Given all the emphasis we place on getting our babies to sleep, sometimes readers find themselves with the opposite problem.

Raisingkids member's problem
My five-month old twin granddaughters were born a month premature, weighing 4-14 and 5-2. They now weigh 11-11. They eat about 5 ounces at each feeding, 5-6 times a day. My biggest concern is that they are sleeping through the night 10 - 12 hours straight. Does this sound like they are in a normal range for their age, and is sleeping 10-12 hours straight a good thing or something to worry about? None of my children ever did this, and I just need the comfort of knowing it.

Dr Spungin's advice
Children vary considerably in their sleep habits and your daughter is very fortunate that she has babies who settled easily and sleep for the whole night. As long as they are healthy and alert during waking hours I would be very relaxed about it. For your information the typical sleep requirements for a 6 months old child are approximately 10-11 hours at night, but the fact that your grandchildren sleep longer is also related to their prematurity.

Babies have more REM (rapid eye movement) sleep than adults. Scientists suggest that REM sleep is associated with brain development with a babys brain growing to nearly seventy percent of adult volume during the first two years. Premature babies spend even more of their sleep time (approximately 90 percent) in REM sleep, perhaps to accelerate brain growth. Premature childrens sleep habits are in line with their expected date of delivery rather than their actual age.

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