To expect dd to sleep the night through now?

[Peppery123]

She is 24 weeks...nearly 6 calendar months. Iv been told that now is when they start slweping through....shes not...yet. but AIBU to expect it?
I know I will most likely get loads of responses with 3 and 4 year olds still not sleeping the night through. I get it, Im not trying to say that she SHOULD be sleeping through..its actually my health visitor who saw me last week and my huge, unmissable eye bags, and commented well shes nearly 6 months so she will be sleeping longer now and maybe through the night.
Just hanging onto to those words with immense hope. She said most mothers she sees it all starts to get better come after 6 months.
Some nice postives anecdotes would be good to hear. Anyone?

No hard and fast rules. She will sleep through when she’s ready. And no amount of baggy eyes will change that! Every child is completely independent of their peers in this respect. I think that was a bit I’ll advised of your hv to say, although perhaps was to support you. She will settle when she’s ready. Stop pressuring yourself.

Unfortunately there is so much miss information on babies and when they should be sleeping through the night, it bombards our minds. Reality is non of us actually sleep through the night. Even as adults we all wake but don’t tend to remember it by the morning. We are not biologically designed to sleep through the night. Although there are a lot of babies that do sleep long periods there also a lot that don’t. It’s quite common for babes not to sleep until around 4 years old. Mines 2 and a half and has never slept through.

Lower your expectations and it will be easier ❤️

DD1 was horrendous until 7 months when she went into her own room and then she miraculously slept 12 hours a night from then.

DD2 slept 9-6 from 9 weeks and lulled me into a false sense of security. She’s nearly 1 now and wakes up 2-3 times a night just to be resettled, which doesn’t take too long but I find it really difficult to get back to sleep. Teething really ruined her sleep.

Even when they do start sleeping through they can stop again at points. DD1 is 3 now and has had a patch of bad sleeping at 2 and a half.

I honestly think it's just luck of the draw tbh OP.

My DS was terrible to start with I thought I'd die from lack of sleep before he started sleeping through then suddenly at 2 months he just started sleeping from 10pm- 5am! Feed at 5 and then back to sleep until 8:30am. We had a very particular bedtime routine which I stuck to whether he was crying or wide awake or whatever, I think it helped him realise it was nighttime eventually (his day and nights were completely jumbled at first) but I dont think that actually made a difference to how long he slept for, I think it's just pure luck unfortunately.

Then we have another who was still waking to get in our bed until they were about 7!

It's nothing you're doing...babies are all different.

But yes there's a good chance yours won't have read the manual about sleeping through at 6 months.

It will get better though. My advice is, once your little one is crawling, tire her out as much as possible in the fresh air!

They really are all different. I was very lucky and mine reliably slept through the night or at least until around 6am from around 4 months and regularly prior to this. At 6am when this young, they'd have a feed and go back for another hour or so. At this point, eldest was on mixed feeding due to some bf issues and younger was ebf.

Lack of sleep is a killer though, I hope things improve for you.

6m is unrealistic to expect a full night's sleep - I think you were incredibly lucky with your first who slept 6h at 1m old, 6m is quite unusual to have an undisturbed night.

Yes it's shit, yes you've been lulled into a false sense of security with dc1 and I hope you didn't gloat about your newborn sleeping through at 1 month old cos this is the karma that all the other sleep deprived mums of babies wished upon you

As an aside, you're HV saying she "should" be sleeping longer is really not helpful and in fact not at all evidence based.

This.

I actually think it is really damaging for her to say it - you'll be thinking she will now or she should and she may not.

DC1 - Slept through once at 14 months then not again until over 2 and at 5 is still hit and miss.

DC2 - Slept through from 8 weeks or so.

It’s actually crazy how miss informed HV’s can be. Mine was shit.

As an aside, you're HV saying she "should" be sleeping longer is really not helpful and in fact not at all evidence based

Totally agree with this. Reminds me of the HV that told me just to stretch feeds out to 3 hours when DC1 was about 3 weeks old. Hahahahahahaha!!!!!

Are you doing a dream feed? Both mine were reliably sleeping through younger than 6 months, key is get as much milk in them during the day. Could never understand those who hadn’t focused on this and not night weaned.

The few times I saw my health visitor (I’ve only engaged for the standard checks), I’ve always felt that she felt obliged to give some advice regardless.

You can of course expect it but doesn't mean it will happen lol
At 6months it's quite normal for babies to wake up frequently overnight. It may get better or it may take longer but rather than trying to 'fix' baby maybe re consider your coping strategies? Such as sharing the wakings with the father, co-sleeping (worked for me) etc
My kids didn't sleep through till past 2yrs old but it was fine as I co-slept.
My last one is sleeping through and has done from a couple of months old but I reckon it's because she was in the hospital for 11 weeks and mainly in HDU and therefore got used to us (mum and dad) not being around at night (no place to sleep in HDU for the parents). So not a 'good' reason per say but I'm not going to complain either (she's 9m old).

Mine only started reliably sleeping through after her first birthday, around 13-14 months or so. Once she could walk it was easier to tire her out in the day times!

The are all different, I wasted so much energy on trying to get my son to sleep through (dreem feeds, water at night, smaller feeds etc etc) I relly wish I didnt. He stopped having milk at night 2, he still wakes up sometimes. But, it is much easier to get up give milk/hug/bring him in our bed than staying up for dream feed or make him cry in the middle of the night.
I know there are babies who do sleep 7-7, but this obsession with it is really not good for anyone.

Neither of mine dlrpt through until they were over 2.

Why does statistics show at 6 months most babies sleep the night through?.im shocked how many are still not at the ages of 2+

@Jangle33

Are you doing a dream feed? Both mine were reliably sleeping through younger than 6 months, key is get as much milk in them during the day. Could never understand those who hadn’t focused on this and not night weaned.

Because food isn't the only thing they wake up for. Mine ate like troopers, milk and then food from 6 months but it make no difference to the first. I night weaned, he still woke up, I just had nothing to help him get back to sleep with so the whole thing took longer.

@Peppery123

I've never seen a statistic that says that.

YANBU

But...my son only started sleeping properly when he was 4 YEARS old.

We have tried EVERYTHING with him..alas he only started sleeping when he was ready..
I'm not having anymore children for this reason, could not handle a shit sleeper again.

Tbh, your baby does a 5hr+ stint another by the sound of it. Most parents of 6m babies would think that was pretty good.

Tbh, until 2 weeks ago, I'd have been delighted with that withy nearly 2yo.

You've made lots of threads querying your babies sleep over the last few months, and each time it's been suggested that your expectations are too high and your baby is totally normal. That is still the case.

I'm delighted that your two other children slept so well, but what you are experiencing now is what raising a baby/toddler is like for the vast majority of parents. They'll get there, but I'm their own time.

My six year old only started sleeping through the night at five and when she was in full time school! My younger one was better but still not reliably sleeping through until she was three. I think that your HV is being unrealistic.

My DS is 16 months and has never slept a single night through. Not expecting that to change anytime soon!

My eldest still doesn’t sleep through and his 14 😂 he doesn’t bother though anymore.

My DD1 spent 4 months in nicu before coming home for the first time. She slept like a log all night from the moment she got home. Maybe something to do with nicu.

Dd3 is a bit older than yours and she still isn’t sleeping through the night maybe every 3-4 hours.