newborn question

[Tom Costello]

Hello, I am new to this group (and to parenting). My wife and I have a 16
day old boy at home and we were wondering when do we try to start giving him
a schedule? Should we be waking him during the day to feed him, or just let
him sleep and wake as he wants. I guess the real underlying question, which
I am sure everyone has, is "How can we get back to 6 hours of sleep a night
in the fewest number of weeks?" Thanks for any advice

Tom and Agnes

[Ericka Kammerer]

Tom Costello wrote:

> Hello, I am new to this group (and to parenting). My wife and I have a 16
> day old boy at home and we were wondering when do we try to start giving him
> a schedule? Should we be waking him during the day to feed him, or just let
> him sleep and wake as he wants. I guess the real underlying question, which
> I am sure everyone has, is "How can we get back to 6 hours of sleep a night
> in the fewest number of weeks?" Thanks for any advice

Well, there's pretty much nothing you can do that will guarantee
you'll see six hours of contiguous sleep in the near future. Some
babies will go a longer stretch pretty early, but others will stick
with short breaks between eating at night for an obscenely long time.
As far as schedules go, you can't really *give* him a schedule.
You might as well pound your head against a brick wall. What you can
do is attempt to key into his rhythms and work with them to achieve
a routine that makes life as easy as it can be. You likely won't
have much to work with for several weeks yet, though. During at least
the first six weeks, he'll likely still be trying to get himself
organized. He'll also continue to need to eat frequently for quite
some time, including at night. A few babes will go long stretches
at night by 6 weeks, but many won't do a six hour stretch until
they're 6 months or more. A 4-5 hour might happen in the nearer
future, though.
As far as waking him to feed, you can't stuff him so that
he'll sleep longer at night. That just doesn't work. (Doesn't
work to feed him solids to get him to go longer at night either.)
He has a tiny little stomach, and he'll digest a full feeding
pretty quickly and need another one to keep him growing and
healthy. However, most babies will move towards settling into
a general routine where they're eating every few hours with
perhaps one longer stretch. In a perfect world, that stretch
will be at night so you get the most contiguous sleep you can.
You can try to nudge things around gently in the hopes that he'll
move that longer sleep to nighttime. Keep things quiet and dark
at night. Daytimes can be brighter and noisier (but it's easy
to overstimulate a baby, so don't try to make things *too* crazy).
I wouldn't wake him to feed him unless he's going *really* long
stretches during the day or unless he's not growing well.
Once he's had some time to grow (say, by 6 weeks or so),
you might see the beginnings of a natural rhythm for him and you
can work on reinforcing that so that you head toward a more
predictable routine. It's not likely to be exactly by the
clock, but you'll notice some patterns that you can build on.
Even so, most babies have some pretty significant variation
in their schedules until they're several months old (and some
longer). You can attempt to be very rigid about scheduling,
but it's usually quite frustrating, if not heartbreaking.

Best wishes,
Ericka

[electroscopillan]

just thought I'd ask/mention. Is baby co-sleeping? Because night-feedings
are much more natural and less disturbing that way. Why allow him to fully
wake up enough to cry, loud enough that you can hear it, for food, when he
could just as easily turn over and start suckling - without fully
waking/disturbing his own sleep patterns and yours?

My son co-slept for the first 14 months, and has now been both weened and is
sleeping in his own bed in his own room with rare night-waking. Took him
about 3 weeks to fully adjust to being on his own. I'm a single dad fyi.

This is just my own experience.


