I would advice cutting down from two naps to one nap during the day. ALso, sleep when he sleeps at night , then you should get 10 hours undisturbed sleep as well, and generally , this is enough for moest people.

[TS123]

Belgo- wish I could. He sleeps at 7pm. DH only gets home from work at that time and we'll eat dinner at 7:30. Then I have to get a bath, prepare lunches for next day (if working) etc. So I do my best to get to bed early but by no means is it possible to get 10 hours! I guess his nights aren't the problem (sorry to sound like a complainer) - although many nights he'll be up 2-3 times and go back down easily (mostly without our help) but we've done the cc thing at night and have had to reinforce it several times so it's not like his great nights came naturally. It's the short naps that I don't understand. Maybe that's all he needs but starting the day at 5:30am and getting short naps seems to leave him very tired some days.I guess it could be worse. AGain, sorry if I sound like a whiner.

[Kif]

have you tried the persuasive powers of the pushchair/car?

i used to walk dd1 for hours along the sea front.

a rod for my own back - but sure beat stewing at home with unravelling over tired baby.

also mtv dancing (ditto rod/back - ditto at least its nicer than grouchy baby - cos at least they're cheerful swhen they're up.

[Jelley]

At 14 months I'd cut the daytime naps to 1, too.

Some adults need less sleep than others, so there is no reason why babies should all sleep to the same pAttern.(I have dream baby for daytime naps and magical non-sleeping night time bay.

[belgo]

TS123 - I think I was a little harsh , I didn't mean to imply you're a whiner! A lot of us have babies that don't sleep well, and it's incredibly exhausting. Some babies do need a lot of training to sleep well, and some babies just never seem to sleep particularly well however hard you try.

Other babies like my friend's new baby sleep through from 3 weeks, and sleep well during the day and I am just so jealous .

Like you, I have come to the conclusion that some babies are just s**t sleepers. And I have two of them and I am knackered.

[TS123]

I guess I just need to know that maybe it's time for me to stop trying so hard. If this is just the way it's going to be with DS - ie. he's going to be one of those short sleepers who runs on fumes all day then that's that. I've tried everything from changing his bedtime to changing his naptimes to cutting to 1 nap (for 3 weeks it was so much worse). I suppose he'll outgrow this. This morning he was up at 5am sharp. He's grouchy unless I sit and play with him like now -- gotta go. Thanks for all the support!