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Baby Sleeping More Than Usual? 3 Reasons Why.

Home / Baby Sleep Patterns / Baby Sleeping More Than Usual? Here Are 3 Reasons Why.

by Emily DeJeu in Baby Sleep Patterns —
Last Updated: May 30, 2022

We all want our babies to sleep – but can you have too much of a good thing when it comes to baby sleep? We’ve written before about babies sleeping too much, but what if your baby suddenly starts sleeping more than usual? What if you’re suddenly seeing marathon naps, later-than-usual morning wake-up times, and/or finding that you need to bump up to an earlier bedtime?

This can make many parents worry.

So what’s behind this sudden onset of sleepiness? Why is your baby sleeping more than usual? We’re sharing 3 common reasons – keep reading for details!

3 Reasons Your Baby Is Sleeping More Than Usual

If your baby suddenly starts sleeping more than usual and seems extra-sleepy, it’s likely one of the following three reasons is to blame:

Your baby is sleeping more than usual due to a growth spurt. Growth spurts are typically the number-one reason a baby or toddler suddenly starts taking extra-long naps and sleeping later in the morning. This is especially true for newborns; lots of parents find, in the first few months of their newborns’ lives, that their babies go through a number of sleepy spells when they seem to sleep around the clock!

To learn more, read this article about baby’s growth spurts and sleep.

Your baby is sleeping more than usual due to a bout of teething. Teething – it’s high on the list of most parents’ least favorite things! So many clients have told us that just when it seems like sleep is going well, a new tooth begins to pop through, and bam – everything falls apart! Now, while it’s true that teething can lead to increased night waking and shortened naps, a particularly nasty bout of teething can work almost like a bad cold virus, and can cause your baby to need more sleep than usual. Some parents find that their babies even run low-grade fevers and are especially mucus-y during teething, all of which can make baby feel lousy and extra sleepy.

To learn more, read this article about baby teething and sleep.

Your baby is sleeping more than usual due to illness. Similar to teething, illness often causes your baby to feel lousy and extra sleepy. Yes, she may also wake more than usual at night (due to discomfort), and wake early from naps too. However, your baby will likely need more total sleep throughout the day when she’s sick; her body will need lots of extra rest as it works to fight off the illness.

To learn more, read this article about how illness affects your baby’s sleep.

Baby Sleeping More Than Usual: Rule Out Medical Concerns!

While the three reasons listed above for babies sleeping more than usual tend to be the most common causes of extra-sleepiness, it’s important to rule out any medical concerns that could be causing lethargy and more-than-average sleep. For instance, sleep apnea can affect children, and can cause a baby or toddlers to seem extra-sleepy. If you have concerns about your child’s tiredness, see your healthcare provider.

Engage Your Baby While Awake

If you are concerned that if your baby is sleeping more than usual that he or she won’t be learning enough new skills, consider toys that are educational and engage them while they are awake. Here are a few of our favorites:

You May Also Find These Helpful:

7 Common Napping Mistakes
4 Times You Should Wake Your Baby
Mastering Naps & Schedules

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Baby and Toddler Sleep Resources That Work – Guaranteed!

If you are tired of wading through stacks of baby sleep books that just aren't working, if you are beyond exhausted and just can't solve your child's sleep problems on your own...then personalized sleep consulting is for you. We have been around since 2008 and invite you to tap into 10+ years of experience. Our team of expert consultants will create a Personalized Sleep Plan^® just for your family and then support you through every step of implementing your plan. We encourage you to consider our personalized, one-on-one baby and toddler sleep consultation packages if you want to see real, meaningful results now. Your consultation package also includes ample follow-up help, designed to help you troubleshoot problems and tweak your plan as needed.

For those persistent nighttime struggles, check out The 3 Step System to Help Your Baby Sleep. Using the same unique approach and practical tools for success, this e-book helps you and your baby sleep through the night.

