Nearly 2 mo old baby girl awake 6 or 7 hours

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rollinsonphilip

New member
About to email the pediatrician when it occurred to me I should ask Reddit for a more rapid response...

As New Parents, my wife and I are concerned that our nearly 2 month old baby girl is staying awake too long, up to 7 hours in one night, usually from about 4am to 10 or 11am. She has been awake like this the past week or so.

Is this typical behavior? [Further information, she was born a little premature at 36.5 weeks.]

Any advice is welcome. Thank you in advance!

Update: thank you to everyone for your advice and comforting words. Our pediatrician got back to us and thinks baby girl is going through a growth spurt. The doctor wasn't worried about the length of time she's staying up and that the baby will sleep when she needs to. But just incase, we have an appt with the doctor on Wednesday.

And about 15 minutes after I made this post, baby girl went to sleep for almost 3 hours so I was able to take a nap too. Hopefully she'll get back a more regular sleep pattern soon.
 
@rollinsonphilip A child that age generally has wake times of about an hour. Sometimes they can go past that into overtired, where it becomes really hard to get them to sleep.

This site, and in particularthis chart, helped me a lot at that age.
 
@rollinsonphilip IMO she's overtired. Usually they don't know how to get to sleep on their own, so they need some stuff, like being held, nursed etc to step over the edge. At 2 months she should be awake for 1 - 1,5 hours at a time, but it is down to you to notice the signs of sleepiness and make the sleep happen.
 
@rollinsonphilip There's a sweet spot where they're drowsy before they're overtired. After she wakes the next time (she will EVENTUALLY fall asleep), try watching the clock for her next nap instead of looking for drowsy signs. At an hour, start soothing and see what happens.

My son at about this age stopped showing any signs of being drowsy. Clock watching worked like a charm, though.
 
@rollinsonphilip Oh oh i can answer this one! I was super concerned about my baby because he would stay up that long too! and everything online including reddit says they shouldn't be awake more than an hour or hour and a half! I was like, ohhh crap! Believe me, and i bet its the same for you, we tried every possible method under the sun to get him to calm down, relax, and go to sleep after an hour or two wake time. Nope! Doesn't care. Just wants to be up, not especially fussy or anything, just awake. Eventually he would get fussy and that's when wind-down/sleepy time routine worked like a charm.

I asked our pediatrician if this was a concern. After explaining that we try to put him to sleep but he doesn't care and isn't fussy or crying awake, the pediatrician basically shrugged. So take that how you will...

Anyway, he is now a little over two months, and this has pretty much stopped. He will go to sleep every hour or couple of hours, at most he will stay awake for 3 hours.

I think this is just something that passes.

Maybe it doesn't apply, but as a kid I would wake up very early and my mom asked a pediatrician why out of desperation. Pediatrician essentially responded that kids go through periods of extra excited curiosity. Like, information sponge-brain goes into overdrive. So I'd be up earlier cause i couldn't wait to take in the world i guess.

I figure it's like a phase and that's what my baby was going through, just wanting to absorb everything, and just be awake. Maybe yours too.

I think there's a problem with the whole, "they shouldnt be awake more than 1h at a time..." i just don't think it should be that strict.

TL;DR: If your baby isn't super fussy or crying for those 6-7 hours, I'm no doctor, but I don't think there's anything to worry about. Will probably regulate itself like it did with my baby.
 
@bella7 You give me hope! I'm hoping my baby is the same as yours and this phase will pass soon. Her doc got back to us and essentially said the same thing you said about her going through a phase and wanting to be awake and there's nothing to worry about. Thanks for giving us hope.
 
@rollinsonphilip Are you waiting for her to fall asleep on her own, or are you actively trying to get her to sleep? She should definitely not be awake that long. 1-2 hours is the recommended wake window for that age.
 
@snowkatcher We've been actively trying to get her to sleep- lights dimmed, swaddle, rocking, etc. The pediatrician said some babies go through this during a growth spurt and still eventually get better.
 
@rollinsonphilip Don't worry too much. I remember being surprised to find out that our baby was supposed to be napping on and off all day, since she was awake most of the day and slept most of the night. She has never had "normal" sleep patterns but is very healthy and happy. The total number of hours they sleep is what counts. Some will say they are overtired, and you will be the only one who can really figure that out.
 
@besjoux thanks for your words of encouragement. Her overall sleep went down a little but she seems fine during the day. I'm glad your baby is healthy even though her sleep wasn't "normal."
 
@rollinsonphilip There are going to be phases your NB will go through like this. Have you heard of the mental "leaps" they go through? I HIGHLY recommend this article. https://www.thewonderweeks.com/ This really helped my wife and I know what was coming up with our little one's development.

Also, when in doubt, call your pediatrician. There is no harm in it. I honestly feel that 75% of their job is to make parents feel better lol.
 
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