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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to say that actually some babies do sleep through quite early

103 replies

PrivetDancer · 01/12/2009 13:32

It winds me up when people say that other mums are basically lying if they say their baby slept through from an early age.

You often see on here something like 'Don't believe them - people class sleeping through as 12 - 4' etc etc.

I know sometimes it's because someone is despairing and needs to know they're not doing something wrong. But some babies do sleep through early, is it wrong to give new mums hope that they might get a full night's sleep sometime soon?

I can categorically state that as a one off my DD slept from 9.30pm to 7am at 8 weeks old (I wrote it on my calendar!) - and it was a regular sleeping pattern by about a month after that. Anybody want to call me a liar or say that's not really sleeping through?

For the record - this isn't intended as a boast - I don't think I did anything 'right' for it to happen, we were just very lucky, and I fully expect a nightmare non-sleeper if we have another baby.

OP posts:
RhinestoneCowgirl · 01/12/2009 13:34

I know you don't mean it as a boast, but as someone who is permanently bleary eyed after nearly 4 years of unbroken sleep, it does feel a smidge like it.... sorry!

prettyfly1 · 01/12/2009 13:35

my ds went to 11.30/ 12 to 5.30 6 at about two and a half weeks and from seven to seven at about ten - it does happen but it is rare and I was VERY lucky

Kathyis12feethighandbites · 01/12/2009 13:36

My dd did (from 7 weeks she slept from roughly midnight to 8am). It bugs me a bit too when people refuse to believe it! I didn't do anything special to get her to do it - no sleep training or controlled crying or anything, just breastfeeding on demand (which turned out to mean for most of the day as far as I can remember) and swaddling.
Sadly this great achievement has not been repeated by ds1 or ds2 though.

ConnorTraceptive · 01/12/2009 13:36

DS1 slept from 10pm til 6am from six weeks (breast fed)

I was smug and patted myself on the back

DS2 Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha

CatIsSleepy · 01/12/2009 13:37

some do
lots don't!
i guess YANBU

have had one good sleeper and one bad (8 months and still not sleeping through)

it's an emotive subject, for some reason...I think if your baby isn't sleeping through and people keep on asking you about it (as if to say, well they should be by now) you start to get a bit defensive about the whole thing. Have to say, I'm not-dd2 is a bad sleeper and there's bugger-all I can do about it really.

waitingforbedtime · 01/12/2009 13:37

If you dont mean it is a boast then why do you care what people think? Why does it matter that they believe that your baby really does sleep through?

Rubyrubyruby · 01/12/2009 13:37

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

missorinoco · 01/12/2009 13:38

Some do, sadly none that I have produced, but I have friends whose babies have slept through by 12 weeks, if not significantly before.

I'll keep dreaming.....

goingtohaveagoodnightssleep · 01/12/2009 13:39

DD1 slept from 10pm - 8am at 6 weeks old.

DD2 slept for 12 hours a night from day 1 but at 4 months we went on holiday and she started night feeding and didn't sleep through until she was 2 1/2 years.

DS is 18 months and still wakes often during the night.

Sassybeast · 01/12/2009 13:40

My PFB was a dream sleeper as well

Set me up for a lifetime of disappointment when the others came along

Chickenshavenolips · 01/12/2009 13:41

My eldest slept from around 10pm 'til 7am from 9 weeks. My youngest, now 6, still wakes me at least once a week. Go figure.

Rubyrubyruby · 01/12/2009 13:42

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Cherrypieforlunch · 01/12/2009 13:42

My two ds's slept through very early, though it doesn't bother me when people can't believe its true and think I'm lying as I realised just how very, very lucky I was. If it had been different I would hope that the lucky mums would just be discreet and not smug.

One of my new mums group burst into tears after a long and insensitive showing off session from another mum about just how amazingly well her dd slept compared to all the others.

