To want to shout from the roof tops that my four year slept through the night

[ReallyTired]

I want parents to know that there is hope. Your baby who wakes up ten times a night will one day sleep through and wake up at a nice civilised time of 7.30am even if you choose to avoid all sleep training.

I tried controlled crying with my oldest and we still had broken nights until four years old. He happily sleeps throught he night at twelve years old, but we do have issues that he wants to stay up and read half the night.

Parenting has its ups and downs. It is horrendous when children constantly wake and you have to get up to work. The mantra "This phase will pass" is important.

I expect I have now jinxed tonight and I will have a little girl in my bed in the wee hours. If this lasts then I will have think about changing my mumsnet user name.

Thank you. I need some words of encouragement today. DS went to bed at 10pm and woke up and 3 this morning, bright eyed and bushy tailed. It took him 3 hours to fall back asleep. I feel like the walking dead!

My 11 yo still doesn't sleep, it's a bloody nightmare. He looks tired, I feel tired, he wakes every single bloody night! He said to me this morning I am always moaning at him, I told him maybe if I had a whole night if uninterrupted sleep maybe I would be in a better frame of mind.

Thanks! I needed hope, 7 month old up every hour.

Congrats OP, you'll feel SO free if she can just keep that up, even intermittently. Doing a little happy dance for you.

Keep the noise down lovey, I'm trying to sleep.

Congrats Op but no do not shout this from the roof tops. If I had had any idea it could take so long (and w ds2 it was 4 years 3 months) it would have broken me. I got by day to day thinking 'it must end soon'.

Ds2's sleeping habits are the reason there is no dc3.

Barbarian - my DS;s sleeping habits are the reason he is an only :)

Shout away I think I texted or phoned every single number in my phone to tell them dd had slept all night after nearly 2 years of surviving off 4 hours sleep a night

I remember my unadulterated joy when dd2 - the amazing non sleeper slept through at 3 years 4 months, I was however hoist my own petard as dd3 was born the next week! I guess dd2 just wanted to pass on the title to her little sister!

YANBU but don't shout it because you might jinx tonight's sleep.

I still remember the joy when my son slept through when he was three and a half. He is an only child! His first baby was the perfect baby had ten pm feed and slept through from 6 weeks. Smug doesn't begin.....Second one still wakes at least once every night at two and a half. There will be no number three.

Fantastic news, long may it last

Hurrah! Hope it lasts. My dd was a similar age. She is 5 now and fairly consistent, still has very disturbed sleep which we hear if we are awake with the non sleeping toddler but she is old enough to roll over and go back to sleep herself. Sometimes find that the toys that had been tidied in the evening are once again in the middle of her bedroom floor or that her books on the bedside table have moved . So long as she doesn't disturb me I don't care! She does of course still come for cuddles etc if she has had a bad dream or something.

Do 11 year olds not just stay in their beds if they can't sleep? Not being sarky just wouldn't have thought an 11 year old would wake a parent to tell them they couldn't sleep.

I remember how good it felt when my now 19yr old dd finally started sleeping through at almost 5yrs, then only had to contend with ds. In total 9 1/2 years of broken nights!

Bumping this for the weary and saucer eyed who can't believe that one night they'll sleep through.

Well done OP! That is reason to celebrate indeed. Thanks for giving me hope - though I'm not sure I can wait another 4 years. My 7mo just doesn't sleep. She's always been a bad sleeper but the last 10 days it feels like she's awake all night. I get maybe 1-2 hours :( now she's stopped napping too - she'd had 45 mins and was screamingly tired. I've just got her to sleep in the sling, but now have to pace round til she wakes.

I feel like an utter failure as a mother, on top of being exhausted. Especially since on Monday someone told me all about their sleep training success and told me that it's selfish of me not to get her sleeping as her brain won't develop. Great, thanks.

I've spent the last three days basically crying, feeling guilty for crying, apologising to DD for crying while crying more, eating chocolate and shaking.

:(

I needed this thread to feel a bit less alone!

2.4 year

Oops

2.4 year old who has never slept through and often wakes up to 6 times a night (nightmares atm). Was awake for 3 hours in the night last night and slept for a total of 7 hours :-(

Cant stop him co sleeping either which isnt great as Im pregnant with number 2...

Enjoy the moment, OP, and congratulations to you and your little girl. Before you look round she'll be 14 and you'll have to drag her out of bed in the mornings.

Thank you op! You have given me a bit of hope. My 22 month old did two nights of only waking up once, I finally thought we were getting somewhere except the past two nights not only has he gone back to waking a million several times but has been staying awake for four hours in the middle of the night. I'm exhausted

I have a 3.9yo who wakes most nights and a 1.10y that wakes every night but, goes in to a deep sleep around 4.30am only for my eldest to come bouncing in my room at 6am when youngest (and me!) are not ready to wake up!

Not had a full nights sleep in nearly 4 years ??

Congrats! We've had months of sleep issues with both ds1 (4) and ds2 (2). We finally got a full nights sleep on Thursday and then for the following four nights. Of course dh and I were still up every night as our body clocks are ruined.

Still was so happy about it I posted it on FB. HUGE mistake. Up three times in the night with ds2 last night. Not coping on such disrupted sleep.

doesn't it feel good? The only downside is that when DS started sleeping through at 5 yo I spent every night for about a week poking him to check he was ok . Silly really but I had spent so many nights crying with exhaustion while he went on like the duracell bunny despite everything I tried that I couldn't help it.
The fact that he is the eldest of 3 is a miracle...

This actually doesn't give me any hope. My DS is 16 months and has never come close to sleeping through. The idea of it taking another 3 years makes me want to weep. I already look like I've aged ten years, that'll kill me!