When(if!) do breast fed babies sleep longer?

[CrazyAlien06]

hi
I am bf my 4 wk old DD and am fed up with people discouraging me and telling me she will never sleep through the night or go longer than two hours.

Please tell me that this is not true!

I am the only person out of my friends who is or even attempted breastfeeding and me and DD seem to be getting on ok.night times are very tough as she won't settle for hours but I'm sure we ll get there :)

Thanks!

It's crap. Mine was breast fed for a year, and slept 7-7 by 13 weeks. Before that he was going for six hours stretches from 7 weeks.

Oh and I didn't co-sleep. (I would have quite liked to but DH was against it) Baby slept in a Moses basket by my side of the bed.

Thanks everyone :-)
Well my little princess has maybe got the beginnings of a routine lol. She slept from 2145-0045 then 0045-1545 then she wanted to look around and bond lol. Then back asleep around 5-730. I'm hoping this is a routine that will become regular :-) I think if she ever sleeps through the night I will be checking on her every hour or so lol.

Hi crazy

DS is nearly 5 weeks and he is feeding usually every 2-3 hours during the day but at night seems to be able to go 4-5 hours no problem (unless, like now, he has a cold so his blocked nose wakes him up).

We still haven't got a routine though. I find it quite frustrating that I never know which is his "last feed" before going to bed. I would quite like a routine of bathtime, then feed then sleep (I'm desperate for more sleep!) but unfortunately DH doesn't get back from work at the same time every day (sometimes 7pm, usually 8pm, often afer 9pm ) so either we install a very late bath/bedtime, or do what we're doing at the moment, which is just demand feed and bath when he's awake and DH is home....

For those with routines - did you wake your baby up to do the bath/bed routine? Or was the baby awake anyway? Cos DS never feeds at the same time two-days running....

Hey Bartimaeus
My DD is exactly the same!!!! although not up to 4-5 hrs at night :(
We dont have a routine regarding bath etc but am hoping to get one going I just have the same problem that DD feeds at different times each evening! I am after some more sleep too but I absolutely love the mornings as I can't wait to spend the day investigating the world with DD :D It will be even better when we both have a full nights sleep behind us lol

Don't listen to people who say bf means your baby won't sleep through - I really don't think that it makes a difference. My 3 were all bf and slept through super early (12 hrs a night from from 8, 10 and 12 weeks respectively). I was lucky. I think that maybe the reason bottle fed babies tend to sleep through sooner is the routine thing - bottle fed babies are more likely to be on a routine than bf babies and babies with a routine are more likely to sleep through (all gross generalisations of course and there are always exceptions to the rule). I did find all my babies slipped into a fairly predictable day time and bed time routine (feed, bath, feed, bed) by about 6 weeks and maybe that's what helped them sleep through. Or maybe not and it was all just luck - but I hate all these stories about bf babies not sleeping which then make people give up bf.

Thanks nelly ( love the name!)
Well for the 3rd night we seem to have a rough night time feeding pattern :-) she now wakes me up every 3-3 1/2 hrs instead of every 1 1/2-2 :)
She is a whole month old today :0) time flies by! I feel totally refreshed with this patten emerging as i am able to drop back off to sleep. I now believe she will sleep through at some point :) even if she is 10 years old when it happens lol .

Back to square one :( every 1-2 hrs and it's killing me!
She did one night of 5 hrs but that's it. She's 9 weeks now surely she should be sleeping at least a little longer now?? I'm worried she's not getting enough milk so can't last?

Don't despair!! I'm in the same boat as you...from birth to just over 6wks dd slept in moses basket, settled brilliantly after night feeds & was going 4 or 5 hrs at night.

Then suddenly, at around 6 or 7 wks she decided she didn't like the moses basket & needs feeding every 2 hrs at night. Arghhhh! Combination of nasty cough & cold plus growth spurt I think.

She's coming up to 8wks now & I'm coping by co sleeping at mo. I would really like to get her back in the moses basket & out of my bed (I don't sleep great when co sleeping). Thats my task for this wkend, when dh can look after our other 2 kids in the day so I can get some daytime sleep.

So no great advice, but just to say you're not alone & it will get better!!

My DS is 14 weeks and has been sleeping for 4-5 hour stretches for about 2 weeks now. Since he was about 8 weeks he has been asleep by 7pm (used to be 8pm but the clocks went back ) and feeds between 10-11pm. After that it used to be 1-2 hourly but that has stretched out and usually he now feeds at about 3am then wakes at 7:30am for the day. I think the reason he's improved is putting him in his big cot as he kept cracking his hands on the side of his crib and waking himself up. Also I have been putting him in his cot during the day for naps so he is getting more/better rest. I tried co-sleeping; DS loved it and would sleep 5-6 hours but unfortunately I could never settle and was always uncomfortable or cold. Like The Joyful Puddlejumper says he just seems to have got himself in this routine, I've just watched how he's behaved over the weeks.