If you’re looking for ways to get your baby or toddler into a healthy sleeping routine during the day, I encourage you to explore Mastering Naps and Schedules, a comprehensive guide to napping routines, nap transitions, and all the other important “how-tos” of good baby sleep. With over 45 sample sleep schedules and planning worksheets, Mastering Naps and Schedules is a hands-on tool ideal for any parenting style.

For those persistent toddler sleep struggles, check out The 5 Step System to Help Your Toddler Sleep. Using the same unique approach and practical tools for success, this e-book helps you and your toddler sleep through the night and enjoy a better daytime schedule.

Or, join our VIP Members Area packed with exclusive content and resources: e-Books, assessments, detailed case studies, expert advice, peer support, and more. It actually costs less to join than buying products separately! As a VIP member, you'll also enjoy a weekly chat with an expert sleep consultant. And the best part - members receive 20% off all sleep consultation services!

In over 10 years, we have over 10,000 comments on our blog.

At this time, we’ve turned the comment sections off. We would, of course, love to hear from you! For help with your specific sleep problems, please learn more about our DIY resources or our sleep consultation services. Or, consider emailing us for a fast and helpful response!

How Baby Growth Spurts Affect Sleep & Feeding

Home / Baby Sleep Needs / How Your Baby’s Growth Spurts Affect Sleep And Feeding

by Emily DeJeu in Baby Sleep Needs —
Last Updated: December 29, 2021

You may already know that things like teething, illness, and sleep regressions can affect your baby’s sleeping and feeding schedule. But did you know that your baby will go through a series of growth spurts in the first year of life and that these can cause big disruptions in sleep and feeding?

Baby Growth Spurts: When They Happen

The exact timing of growth spurts will vary from baby to baby, and not all babies will experience all the growth spurts listed below. But the following is a list of when many healthcare experts (not to mention tired parents!) notice growth spurts:

7-10 days
2 weeks
4 weeks
8 weeks
12 weeks
4 months
6 months
8.5 months
10.5 months
12.5 months

Growth spurts usually last 2-3 days, although they can last as long as a week.

Baby Growth Spurts: How They Affect Sleep and Feeding

During growth spurts, your baby will probably eat and sleep more than usual; this, of course, means that the sleep and feeding schedule you normally use may not work during a growth spurt. This is okay; let your baby take extra naps or go to bed earlier/wake up later. After a few days, your schedule should return to normal.

Same goes for feeding; if your baby seems extra hungry, go ahead and offer more food. If you are breastfeeding, it is especially important that you nurse more often; as your baby nurses more, your milk supply will increase, which in turn will ensure that you have enough milk to satisfy your growing baby.

Especially during the newborn stage, it may feel like all your baby does during a growth spurt is eat and sleep. For a few days (up to a week), this is perfectly normal. However, if your baby continues to only eat and sleep, and isn’t awake as often as you think he should be, you may want to take him to see a healthcare provider, to make sure nothing is wrong. It is possible for a baby to sleep too much (although this is rarely a problem.)

Need Baby or Toddler Sleep Help? You Came To The Right Place!

Are growth spurts wrecking your little one’s sleep? We can help with that! Our caring, compassionate consultants are standing by, ready to create a Personalized Sleep Plan™ that will help your baby learn to create positive sleep associations and start waking less often.

Browse our list of consultation package options here.

Once you make your choice and purchase, you will immediately receive an e-mail with your Helpdesk login information. You’ll be able to log in and start your Family Sleep History form right away – it’s that simple!

Want more information about how personalized help works? Check out our FAQ page here, and get answers.

Are you struggling through a growth spurt? Share your questions and story with us! Have tips? Share them with your fellow parents!

For those persistent nighttime struggles, check out The 3 Step System to Help Your Baby Sleep. Using the same unique approach and practical tools for success, this e-book helps you and your baby sleep through the night.

