Hi Moms -- my question is about my 6 month old -- I noticed that she does not sleep as much as my first daughter did. My second sleeps about 10 hours a night, she wakes every 5 hours to nurse. But during the day she'll catnap 30 minutes 2-3 times or at times she'll sleep 2 hours in the AM and stay awake till about 7-8PM. But she always wakes me up between 5:30-6am.
My eldest had a 2 hour nap in the AM and another 2 hour nap in PM, plus 12 hours of sleep at night. Is it weird to have such different sleep? Should I be concerned?
Yep kids are different. My first was always wanting to eat and sleep was not a priority. My second will eat only when she is hungry and will get very cranky if I don't have her in down for bed by 7:00!
I wouldn't worry. I am sure when you have more than one, you compare them all the time, understandably. However, I do think that every kid is different. Sounds like they both sleep enough just differently!
When my MIL was pregnant with her first, she has her SIL (who had 8 kids) some questions about kids. Her SIL responded, "If you want a definite answer, ask a mom who only has one kid."
Yes, kids are different. Sometimes more different than you ever could have anticipated.
I have 2 kids and they couldn't really be any different when it comes to sleep. We were so lucky with our first (of course, didn't fully realize it until we had the 2nd), because the second has been completely different and much worse. We obviously did the same for both kids, and they are so different. Kids are just different! Good luck getting a good routine with your younger daughter....sometimes it can be a long, hard road.
No.
They are and will continued to be different. My 2 were, and still are day and night.
Enjoy!
k
I don't have 2 kids, but I work with kids and their parents and every parent with more than 1 child says that the second one is always different from the first, and most mention sleep as a huge difference - one slept through the night immediately, and the other refuses to sleep! My son was a terrible napper until around 6 months, now his naps are consolidated but before it was 30 min. catnaps all day long. He still wakes up at night and rises early. I'm surprised your daughter can stay awake after only a 2 hour morning nap until so late at night. Have you tried putting her down for an afternoon nap and letting her fuss a while to see if she'll fall asleep? I know some people don't like CIO but that's how I've gotten my son to take naps a few times when I know he's tired but won't give it up! :) He'll cry maybe 10 minutes but then sleep for almost 2 hours sometimes. Bottom line, don't be concerned.
I think you just got really lucky with your first. =) I've done the same exact things with my two kids and my second one is a better sleeper. My daughter (older one) was not a great sleeper and while I always felt I was doing the best things for her there was that little niggling worry that maybe I was contributing to her wakefulness. But after having my son and doing the same things because that's what I was familiar with (like nursing to sleep, not letting them CIO, etc), I feel vindicated because he started sleeping through sooner and is just a better all around sleeper. At 2.5, unless he's sick, he sleeps through. My daughter at 5 still loves to crawl into bed with us when she can whereas my son hates to come to our bed. So some of it is just individual temperament. And you'll definitely notice more differences as they get older. And maybe I just tell myself this to feel better, but I think the extra wakeful babies turn out to be really smart kids. ;)