"Ericka Kammerer" > wrote in message
...
> Tom Costello wrote:
>
> > Hello, I am new to this group (and to parenting). My wife and I have a
16
> > day old boy at home and we were wondering when do we try to start giving
him
> > a schedule? Should we be waking him during the day to feed him, or just
let
> > him sleep and wake as he wants. I guess the real underlying question,
which
> > I am sure everyone has, is "How can we get back to 6 hours of sleep a
night
> > in the fewest number of weeks?" Thanks for any advice
>
> Well, there's pretty much nothing you can do that will guarantee
> you'll see six hours of contiguous sleep in the near future. Some
> babies will go a longer stretch pretty early, but others will stick
> with short breaks between eating at night for an obscenely long time.
> As far as schedules go, you can't really *give* him a schedule.
> You might as well pound your head against a brick wall. What you can
> do is attempt to key into his rhythms and work with them to achieve
> a routine that makes life as easy as it can be. You likely won't
> have much to work with for several weeks yet, though. During at least
> the first six weeks, he'll likely still be trying to get himself
> organized. He'll also continue to need to eat frequently for quite
> some time, including at night. A few babes will go long stretches
> at night by 6 weeks, but many won't do a six hour stretch until
> they're 6 months or more. A 4-5 hour might happen in the nearer
> future, though.
> As far as waking him to feed, you can't stuff him so that
> he'll sleep longer at night. That just doesn't work. (Doesn't
> work to feed him solids to get him to go longer at night either.)
> He has a tiny little stomach, and he'll digest a full feeding
> pretty quickly and need another one to keep him growing and
> healthy. However, most babies will move towards settling into
> a general routine where they're eating every few hours with
> perhaps one longer stretch. In a perfect world, that stretch
> will be at night so you get the most contiguous sleep you can.
> You can try to nudge things around gently in the hopes that he'll
> move that longer sleep to nighttime. Keep things quiet and dark
> at night. Daytimes can be brighter and noisier (but it's easy
> to overstimulate a baby, so don't try to make things *too* crazy).
> I wouldn't wake him to feed him unless he's going *really* long
> stretches during the day or unless he's not growing well.
> Once he's had some time to grow (say, by 6 weeks or so),
> you might see the beginnings of a natural rhythm for him and you
> can work on reinforcing that so that you head toward a more
> predictable routine. It's not likely to be exactly by the
> clock, but you'll notice some patterns that you can build on.
> Even so, most babies have some pretty significant variation
> in their schedules until they're several months old (and some
> longer). You can attempt to be very rigid about scheduling,
> but it's usually quite frustrating, if not heartbreaking.
>
> Best wishes,
> Ericka
>

[Donna]

"Tom Costello" > wrote in message
...
> Hello, I am new to this group (and to parenting). My wife and I have a
> 16 day old boy at home and we were wondering when do we try to start
> giving him a schedule? Should we be waking him during the day to feed
> him, or just let him sleep and wake as he wants. I guess the real
> underlying question, which I am sure everyone has, is "How can we get back
> to 6 hours of sleep a night in the fewest number of weeks?" Thanks for
> any advice

Hi Tom! Congratulations on the birth of you baby!

As for sleep.... hoo boy. I have two kids. The first one was up
constantly, sleeping no more than an hour at a time, for ten horrible,
horrible weeks. Then she started sleeping 5-6 hours at a stretch, and by
about 8 months, she was sleeping 12 hours a night, if I recall correctly.
So, in short, horrible in the beginning, great at the end. My son, has
been the opposite. He slept 2-3 hours at a stretch at night from about one
month on, but continuted to sleep 2-3 hours at a stretch until he was 6 and
a half months old. He didn't begin to stretch out his sleeping until nearly
7 months. So, in short, great in the beginning, horrible after that. :)

And I tried to schedule both kids the exact same ways. So sometimes there
isn't anything you can do. You can't make a baby do what a baby isn't going
to do.

However -- there are a few things you can do to encourage your darling
little insomniac to sleep in a way approaching a human schedule. Here are
my suggestions - take what you want and leave what you dont. :)

1) realize what "sleeping through the night" really means: 5-6 hours of
consistent sleep, at any time during the evening. Like, 7-1. Or 11-4. Or
10-3. That's "sleeping through the night". Depressing, isn't it?

2) Keep the awake times during the day exciting, with talk and play, and the
waking periods at night boring, quiet and dim.

Other than that, for the first three months or so, you can't really do much
to encourage sleep. After the first three months, you have a few more
options:

1) encourage two naps a day. Your baby may fall asleep at about the same
times in the morning and afternoon. Encourage that. (mine were on a 10-12
and 2-4 nap, and a 7-9 am and a 1-3 pm napping schedule)

2) set up a bedtime routine once you have established a bedtime. Bath,
story, feeding and bed was always good for me, but keep the routine the same
every night. Same pattern, same time, etc. Kids thrive on routines.

3) Consider sleep training at some point after six months. It's hard,
terribly so, particularly with the first child, but for many of us, it works
wonderfully. Check Ferber's book out of the library, but remember, this is
something that shouldn't be done before 6 months at the earliest.