If you’re looking for ways to get your baby or toddler into a healthy sleeping routine during the day, I encourage you to explore Mastering Naps and Schedules, a comprehensive guide to napping routines, nap transitions, and all the other important “how-tos” of good baby sleep. With over 45 sample sleep schedules and planning worksheets, Mastering Naps and Schedules is a hands-on tool ideal for any parenting style.

Or, join our VIP Members Area packed with exclusive content and resources: e-Books, assessments, detailed case studies, expert advice, peer support, and more. It actually costs less to join than buying products separately! As a VIP member, you’ll also enjoy a weekly chat with an expert sleep consultant.

Can’t decide which product or service is right for you? Visit our Getting Started Page for help.

Need Baby and Toddler Sleep Help? We Have the Resources You Need!

If you are tired of wading through stacks of baby sleep books that just aren't working, if you are beyond exhausted and just can't solve your child's sleep problems on your own. ..then personalized sleep consulting is for you. We have been around since 2008 and invite you to tap into our MANY years of experience. Our team of expert consultants will create a Personalized Sleep Plan^® just for your family and then support you through every step of implementing your plan. We encourage you to consider our personalized, one-on-one baby and toddler sleep consultation packages if you want to see real, meaningful results now. Your consultation package also includes ample follow-up help, designed to help you troubleshoot problems and tweak your plan as needed.

Learn More About Services

Learn More About The 3-Step System

If you’re looking for ways to get your baby or toddler into a healthy sleeping routine during the day, explore Mastering Naps and Schedules, a comprehensive guide to napping routines, nap transitions, and all the other important “how-tos” of good baby sleep. With over 45 sample sleep schedules and worksheets, Mastering Naps and Schedules is a hands-on tool ideal for any parenting style.

Learn More About Mastering Naps

Learn More About The 5-Step System

Join our VIP Members Area packed with exclusive content and resources: e-Books, assessments, detailed case studies, expert advice, and more. As a VIP member, you'll also enjoy a weekly chat with an expert sleep consultant.

Learn More About VIP Membership

In over 10 years, we have over 10,000 comments on our blog.

At this time, we’ve turned the comment sections off. We would, of course, love to hear from you! For help with your specific sleep problems, please learn more about our DIY resources or our sleep consultation services. Or, consider emailing us for a fast and helpful response!

Article | How much sleep do healthy babies get?

Popular wisdom says: "In any incomprehensible situation, go to bed" and "Morning is wiser than evening." These proverbs were born only when observing babies. Indeed, sleep solves many problems for them. He slept a little longer - and everything is fine with him, he got stronger, grew up and wakes up in a good mood. Why is that?

Why sleep is so important

Sleep is not just a time of rest when nothing happens to us. This is a whole complex of mechanisms invisible to the eye, the work of which goes according to a certain scenario. Sleep should be treated with respect and attention. Sleep time should never be sacrificed. Sleep deficiency in an adult causes a 45% decline in working capacity, and chronic sleep deprivation can lead to depression, overeating, behavioral changes, irritability, and reduced immunity.

If you don't get enough sleep, your mood will be bad and your child will have to deal with a lethargic and irritable mother. Sleep deprivation is one of the main problems of young parents. A newborn does not always sleep "baby sleep" all night, which means that they themselves cannot sleep. On the one hand, all modern parents already know that in the first year of a child's life they will not sleep much. On the other hand, there are things you can do for your own health and for the health of your baby. Namely, try to improve his sleep, especially at night. How to do it?

Hours of sleep and wakefulness

It is not in vain that the baby spends almost all his time in sleep. It is at this moment that it grows and develops: in the first 2 hours after falling asleep, growth hormone is actively produced. Quality sleep protects the psyche from overwork, strengthens the immune system. It is known that children with improved sleep get sick 30% less. Children's sleep is so important that it will easily overtake all other worries and affairs in the list of priorities. Elena Muradova, a certified consultant on children's and family sleep, suggests such a distribution of the phases of wakefulness and sleep by months.

