At what age is it ok for an EBF baby to sleep thru the night?

[icravecheese]

My dd is 6 wks old, she isn't about to start sleeping thru any day soon, but she is doing fairly long stints at night. From birth I was setting my alarm to feed her every 3 hrs thru day & night because she lost 9% birth weight & had slow weight gain for 1st two wks.

I had her weighed last wk & at 5.5wks she's over 10lb, so good weight gain. she feeds every 2 to 3 hrs in day, & has started doing a 4, 5 or 6hr stretch at night, followed by every 3 hrs after that. the longest stretch leaves me feeling engorged & worrying she's not feeding frequently enough but my dh says I'm mad to set an alarm to wake her up after 3 or 4 hrs at night. A mum on the school run told me the other day that her ebf baby who is now 6 months, slept thru from 6 wks. My previous 2 babies were night owls who didn't sleep thru for ages, so I've no experience of a super sleeping baby at such a young age!

Any experiences / advice much appreciated...

I think a 5 hour gap at night if she's feeding so frequently during the day and gaining weight well is fine. Get some sleep woman!

You realise now you've posted this she'll go into the 6wk growth spurt and feed every 1.5 hrs tonight?

My DS slept quite long stints early on. He did cluster feed through the evening which helped get him though longer night periods. Go with it, they wake when there hungry and if feeding well throughout the day/evening and has steady weight gain then happy days

So long as she's gaining enough weight and is healthy you shouldn't worry.
You are lucky to have a baby who sleeps so well so young.
As long as she is getting enough milk in total during the 24 hour period, let her sleep and feed when she wants.

my ebf ds started to sleep thru at 7 months, i would feed him 3/4 times a night before that. I think you are doing well to get a 6hr stretch : )

Gosh no dont wake her up! so long as she is gaining weight and is developing normally leave her be. My DD1 actually slept through 11 til 6 from birth other that a very short growth spurt at about six weeks. She did feed every 2 hours through the day for 45mins at a time tho and cluster fed 6 til 11pm.

A friend of mine had one sleeping 12 hours from 8 weeks.

Enjoy it while it lasts! My ebf DTD slept 10 hr stretches from 8-14 weeks, and she was only tiny too.

Now she's 17 wks and it's all gone out of the window and she's up 3 hourly round the clock - grrrr

My dd is 12 weeks and sleeps up to 11 hrs a night now. She was doing about 9 hours a night from 8 weeks ish though.
I wouldn't wake yours up!! If she is putting on weight and happy to sleep longer at night then let her do it :)

Ok thanks ladies, I'll stop setting my alarm at night & get some decent sleep (in anticipation of future growth spurts or dd deciding sleeping at night is actually boring & waking mummy every few hrs is much more fun!). Xx

Agree with the above. My DS slept 9-10 hours at a time from 8 weeks. Unfortunately he's now 25 weeks and manages three hours at a time on a good night :(

Make the most of it! I wasted a whole week of what could have been great sleep worrying about how long he was sleeping (I set an alarm too!) before I phoned the HV who laughed (kindly) at me and told me to go to sleep . Don't make the same mistake, and enjoy your sleep - Am jelous!

Just wanted to add, i am completely jealous. My ds, also 6 weeks, is a loooooong way off sleeping at night. Make the most of it, you are very lucky!

Mine slept 8 hours a night by 8 weeks - only lasted til the 4 month sleep regression though! Didn't reliably get 8 hours again til he was about a year.

Good god woman!! Breastfed or not waking a sleeping baby is against all common sense! At night at least, I have to admit I did wake to ensure regular feeds during the day, as my LO slept loads. He slept 10-7 from about 5 weeks. Its all gone to pot now and I have a living 4am alarm clock!!

My DD is identical to Jojays. Could have written the same post!
thought we had it good til sleep regression hell kicked in. Started sleeping 7 til 7ish at 7 months (coincided with her being moved to her own room).

Awww I wish my 8 wk old was sleeping that long!! I usually get woken every 2- 3 hrs :( can't ever see her sleeping through !

I knew I shouldn't have tempted fate by asking the question....its currently 4.45am & dd has been awake since 3am. Arghhhh! Serves me right! On the plus side, have written a good xmas shopping list whilst being kept up ;)

DD was 10 weeks when started to sleep from 7 till 7 but that's apparently not very common. I think your DD is doing just fine .