3a) Actually, in addition to point three above, go to the library and check
out all of the books on sleep and babies. You'll get a ton of conflicting
advice, but you'll also find that your baby is quite normal, whatever his
sleep patterns are. Whatever advice you like best, follow (with one
caveat -- stay the hell away from "Babywise". It's hideous.). I loved
(still do) the books by Brazleton, but there is lots out there.

Good luck. It gets better. Eventually. :)

Donna

[shinypenny]

Donna wrote:
> 3a) Actually, in addition to point three above, go to the library
and check
> out all of the books on sleep and babies. You'll get a ton of
conflicting
> advice, but you'll also find that your baby is quite normal, whatever
his
> sleep patterns are. Whatever advice you like best, follow (with one

> caveat -- stay the hell away from "Babywise". It's hideous.). I
loved
> (still do) the books by Brazleton, but there is lots out there.

If you can find it at the library (it's out of print), get a copy of
"The Self-Calmed Baby." That book was a lifesaver for me. Wish I had
had it with DD#1.

jen

[shinypenny]

Tom Costello wrote:
> Hello, I am new to this group (and to parenting). My wife and I
have a 16
> day old boy at home and we were wondering when do we try to start
giving him
> a schedule? Should we be waking him during the day to feed him, or
just let
> him sleep and wake as he wants. I guess the real underlying
question, which
> I am sure everyone has, is "How can we get back to 6 hours of sleep a
night
> in the fewest number of weeks?" Thanks for any advice
>
> Tom and Agnes

At this age, no, I wouldn't wake him during the day to feed him, but I
also wouldn't necessarily tip-toe around him if he's been sleeping
forever. Just go about your normal household routine, and the baby'll
eventually figure it out.

Try recording his schedule to see if you notice any patterns. If he's
sleeping more during the day than the night, it may be that he has his
days and nights confused (very common). This will rectify itself with
time. You can encourage it, as others suggested, by keeping daytime
stimulating and light, and nighttime boring and dark.

Just not too stimulating - as I mentioned on another thread, some
babies get overstimulated easily (especially those born early with
immature/disorganized nervous systems), and will shut down if the
environment is too stimulating. They appear to be napping, but they are
not.

If he has a colicky period every evening, this is actually not a bad
thing (as stressful as it is on you and your wife!). It allows him to
get all the excess nervous energy out of his system so he can settle
down for a long sleep.

To survive this newborn period, it is very wise to sleep when the baby
sleeps. All new parents hear this advice, but it tends to be easy to
ignore, when there's laundry needing attention, dinner needs to be
made, you desparately crave a shower, etc.

To encourage a longer period of sleep at night, there are various
things you can do. You don't say whether you are co-sleeping or not,
and where the baby sleeps at night?

If in a crib, make sure he is dressed warmly, there are no drafts, etc.
Temperature drops in the night have caused many a baby to wake up. Also
try swaddling - babies like to be wrapped up tight as it duplicates the
womb. If your baby likes swaddling and being held, consider either
co-sleeping for now, or a bassinet (which isn't so wide open) instead
of a crib. If you are using a baby monitor and you're waking at every
little whimper, I recommend getting rid of it - you will know when baby
needs you - he'll make it loud and clear!

At this age you can begin the gradual process of teaching your baby to
calm himself. Have you noticed if he is trying to suck his fingers? If
so, I'd encourage this. Help him find his fingers. If he can learn to
calm himself, you'll be much less likely to need to resort to drastic
Ferbizing later. This is what I did with my DD#2, who was born with a
spot on her fingers that clearly indicated she was sucking them in the
womb. Newborns don't have the muscle control to get their fingers into
their mouths. We co-slept for the first 3 months. When she'd fuss in
the night, I'd help her find her fingers. It didn't take too long
before she could do it herself, and at that point, I moved her to a
crib.

Also, it may not be too late to try this tactic (from the self-calmed
baby book): have mom and baby hole up together in bed, round-the-clock,
for a week. Have mom sleep when the baby sleeps. Bring her food, do the
laundry, run the errands, so she doesn't need to get out of bed. This
gives mom the opportunity to really tune into the baby and learn his
patterns, his habits, and how best to address his needs. I holed up
with DD#2 for two whole weeks, and it helped immensely compared to my
experience with DD#1. It helps you pick up quicker on the tiny, subtle
cues, for example, "when she wrinkles her nose like that, it's a clue
she's going to start screaming unless I pick her up and rock her."

jen

[Donna]

"shinypenny" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>
> Donna wrote:
>> 3a) Actually, in addition to point three above, go to the library
> and check
>> out all of the books on sleep and babies. You'll get a ton of
> conflicting
>> advice, but you'll also find that your baby is quite normal, whatever
> his
>> sleep patterns are. Whatever advice you like best, follow (with one
>
>> caveat -- stay the hell away from "Babywise". It's hideous.). I
> loved
>> (still do) the books by Brazleton, but there is lots out there.
>
> If you can find it at the library (it's out of print), get a copy of
> "The Self-Calmed Baby." That book was a lifesaver for me. Wish I had
> had it with DD#1.