The table is based on observations of the sleep of healthy infants. It's an average, but it's easy to get an idea of how kids sleep most of the time. Of course, these are not strict norms, but a guideline for parents.

Rhythm of life

Despite the fact that opinions about feeding and sleeping strictly by the clock have long and irrevocably been divided, and habits and way of life in each family are individual, the regimen is still useful to everyone. Both children and parents. The regime is not like a rigid schedule, but like a logical alternation of different phases. It is noticed that the child prefers the predictability of repeating cycles. Thus, biorhythms are easier to establish, which will ensure a healthy rhythm of life, comfortable for both the child and all family members.

If you want to fine-tune the daily routine, the best way to do this is to observe and perhaps record how the child behaves during the day. And here there is one secret - to catch the moment, which experts call "window to sleep". During this period of time, the baby is just starting to get tired, but is still in a good mood. As soon as you see that the child's natural activity is waning, you urgently need to leave everything and try to put the baby to sleep.

Signs of fatigue

Baby rubs eyes;
yawns;
naughty;
his mood deteriorates;
loses interest in the environment;
turns away;
becomes less mobile;
pulls the ear.

If you do not catch these signs and skip the first stage of drowsiness, then overexcitation may occur, the baby will begin to act up, cry, not breastfeed, refuse to fall asleep. At the moment of danger, an ancient mechanism is activated that prevents sleep: the adrenal glands release hormones into the blood, and at this moment a "second wind" opens. In this state, it is very difficult to put the baby to sleep! Of course, fatigue will take its toll, and the baby will fall asleep, but perhaps already with hysteria and tears. So it is important to catch the moment before the “window to sleep” closes.

A helpful ritual

Children love it when things happen in sequence, and always in the same order. So they are calmer and they feel safe. This directly applies to the main infant activity - sleep. You need to develop a clear bedding ritual and always stick to it. Dim the lights in the room where the baby will sleep, avoid harsh sounds. A good sleep is where it is quiet, dark, comfortable temperature, and the air is fresh.

By the age of 3 months, you can develop a sleep-wake cycle that is comfortable for you and your baby. With age, the number of episodes of daytime sleep decreases and the main sleep occurs at night. Usually it is 5 hours without waking up for night feedings.

Parent traps

Should a child be rocked? Is it possible to teach a child to fall asleep on his own? How long should the laying ritual last? There are no "correct" answers to such questions. Everyone needs a bedtime ritual, but what exactly it will be depends only on you. What you accustom yourself and your child to will happen day after day.

When your baby is 6-8 weeks old, start giving him a chance to fall asleep on his own. How? Put him to bed when he's sleepy but still awake, experts advise.

The bedtime ritual marks the beginning of sleep, introduces the baby into it, relaxes, fills it with love. Sleep experts advise against rocking or feeding your baby before bed. Parents think that if they start training the child too early, it will not work. But this is not so. Babies develop sleep habits. If you rock your baby before bed every night for the first 8 weeks, why should he expect anything else later?

It is important that the child falls asleep where he will sleep. His consciousness remembers the circumstances of falling asleep, and if he suddenly wakes up by accident, he will not understand where he found himself. Anxiety will awaken him completely, and you will have to start all over again. Such associations associated with sleep begin to form in a child from 4 months.

There is another mistake that inexperienced parents make: they think that if they put the child to bed later, he will not wake up too early in the morning. At first glance, this is a good idea - teenagers, for example, when they go to bed late, the next day they sleep until noon! Unfortunately, this does not work with young children. The biological clock is a powerful force that wakes young children up at the same time every morning, no matter what time they fall asleep in the evening. Parents who put their child to bed late will get a tired and lethargic baby with signs of apparent lack of sleep the next day. Do not neglect the regime! The child must sleep through the hours of the night assigned to him.

What determines a child's sleep

Once again, we emphasize that the norms of children's sleep are indicative and each child needs his own number of hours of sleep. What does it depend on?

