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When did your baby’s sleep improve for good?

34 replies

Marghe87 · 17/10/2020 19:20

My LO is 7 weeks old and seems to have settled into a good sleeping pattern at night (only wakes up to feed usually around 1am and then again around 4:30/5am). I am deeply hoping that it will get even better over time but I am not that naive and am aware of the fact that sleeps regressions exist and things can get much worse instead of improving. I was just curious to know what others have experienced. When did your DC start to sleep better at night? Are sleep regressions something every baby has to go through or is it possible not to have them?

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cakeforbreakfast1 · 17/10/2020 19:22

20 months with night weaning and sleep training but we have also taken a step backwards recently and she's 22 months

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Marghe87 · 17/10/2020 19:25

@cakeforbreakfast1but have there been changes in her sleeping pattern in those first 20 months? Was it always bad or did she go through good times followed by regressions?

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NameChange30 · 17/10/2020 19:26

When we sleep trained at 10-11 months (it took about a month). The sleep was terrible before that. After we sleep trained, baby slept well from bedtime until about 4.30-5.30am but we struggled to get him to settle from then onwards. When he was 18 months we introduced a gro clock and that worked a treat. From then on we had pretty much uninterrupted nights. (With the exceptions of illness and a few regressions eg some phases of separation anxiety at bedtime, waking up upset in the night etc.)

I now have DC2 who is only 6 weeks old so it's very early days but I'm hoping to encourage good sleep habits and a sensible routine, but I think some of it is luck too.

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cakeforbreakfast1 · 17/10/2020 19:27

She was a shit sleeper, awake every 45 mins to two hours every single night for 19 months.

Regressions and teething and Lewis just made things even worse lol

Not saying this to scare you, just that if things get really bad you can survive it with most your marbles in tack lol

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GlennRheeismyfavourite · 17/10/2020 19:28

14 months was when she started sleeping through

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NameChange30 · 17/10/2020 19:29

Speak for yourself, I didn't have a lot of marbles in that year of shit sleep Grin You do survive though, it's amazing how little sleep you can survive on, but my mental health suffered.

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Chicchicchicchiclana · 17/10/2020 19:29

I have two children. Both of them 5heir sleep improved for good around 9 or 10 months when I did a bit of gentle sleep training with them. After that they didn't wake up and cry for us in the night unless they were unwell or had had a bad dream.

They went to bed at 8pm and woke up 6 to 7am ish. Anything after 6am was ok with us!

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PunchyAnts · 17/10/2020 21:36

The short answer is that at 7 weeks old, a lot of water is yet to go under the bridge.

I count that we were fortunate enough to have an excellent sleeper. We felt very smug (thankfully quietly!) at our 3 month old who slept through the night. But even still, it takes precious little to turn one day's great sleeper into a wide-awake-for-two-hours-er. We have had weeks at a time of terrible sleep due to teething, growth spurts, illness, separation anxiety, full moon, who knows what else!

Regressions are interesting to read about actually - shifts in how baby connects sleep cycles. Four month passed us by with minor disruption but one year one had us absolutely on our knees.

Honestly, enjoy the sleep if/when you get it and try your best not to worry about what is to come. If your lovely 7 week old's sleep continues to improve with time, feel smug (quietly). And if not, you're in good company and it will pass.

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QueenofLean · 17/10/2020 21:39

DC1 was a good sleeper initially. It went to shit around 12 weeks and then she didn’t sleep through the night again until 3.5 years.
DC2 was a horrific sleeper initially (woke every 40 mins until 6 months old!). Improved drastically at 6 months (1-2 wake ups), then STTN properly at 15 months.
DC3 initially good. Slept through the night from 6 weeks until around 6 months, then started waking again. 1-2 wake ups from then until about 17 months when he started STTN consistently.