Oh, and I see a lot of people using No Cry Sleep Solution. I remember
reading it during the sleep-fogged days of my daughter's early infancy, but
I can't remember much about it. I do recall that it seemed fairly
reasonable to me. So there is another book suggestion to consider.

Donna (who remembers nearly nothing about the first ten weeks of her
daughter's infancy other than a) it always seemed to be night, and b) crying
in the library from exhaustion, while checking out every book on babies and
sleep that they had. God, was that ever a miserable time.)

[Donna]

"shinypenny" > wrote in message
oups.com...

> To survive this newborn period, it is very wise to sleep when the baby
> sleeps. All new parents hear this advice, but it tends to be easy to
> ignore, when there's laundry needing attention, dinner needs to be
> made, you desparately crave a shower, etc.


Jen, you have great advice.

Tom and Agnes, I just wanted to add one thing to what Jen says, above. One
thing that I was able to do with my son, which made life so much more
bearable in the early days was to have nighttime shifts. My husband would
take from 7pm to 1am, and I would take from 1am to 7am. So we were both
getting 6 hours of sleep a night, more or less.

Donna

[lenny fackler]

Tom Costello wrote:
> Hello, I am new to this group (and to parenting). My wife and I
have a 16
> day old boy at home and we were wondering when do we try to start
giving him
> a schedule? Should we be waking him during the day to feed him, or
just let
> him sleep and wake as he wants. I guess the real underlying
question, which
> I am sure everyone has, is "How can we get back to 6 hours of sleep a
night
> in the fewest number of weeks?" Thanks for any advice
>
> Tom and Agnes

For our two kids it took about 6 weeks before they got into a pattern
that stuck for more than a few days. It was around this age that we
moved them to their own room.
By 4 months of age, 6 hours a night wasn't uncommon. At 6 months we
successfully used Ferber-type methods to teach them how to sleep
through most of the night.
They were both breastfed.
Those first few months were difficult but in between all the crying and
pooping there were some really special moments. Enjoy them.

[DrCain]

Ericka's response is not only insightful, but exactly right! Give the
little guy some time before you worry about routine. The most important
thing right now is for him to be as comfortable with the world as
possible. Typically, babies work into a predictable schedule on their
own and you just have to be patient.

Dr. Catherine Cain, PhD, LMFT
Pediatric Behavioral Specialist
http://www.earlychildhoodbehavioralhealth.com

[Penny Gaines]

Tom Costello wrote:

> Hello, I am new to this group (and to parenting). My wife and I have a
> 16 day old boy at home and we were wondering when do we try to start
> giving him
> a schedule? Should we be waking him during the day to feed him, or just
> let
> him sleep and wake as he wants. I guess the real underlying question,
> which I am sure everyone has, is "How can we get back to 6 hours of sleep
> a night
> in the fewest number of weeks?" Thanks for any advice

I agree with the other posters that 16 days is too young to expect a kind
of schedule yet.

My experience was that at about 3 - 4 months you can spot a rhythm in your
child's pattern, but these are schedules that the child develops.

As to sleeping at night: this depends a lot on the child: one of mine slept
for a decent length of time at 8 weeks, another at 8 months. The two things
that really helped was a) bringing baby into our bed for night feeds and
b) waking the baby at our bedtime for a night feed, rather then waiting
for him/her to wake on their own.

Oh, and you won't believe me now, but with my youngest I found the
night-time waking a very special time.

HTH

--
Penny Gaines
UK mum to three

[Catherine Woodgold]

"shinypenny" ) writes:
> Just not too stimulating - as I mentioned on another thread, some
> babies get overstimulated easily (especially those born early with
> immature/disorganized nervous systems), and will shut down if the
> environment is too stimulating. They appear to be napping, but they are
> not.

I'm not convinced of this. Could you explain how
you know this?
--
Cathy
A *much* better world is possible.

