How "alert" is your baby?

[Stargirl]

My little man is 5 weeks old and is a big sleeper. Anyone else have a supersleeper?

[Tenk]

Not so much here.

He sleeps 3 hours at a time at night, but during the day refuses to sleep unless someone is holding him. Then he gets so tired that he knocks out around 730-800 and does a long stretch. That's it.

[KerriAZ]

Ashley goes to sleep at night between 9 and 10 and sleeps til around 3 or 3:30. I nurse her (and we both go back to sleep while she does) and she will sleep until 6 or 6:30. During the day, she is awake until around 8:30 or 9 (with little snoozes in the car taking DD to school and while she's in the sling taking DD to class). Then she nurses and goes to sleep until around 11:30. Then she's up til about 12:30 or 1. Nurses again and goes back to sleep til we leave at 2:20 to go pick up DD. She may or may not sleep during that time. She wants to nurse again when we get home and she will sometimes be awake for an hour or so and sometimes she will go to sleep. Just depends on the day. Either way, she sleeps until around 4:30 when she wants to cluster feed for about 2 hours! *sigh* Then she sleeps for about 30-45 minutes and then is awake til she goes down for the night.

So we have both - she sleeps well, but she's having more and more awake time, too! As far as alert, she has always been very alert when she's awake from day 1! I have 2 pictures posted of her in my blog (http://kerriaz.blogspot.com/) from July 31st - and she was born almost midnight July 27th - both her eyes are wide open and she is looking around her.

[Tenk]

I think I didn't even answer your question at all.... He's very alert, all the time. He doesn't sleep much during the day at all, and he will be calm for about 30 mins after a feed, and then he crys wanting to nurse again. I can tell when he's tired, and I could give him a pacificer and rock him back to sleep, but we really need him to NOT be held when he sleeps because I have to return to work in 3 weeks...

[HidaShara]

Maggie is weird... she will sleep for long periods if someone is holding her or lying beside her - but if she is put down, she pretty much instantly wakes up and stays up. So we've settled her into a schedule via babywearing and co-sleeping.

She is up most of the morning (7:30am - noon) and then down in the sling or Snugli for the rest of the afternoon, with a few waking periods for quick feeds. She's up again by dinner and stays up another couple hours, then sleeps through the evening in her bassinet. Around 10:30-ish she wakes up again and I take her to my bedroom for "quiet" awake time - singing and reading - rather than the excitement and playing of her morning stretch. She passes out at bedtime (anywhere between 10pm-1am) and then "sleeps" until 7am the next morning. She wakes up during the night, but doesn't cry or even open her eyes... she just grunts a bit, rolls over for a side-lying nurse, and goes back to sleep.

So we have some good sleep stretches, but also some *amazing* awake periods where she is up, alert and just wanting to play and explore. She can already hold her head up and steady for stretches of time during "tummy time" and she has learned a lot of new vocalizations, mostly directed at her daddy while he makes funny faces with her.

I really, REALLY hope she keeps this schedule (or something like it!) It is SO convenient.

[yamilee21]

During the day, my daughter wakes up to nurse, potty/get her diaper changed and goes right back to sleep most of the time. We have been out most of the day the past six days, and I am amazed at the noise and activity she sleeps through! But she has these wonderfully alert hours in the early morning - from 3:00 to about 7:00 AM. She's not hungry, not wet or dirty, just wants to talk (make happy baby sounds) and smile. I can't blame her for picking those hours; it is the only time her attention-hogging big brother isn't around to bother her.

[njbeachgirl]

Henry is a good sleeper- he naps most of the day and will nap on his own or being held or in the stroller or in the sling He sleeps one 4 hour stretch at night and then eats every 2 hours the rest of the time.

But when he is awake he is VERY alert, already interacting a lot, smiling, cooing etc.

[Emily12581]

nak
Olive is super alert when she is awake, but otherwise she sleeps in my arms all day and sleeps all night in my bed. She has always been alert when she isn't sleeping. If I didn't hold her all day and sleep with her at night she'd be up and crying/nursing all of the time!

[spirit4ever]

cassidy has very alert moments...... hen she's awake!!! Still a super sleeper though. A little fussier in the evenings!

[mchalehm]

Mine is VERY alert. I long for a super sleeper! My daughter was the best of both worlds--really good sleeper, alert and engaged when awake--so this sleep deprivation is much worse than last time.

[JunebugsMom]

Mine is very alert during the day--she just takes little cat naps here and there. She sleeps well at night, though.

[Ilaria]

Mine is very alert when awake, but he's never awake longer than 1 hour or so!
He's my super sleeper (5 hr stretches at night), but my first two were AWFUL sleepers!

[finnegansmom]

Sam only wants to nurse and be held. Not so much sleep. He's very alert and "talks" and coos and smiles. He actually has this borderline scream if you don't give him a nipple when he wants it. He sleeps at night fairly well though, right from the start. I chalk that up to cosleeping though. If he was in a crib he'd be screaming his head off.