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peachgreen · 17/10/2020 21:39

4 months saw a big improvement to just 2 wakes, then 6 months we went down to 1 at 3am, and then 8 months she started sleeping through and has done ever since (she's now 2.5). We didn't have any of the normal sleep regressions and any she did have (usually because she was ill) didn't last longer than 3 or 4 days. We did work really hard to teach her to sleep by herself though which I think helped a lot. Plus a dummy on a short clip!

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FourPlasticRings · 17/10/2020 21:42

All infant sleep is a phase, OP. You should expect regressions. Look for the first around four months- the vast majority of good newborn sleepers go through this in a noticeable way because it's a shift in how they sleep. It's development, but looks like a backwards step.

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KitKatastrophe · 17/10/2020 21:47

About 19 months i think. She had good periods and bad periods but overall was never great (only slept through once before 19 months)
However I do have friends whose babies slept through reliably from 12 weeks or so. They all formula fed their babies which seems to make a difference.

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KitKatastrophe · 17/10/2020 21:49

Oh incidentally the one who didnt sleep though until 19 months was waking at 1am and 4am when she was 10 weeks old. It's better to just expect they'll get worse, then you're not disappointed.

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Yesterdayforgotten · 17/10/2020 21:51

Dc1 didn't sleep through consistently in own bed until 2.4 and went through every regression known to man. Dc2 so far hasnt had any regressions and started sleeping through from 5 months (before this only woke for feeds) and sleeping through in own room from 6 months. It really is true when they say they're all different.

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ShirleyPhallus · 17/10/2020 21:57

DD slept beautifully as a newborn. We were very smug ;)

Then 4 month sleep regression hit and she never went back. Spent the next 2.5 months waking every 45 mins-2 hours. We had about 3-4 nights of her sleeping for 4/5 hours at a time and were pathetically grateful but it always went back.

We started sleep training a few weeks ago and now she sleeps 7-7. You’ll get a lot of advice here on co-sleeping but it didn’t work for us, sleep training did.

If you can bed in good habits now you’ll set up a good base for going forward but nothing is promised in infant sleep, sadly

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Lazypuppy · 17/10/2020 21:58

My DD has consistently slept well aince about 12 weeks, she's 2.5yo now

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Thedogshow · 17/10/2020 21:59

Honesty, at about 3.5 years old. Sorry. But I believe some people have less annoying children.

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Ragwort · 17/10/2020 22:04

My DS slept well from Day 1 Blush, we were obviously very lucky but he never went through a sleep regression period, maybe your DC will be the same? We did have a very strict routine, I know routines aren't liked on Mumsnet but it clearly worked for us (I never had a second child so I don't know what would have happened if I had Grin).

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beela · 17/10/2020 22:05

Ds was sleeping well at 7 weeks (waking a couple of times a night), but hit the 4 month regression with a vengeance and didn't look back. There was no pattern. Nights were like a magical mystery tour, and he didn't sleep through until he was 5 years old and worn out from school.

At 7 weeks I'd just take what you can get, there's no way of knowing or predicting whether you'll be one of the lucky ones or not.

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iwishiwasonhol · 17/10/2020 22:15

honestly about 4 once she started nursery ,shes now a teenager and i cant get her out of bed

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eurochick · 17/10/2020 22:16

Mine slept through at 19 months. That first year and a half was pretty brutal.

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WunWun · 17/10/2020 22:16

Mine didn't sleep through the night until she was 4 and didn't sleep more than two hours in one go until she was 2.4.

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firstimemamma · 17/10/2020 22:18

10 months.

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MooChops89 · 17/10/2020 22:19

My 2.5 yo DD has always been a brilliant sleeper, from around 3 months old, and never went through any of the usual sleep regressions. She did have a blip for a few months during lockdown just before my DS was born but thankfully overcame it, now sleeps 12h a night and still occasionally naps in the day.
DS is nearly 4 months old and only wakes once in the night for a feed (although the actual time varies). We will see what happens with him, I doubt I'll get lucky twice Wink

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Muddypuddlesinthewoods · 17/10/2020 22:20

Dc1 18 months before regularly sleeping through.
Dt improved from weaning at 6 months and regularly slept through from 7 months.

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