[shinypenny]

Catherine Woodgold wrote:
> "shinypenny" ) writes:
> > Just not too stimulating - as I mentioned on another thread, some
> > babies get overstimulated easily (especially those born early with
> > immature/disorganized nervous systems), and will shut down if the
> > environment is too stimulating. They appear to be napping, but they
are
> > not.
>
> I'm not convinced of this. Could you explain how
> you know this?

It was one of the major concepts in that book, "The Self-Calmed Baby,"
written by a pediatrician. Made sense to me at the time.

jen

[Donna]

"shinypenny" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>
> Catherine Woodgold wrote:
>> "shinypenny" ) writes:
>> > Just not too stimulating - as I mentioned on another thread, some
>> > babies get overstimulated easily (especially those born early with
>> > immature/disorganized nervous systems), and will shut down if the
>> > environment is too stimulating. They appear to be napping, but they
> are
>> > not.
>>
>> I'm not convinced of this. Could you explain how
>> you know this?
>
> It was one of the major concepts in that book, "The Self-Calmed Baby,"
> written by a pediatrician. Made sense to me at the time.


The shutdown reflex, which is what I've heard it called, is mentioned in
most of the books on infants I've read, as well.


Donna

[Catherine Woodgold]

"Tom Costello" ) writes:
> Hello, I am new to this group (and to parenting). My wife and I have a 16
> day old boy at home and we were wondering when do we try to start giving him
> a schedule? Should we be waking him during the day to feed him, or just let
> him sleep and wake as he wants. I guess the real underlying question, which
> I am sure everyone has, is "How can we get back to 6 hours of sleep a night
> in the fewest number of weeks?" Thanks for any advice
>
> Tom and Agnes

Look at the total number of wet and poopy diapers
in a 24-hour period. If baby is producing plenty
of output, then baby is eating enough. If not:
sometimes a newborn has to be woken regularly
to eat, to make sure baby eats enough. Usually
that's not a problem and you can let baby follow
his/her own schedule if you want.

You only need 6 hours of sleep?? Aren't you lucky.

I liked one book that said not to think in terms
of how much sleep you're getting, but how much
rest. Getting up in the middle of the night is
tiring. Nursing baby in a lying-down position
can be almost as restful as sleeping.

If baby has days and nights reversed: it's usually
a lot easier to shift a human to later and later
times than to earlier and earlier times. Once you
recognize the pattern you can judge how many
hours one way or the other baby needs to shift
the schedule. You can concentrate on the beginning
and end of the time period the baby considers to
be nighttime. At the beginning, you can keep
baby awake a little longer with a bath or something.
At the end of baby's sleep period, you can
tiptoe around quietly to help baby sleep a little
longer. Eventually when baby has shifted around
to a normal schedule, you can make sure to wake
baby around the same time every morning to keep
the schedule steady.

It can be hard to notice at first that baby has
days and nights reversed because they usually
do some waking at night and some sleeping during
the day anyway. It's just that there's more
sleeping during the time of day baby considers
to be night.

If you notice you have a baby who sleeps a lot
during the morning, it's good to be alert that
maybe baby is starting to shift to sleeping
later and later. A morning nap is fine, but
you might want to encourage a few minutes
of being awake first, to avoid baby starting
to stay awake too late in the evenings.
--
Cathy
A *much* better world is possible.

[Catherine Woodgold]

"Donna" ) writes:
> The shutdown reflex, which is what I've heard it called, is mentioned in
> most of the books on infants I've read, as well.

Well, I believe it's real sleep, and will continue
to believe that until I come across evidence otherwise.

Sometimes babies can sleep when there's a lot of
noise; other times they wake unless it's quiet. When there's
a lot of noise, a baby may need to be carried or
rocked to be able to sleep through the noise.
That's my experience.
--
Cathy
A *much* better world is possible.

[shinypenny]

Donna wrote:
> "shinypenny" > wrote in message
> oups.com...
> >
> > Catherine Woodgold wrote:
> >> "shinypenny" ) writes:
> >> > Just not too stimulating - as I mentioned on another thread,
some
> >> > babies get overstimulated easily (especially those born early
with
> >> > immature/disorganized nervous systems), and will shut down if
the
> >> > environment is too stimulating. They appear to be napping, but
they
> > are
> >> > not.
> >>
> >> I'm not convinced of this. Could you explain how
> >> you know this?
> >
> > It was one of the major concepts in that book, "The Self-Calmed
Baby,"
> > written by a pediatrician. Made sense to me at the time.
>
>
> The shutdown reflex, which is what I've heard it called, is mentioned
in
> most of the books on infants I've read, as well.

