WHAT made my baby sleep through the night?!

[brownbreadicecream]

My baby is 1 year old. Has always been a crap night-time sleeper, slept through (i.e. more than 5 hours or so) only a handful of times. Only takes a little cold or the seemingly permanent low-level teething he has to throw it off and have him waking every two hours or so.

He's in a cot-bed (white wood with bars, mesh bumper thing, mattress, sleeping bag) in his own room normally unless he really needs loads of putting back to sleep in which case he comes in my bed (very rarely). Room is dark and fairly quiet - we're on a main road but at night only the odd car comes past.

He naps ok in the morning usually (over an hour) but usually only 30-45 mins in the afternoon then bed about 7 or 3-4 hours after he woke from his nap.

Anyway we went to stay at grandparents at the weekend and he almost slept through! His afternoon nap was 2 hours which was unheard of, then bed about 9pm (due to long nap!), woke about 3.30am which may only have been due to hearing his older sibling wake up and call out to us in another room. Had a quick breastfeed and back to sleep til 8.30 ish.

His morning nap was good too.

He was in a travel cot with an extra travel cot mattress (first time he'd slept in it). Dark room, middle of countryside so no noise.
Had 3 aunts/uncles, GPs and CATS which he was fascinated with, to play with all day.
Was it the mental 'overload' and new things to play with/cupboards to open/cats to chase? Or something about the travel cot?!

He slept terribly last night after coming home (hadn't napped in the car as intended then was up every few hours and at 3.30 took about 2 hours to get back to sleep). I'm gonna try him in the travel cot in his room tonight! WIBU to move to my in-laws just to get some sleep?!

Possibly the unfamiliar environment. My DS (also a shit sleeper) will almost always sleep through if put to bed but someone he's less familiar with or in an unusual place. This is the opposite to how he was when very young.

You will never know. They like to keep us guessing

They are unknowable enigmas!!
It was like witchcraft though. Worst thing is now they all probably think we're exaggerating about his crap sleep!

Warmer/colder house or environment? More consistent temperature?

I don't think so... They don't have central heating but ours is off at night after bed anyway

It will be the mental stimulation and later bedtime. We put our DS to bed at 9pm and he sleeps through till 8am. I really never got the point of putting him to bed earlier and then having unbroken sleep?

@popcorndiva my DD is the same as the OP's DC. She starts to get tired and twisty from 7pm, it would be hell for all of us to keep her up until 9pm 🤔

We tried putting him to bed around 7.30/8 but had only been awake 2-3 hours since his nap which isn't long enough to be sleepy... later bedtime was purely due to the longer afternoon nap and he wasn't any sleepier than usual.

It may have been the longer nap. Counterintuitive but I always find sleep begets sleep (and my son didn’t sleep through until 2 and is still v hit and miss!)

@vodkaanddietcokeplease I am not saying it would work for every baby but from what was described seemed to work for the baby's OP. I just keep reading about parents wanting 'adult time' so put their child to bed at 7pm then get annoyed when they are up all night. Trial and error with each baby but work out how long they sleep and adjust bedtime accordingly. We don't mind if DS naps at 7/8pm as he will still go to sleep later and sleep through.

It could be the stimulation. Sorry, I know that's not what you want to hear!

I only say that because my first DC slept through the night ONCE before she was 13-14 months old. And it was a night we spent in a holiday cottage after a day at the beach with family - lots of fresh air, lots of unfamiliar faces and an unfamiliar environment. It wasn't particularly dark or quiet so I'm sure it was all the goings on that did it, emphasised by the fact she also slept through a two hour lunch the following day. I should have enjoyed a proper adult conversation for once, but I couldn't stop dumbly repeating, "I can't believe she's still asleep!"

limpshade so when she was 13-14 months she slept through? grasps on to any shred of hope

It is the law of sod. My nearly 5 year old is the worst sleeper - still has me up twice a night most nights - buuuuuuttt reliably goes straight to sleep then sleeps for 12 hours solid when we visit family or they visit us. She does it to make me look like a liar I reckon! (The poor sleeping is payback for my arrogance that my baby slept through from 6 weeks, because I was obviously a superior parent. Oh how I laugh now )

I felt like a wally putting up the travel cot in his bedroom next to his normal cot but we're trying it... for science!

It's the stimulation.

I'm on no2 shitsleeper and the only time they do a stretch longer than 2 hours 40 minutes if I'm honest during the nights is if we have had an unusually busy/stimulating day. I.e a siblings/cousins birthday party.

For what it's worth after enduring 13 months of sleep hell with DC1 they became a beautifully good sleeper in pretty much overnight. Something just clicked one day.

I hope the same happens with DC2 who not only wakes every 40 mins but wakes up screaming and tries to claw at you like a ferret trying to get out of a bag when you go to comfort her.

Fresh air will do it!!

When we moved from town to a village my ds2 who had never slept longer than three hours started sleeping 11 in his new room and still does at 3and a half. Funny thing is he was in a travel cot for a couple months till we got him a new bed

@brownbreadicecream not consistently, but she did start. Regularly sleeping through the night at 18 months. If I thought a travel cot would have made a difference, I'd have done the same as you!