Genetic features or hereditary predisposition. All people are divided into long-sleepers and short-sleepers. Those who get enough sleep for 8-10 hours of sleep are long-sleepers, while those who need 6-7 hours of sleep are short-sleepers. This feature is passed on to your baby. But not only genetics affects the need for sleep.

Activity while awake. When you work harder, you need more sleep to recover. If a child has received too many new experiences during the day, then he will sleep longer. If the child spent the day calmly, then, most likely, less sleep is needed.

State of health. When unwell, children sleep more and recover in sleep.

Sleep conditions. It has been proven that at a lower temperature, in darkness and with sufficient oxygen, sleep is better.

Sleep preparation can be stimulating or relaxing. Choose the right evening ritual.

IMPORTANT: Children under 5 years of age usually do better if they live on an early schedule, according to the body's biological clock.

And this means that the child should go to bed early and get up early. Then the children wake up fully asleep and in a good mood.

Wake up sleepyhead

Most often, parents sound the alarm when the baby does not sleep or sleeps poorly. But if the child sleeps a lot, parents are usually happy and rarely ask for help. But in vain: a baby under 1 month old who sleeps too long can suffer from dehydration and lose weight. If a baby older than 1 month sleeps more than usual, you need to observe him for a week and not rush to conclusions. If too much sleep is observed for 7 days or more, you should contact a neurologist to check the functioning of the nervous system.

If you can't manage your baby's sleep on your own, contact a sleep consultant. Children's sleep experts will analyze your regimen, sleep conditions and fall asleep and give all the necessary recommendations. The main criterion of the norm is always the good health of the baby, smiles and cheerfulness.

Sources:

Family Tree Parent Club

Project “Sleep, baby. Sleep Education

Baby Sleep Center for Children's Sleep and Development

Online School of Motherhood and Childhood Happy Mom

Fees des bebes magazine

Baby's sleep at 3 months - 3 month old baby sleeps poorly

19.06 .2015

402094

594

Sleep tables and norms

0–3 months3–6 months

Author of the article

Tatiana Chkhikvishvili

Tatyana Chkhikvishvili

Head of online programs, psychologist, sleep and breastfeeding consultant

Mother of two children

Behind the "fourth trimester", the baby has adapted to this world, but the baby's sleep at 3 months still takes up most of the day. The child is rapidly growing and developing, and for this, quality sleep in sufficient quantities is extremely important for him!

The baby continues to sleep a lot, on average 15 hours a day, although this is significantly less compared to a newborn. Daytime sleep usually accounts for about 5-6 hours, and 10-11 hours at night.

Waking time, which includes not only play and feeding, but also getting ready for bed and going to bed, is typically 1 hour 20 minutes to 1 hour 35 minutes. In this case, an optimal rhythm of sleep and wakefulness is ensured.

The baby is growing rapidly and the baby's sleep patterns are constantly changing. Only the mother gets a sense of stability and predictability, when the time comes to adapt again to the changed needs of the baby.

0–4 months. Improve sleep in 3 weeks

Developmental stage

A 3-month-old baby's sleep may be affected by a mental leap.

Between about 11 and 12 weeks of age, babies discover a new world, the "World of Gradual Change". All the senses are involved in this process.
Now the child can distinguish changes in the tone of voice, his coordination of movements improves. The child uses his hands and mouth to explore toys.
Children again become restless, more capricious, whiny, do not sleep well; they require more attention, feeding difficulties may begin.

	Daytime nap
	The usual sleep schedule for babies at 3 months has 4 daytime sleeps lasting from 40 minutes to 1.5-2 hours.

	Night sleep
	Night sleep is usually 10-11 hours. By 12 weeks, established sleep habits are usually established. The child gets used to a certain way of falling asleep, to the same places to sleep. The ritual before laying down becomes familiar and familiar, it became easier for parents to understand the signals of the child. By 3–4 months, most children have more uninterrupted sleep at night.