I also recall something about how a baby, when overstimulated, will not
look directly at you. Eyes are still open but the baby kinda looks at
you indirectly.

jen

[Donna]

"Catherine Woodgold" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Donna" ) writes:
>> The shutdown reflex, which is what I've heard it called, is mentioned in
>> most of the books on infants I've read, as well.
>
> Well, I believe it's real sleep, and will continue
> to believe that until I come across evidence otherwise.



No one is trying to convince you of anything.

Donna

[Donna Metler]

"Donna" > wrote in message
...
>
> "shinypenny" > wrote in message
> oups.com...
> >
> > Catherine Woodgold wrote:
> >> "shinypenny" ) writes:
> >> > Just not too stimulating - as I mentioned on another thread, some
> >> > babies get overstimulated easily (especially those born early with
> >> > immature/disorganized nervous systems), and will shut down if the
> >> > environment is too stimulating. They appear to be napping, but they
> > are
> >> > not.
> >>
> >> I'm not convinced of this. Could you explain how
> >> you know this?
> >
> > It was one of the major concepts in that book, "The Self-Calmed Baby,"
> > written by a pediatrician. Made sense to me at the time.
>
>
> The shutdown reflex, which is what I've heard it called, is mentioned in
> most of the books on infants I've read, as well.
>
Alli definitely did this until about 3 months. Which made it really easy to
take her with me for daily errands. When it was at a level she could
handle, she'd look around and enjoy the view. When it was too much, she'd
close her eyes and settle in. (she also slept a lot in the carseat and
stroller or in the front pack). Then she sort of "woke up"-and began
complaining loudly when things got too overstimulating. Now, she tends to
nap when her body says it's time to nap-about 10:00-1:00 in the morning and
1:00-2:00 in the afternoon, go to sleep about 7:00-12:00 and 1:00-6:00, and
woe betide anyone who bothers her during those times!


>
> Donna
>
>

[Pip]

"shinypenny" ) writes:
> Just not too stimulating - as I mentioned on another thread, some
> babies get overstimulated easily (especially those born early with
> immature/disorganized nervous systems), and will shut down if the
> environment is too stimulating. They appear to be napping, but they are
> not.

We were told the very same thing in the NICU. That it is very easy to
overstimulate a baby and that we were told if we wanted to touch her the
best way was just to place a hand on her leg for example. And that stroking
was considered the worst as it basically ****ed them off.

Pip

--

Abby - 3rd Feb 2005 at 32 weeks 3lb 14oz
Jasmine - 21st Mar 2002 at 35 weeks 4lb 12oz

[Catherine Woodgold]

"shinypenny" ) writes:
> I also recall something about how a baby, when overstimulated, will not
> look directly at you. Eyes are still open but the baby kinda looks at
> you indirectly.

I do the same when overstimulated; but if I look like
I'm sleeping, I'm probably at least half-asleep and will
feel relatively rested afterwards.
--
Cathy
A *much* better world is possible.

[Catherine Woodgold]

"Donna" ) writes:
> No one is trying to convince you of anything.

Do you have evidence to support that point? :-)
--
Cathy
A *much* better world is possible.

[shinypenny]

Donna Metler wrote:
> Alli definitely did this until about 3 months. Which made it really
easy to
> take her with me for daily errands. When it was at a level she could
> handle, she'd look around and enjoy the view. When it was too much,
she'd
> close her eyes and settle in. (she also slept a lot in the carseat
and
> stroller or in the front pack). Then she sort of "woke up"-and began
> complaining loudly when things got too overstimulating. Now, she
tends to
> nap when her body says it's time to nap-about 10:00-1:00 in the
morning and
> 1:00-2:00 in the afternoon, go to sleep about 7:00-12:00 and
1:00-6:00, and
> woe betide anyone who bothers her during those times!

All babies are different, but in general, I noticed with my kids that
they'd wake up loud and cranky from the "cat naps" but with the longer
naps, they'd wake up happy. That told me that the cat naps weren't real
sleep but rather more of a shut-down response. It seemed with the
longer, quieter naps they would wake up content to play a bit in their
cribs before noticing they were hungry or wet.

jen