I think getting a good night's sleep more than makes up for being doubted.

smallorange · 01/12/2009 13:43

Mine were all pretty good sleepers compared to friends experience but I think alot of parenting books and advice promise things which are unrealistic.

We all know baby gurus who say that if you follow their advice to the letter, baby will sleep through. But IME most babies don't.

It means a new mother will often be left feeling inadequate because this hasn't happened for her.

And it's reassuring to hear that most babies don't. I really don't think sleeping through should be the holy grail it seems to be for so many first time parents (by th second or third you know what you are in for and that, in time, it will pass.)

Original poster
PrivetDancer · 01/12/2009 13:43

waitingforbedtime - it just bugs me and seems a bit patronising when people dismiss it as lies or not understanding the concept of sleeping through!

Not that it's ever been said to me personally as I don't think I told people at the time (unless asked) or jumped on threads saying my DD sleeps through or anything!

All a while a go now for me anyway, but it's a recurring theme on here to be told other mums are lying about it

OP posts:
Rubyrubyruby · 01/12/2009 13:43

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

dickiethenativitydonkey · 01/12/2009 13:43

Mine slept about 10 hrs a night from 8 weeks but I did keep this information on a need to know basis, for fear of looking a bit, well, you know, smug.
But yes, it is indeed possible.

CatIsSleepy · 01/12/2009 13:44

you're dead right ruby

dd2 is only just starting to show signs of being able to do that at 8 months. It's still very hit and miss.

dd1 managed it a lot sooner-i think her sucking her thumb had a lot to do with that...

frakkinaround · 01/12/2009 13:45

YANBU at all. I've got babies to sleep through from a couple of months old - and yes that may mean 12-7 or 11.30-6 (or even for up to 8 hours sometimes) but they're sleeping through that one bitch of an early morning feed and letting parents have a good block of uninterrupted sleep.

Some babies, on the other hand, won't. They don't. They can't. No way to predict it!

JjandtheBean · 01/12/2009 13:47

same here,

Ds is 2 a complete angel slept 9-9 from 4 weeks and it slowly got longer from there, now hes in bed at 7, asleep by 7.30 and wakes 9ish, he is so good.

Dd who is 1 well, i dont know, shes a nightmare, only sleeps in the buggy or my bed, the cot causes days of screaming and me rocking in a corner!

Maltesesunshine · 01/12/2009 13:50

My DD slept for about 12 hours from the day we brought her home from hospital. WE got told off by the HV and told to wake her up as she'd get dehydrated but she really was just a great sleeper. At 7 months it all suddenly changed and we have 3 months of two hourly waking which nearly killed me!

cantmummyhaveabreak · 01/12/2009 13:50

YANBU- DS didn't sleep through (by my terms of 7pm till 7am) till 10mo, but DD1 was sleeping throguh from 12 weeks, DD2 was premmy but i've got her sleeping through now at 9mo (but the size of an avreage 5mo- for stomach space etc. All were BF and all started weaning when ready (between 6mo and 7mo)...

Gumbo · 01/12/2009 13:52

My DS slept from 7PM-7AM from exactly 9 weeks old. I used to have to lie about it to the rest of my NCT group in case they thought I wasn't telling the truth and/or trying to be smug

So yes, I know what you mean - and no, YANBU. And I really think that all of us who's babies slept brilliantly really DO know how lucky we are - it could so easily have gone the other way!

shonaspurtle · 01/12/2009 13:52

I've never, ever seen anything that denied the existence of babies who sleep through the night at an early age.

It's the blanket rules that suggest all babies can do this if you have the right routine/feed. Or the peer pressure of groups where you can feel like the only mother of a baby who's not going 7-7.

Of course some babies sleep through early, some babies sleep through late, most babies are in the middle. As in all things.

moomaa · 01/12/2009 13:53

DS1 bottle fed expressed milk went 7 - 7 from 12 weeks, DD1 fully bf went 7 - 7 at 8 weeks. It does happen. I also get treated like I'm lying if people ask. I rarely offer the info unless asked.