Sleeping through the night - definition?

[Foop]

Hi,
Sorry I am new to MN. My DS had done 3 nights of not requiring any attention from us in the middle of night - yay - until last night when we got a new baby video monitor and I discovered that he was awake for over an hour trying to sit up or grab his cot mobile or find something to chew on! Sorry for this silly question but does it still constitute "sleeping through the night"???? Thanks x

As long as he does not call/cry for you then I would class that as sleeping through - if I are not disturbed then all good in my book

I am also a new member as from today so welcome. I am a massive fan already. As a parent of a now 12 year old DS who was a terrible sleeper until he was 5 (and only then it stopped with medication on a short term basis just to get him into the routine) I honestly think that even though he may be waking as long as he is safe and happy during that time leave him be and as long as he gets himself back off to sleep there is no problem. Im not an expert on how the sleep pattern works with babies but I know with adults they say that we only ever have constant sleep for a few hours before we either wake slightly but dont really know it or turn over etc so maybe it is the same for babies but like I say if he is safe and gets himself back off to sleep it means you get a full nights sleep so everyones happy so yes I think it constitutes sleeping through.

'sleeping through' in medical terms doesn't actually mean sleeping through the night - it's a common misconception. It means sleeping through a feed, which is why HCPs call 'sleeping through' a five or six hour stretch. Just missing a feed, basically. How old is your DS?

Hi ZuleikaD, my DS is 6 months 1 week old. Hey all thanks but I spoke too soon! The past 2 nights he has been a nightmare crying for attention at 5-ish am and refusing to go to sleep!!!!

Teething maybe? It's normally the main thing that disturbs their sleep you might have to just wait it out and find a little tooth may appear very soon.

"I believe the accepted "technical" definition is sleeping for 5 hours straight."

OMG - DD2 did that from birth!

She was a 10lber, it seemed to be fine. It totally freaked me out though.

To me "sleeping through" = when I can get a reasonable night's uninterrupted sleep at a normalish time, so 11pm-7am or something.

Getting an 8 hours sleep without any interruption is my definition!

I class 'sleeping through the night' as a direct description of MY sleep

If I sleep for 8 hours, that is sleeping through. dd goes to bed at 6.30pm and if she sleeps til 6am i would say she slept through.

Sorry, for me, sleeping through the night means 7pm to 7 am without a peep!

Hey all, I am sure I am one of the unlucky ones that probably will never get my DS who is 6 months now to sleep 7-7 WITHOUT A PEEP!!! If anyone knows how to achieve this let me know!!! Since week 3 I had tried to put him on the Gina Ford routine but obviously have failed terribly! But I was told that the key to it is the bedtime feed - I never manage to get more than 4oz down him! But I do the dream feed when he would drink a bit more than that. But all it meant is that I can't not wake him at 11pm so there goes the 7-7 possibility!!! Argh!

There is no key, no magic bullet, no one answer. Some (very few) babies zonk out through the night from an early age. The VAST majority wake several times per night until they're at least nine months old.

Indeed! I think i just need to be patient....

Tbh, even when you get 7-7 sleeping, something comes along and screws it up. DD went 6.30 - 6.30 at three months, did so for a month solid. Hit the 4 month sleep regression and slept 6.30-11/11-1/1-3/3-6 then went back to 6.30-5/5-6.30 then started sleeping through then started cutting a tooth so is now more like 6.30-10/10-1/1-4/4-6.30.

Thankfully her first few hours of sleep are solid, so if I can, I sleep too.

I now give no more than 3oz per night waking if she wakes as I found she would take a full feed and still wake three hours later or take 3oz and still wake three hours later. I prefer for her to take majority of her milk in the daytime hours.