Can breastfed babies sleep 12h straight?

[deeadee]

I ran into a former colleague the other day and he mentioned how him and his wife recently had a baby, simiar age to my DS (almost 4 months old). He said sleep is great, their baby is sleeping 12h at night without waking up at all. I asked if she is breastfed and he said yes and that they did some sleep training with her.
I’m also breastfeeding my DS and I think his sleep is quite good - he wakes up once to feed, usually around 4 or 5 AM which means 6-7 h of uniterrupted sleep. Some nights he doesn’t wake up for 8-9 h straight. After the hellish first months with waking up every 2-3 h I thought this is already amazing :) But now I wonder if i should also “sleep train” my baby.
So my question to other moms is: can a 3 or 4 month old baby actually sleep 12h straight if you breastfeed? Or do you think this is just an exaggeration?

'You are getting great sleep for 4m! Your colleague may be telling the truth or may be focusing on the best night and conveniently forgetting the others, especially as he isn't the one getting up to feed.

Sleep train' means a lot if things. If they mean anything involving crying then 4m is very young and seems unnecessary for 1 early morning feed. You risk a 5am wake up too!

Also sleep is not linear. Mine slept better between 9 and 16 weeks than they did later on. My DS in particular went from 8 hour stretches to 1-2 hours most of the night. You can catch someone in a good patch, be jealous for months, and then realise it's all changed for them.

Thank you, exactly! I was already greatful with the way he sleeps now and I didn’t think I should be doing anything to improve night sleep at this point. It was just this one conversation that made me wonder if it’s even possible. If i don’t feed DS for 12h I think my boobs will explode so I don’t know how anyone can go that long.

If its working for you don't change anything. Only time you need to change something is when it's not working. You've an amazing sleeper! Long may it last.

Omg, i would be soo happy if my 15 month old slept for long than 3 hours straight overnight. I must be doing something wrong!😭
Long may your sleeping child last

Wow you are getting a great stint of sleep! Keep up the BFing, it's so good for your baby. Mine started doing 12h around 9 months. I think around 4 months he was doing the same as yours, he was always a good sleeper so I was lucky.

Some do, most don't

From about four weeks, my bf dc would sleep from about 8.30pm and wake up at around 7am, but from what I recall from other parents with babies the same age at the time mine was definitely an outlier!

Honestly you just need to tune out other people’s sleep chat. Since having 2 kids I’ve learnt there are people who count it as their baby sleeping through if they wake for a feed but go straight back to sleep 🤨 or don’t count a wake if it’s ’just waking for a dummy’ etc all sorts of weird things.

Some unicorn babies will sleep through at 4 months, some of them will start frequent sleep wakings a few months later, or as toddlers. Overall baby’s sleep will be disrupted for the first 12 months and then again after but to a lesser extent for most people. Just focus on your own routine, getting through the nights and the mornings and doing what you can to get through.

My 6 month old was exclusivley breastfed and we've just recently started weaning. He was a good sleeper fron 3 months sometimes giving me a max 8 hours of interrupted sleep. Now at 6 months once fed he does still wake up for a feed normally around 2am but I've noticed it's a quick suckle and he's knocked out again within minutes.

Could be a comfort thing but waking once a night still feels like a massive achievement for me. We both get interrupted sleep. Also if it's the partner saying this, mine would probably say our baby sleeps 12 hours aswell as he doesn't wake up to do the feeds. Hubby is a deep sleeper and wouldn't even wake up for an earthquake.

I overheard him when baby was 3 weeks saying to friends and family he sleeps all night. Which we all know is not happening. My 2 year old was formula fed as I couldn't establish breastfeeding for him and hubby helped with night feeds and remembers how hard it was so this time around he must think our 6 month old is an angel.

I let him live in his dream world because he's still very helpful and does all the cooking/cleaning when he's home from work so he contributes loads but I wouldn't worry.

If you want to sleep train then do it for you and baby to help with your routines. I never realised how valuable sleep was before my children and if I could sleep train I definitely would.

Wish you all the best x

Just to echo what others have said, it doesn't mean a thing in the long run.

My daughter started sleeping through at 5 months and then started frequent night wakings again when she was nearly 2y.

I though I'd won the baby lottery but she still doesn't sleep through the night now and she's 5😆

Oh yeah, I'd agree with @Ihaveoflate mine was amazing until 2.5! Now it's all turned to shit

They probably mean they left their tiny 4 month old to cry and that they learned no one comes in a twelve hour window.

Babies under six months will stop crying in the night if you "sleep train" them by ignoring them as they have learned that nobody comes when they cry. This doesn't mean it's good for the baby! It sounds like you're doing great and you can hope for improvement in a couple of months.

You’re totally right about tuning out other people. I think there is waaaaay to much pressure on moms to get their babies to sleep a certain way. And then you see all these sleep training coaches who promise 12h sleep and it can make you feel like you’re not doing things right if your baby doesn’t reach a certain standard.

Yes it’s definitely possible, not the norm though! I was lucky and had a 10hr sleeper from 8wks, and 12 from 12wks! It terrified me and wanted to wake them up!! My friend had the same with both of hers. All good eaters and sleepers now.

Yes my son slept 12 hours straight most nights at that age. He was always exclusively breastfed.

Quite unusual I'd say. DD was sleeping from 9-10pm until 6am by 14 weeks and I thought that was good going!

Btw I'm not saying this NEVER happens. But they openly admit they sleep trained (read: ignored when they cried) a 4 month old, so I would be taking any tips from those people.

Also there is this weird pressure about a ‘good sleeper’ but baby sleep has nothing to do with your parenting! How long your baby sleeps isn’t a metric of you as a mother.

Some people like to think their baby sleeps well due to their perfect parenting and perfect routine but it’s largely nonsense, everyone with more than one kid can tell you that. You can do the same thing to 5 babies and they will all react differently.

My kids slept well but they never did 12 hours straight. They just didn't need to sleep that much. Sounds like you are doing great having 6-9 hours straight. Don't compare your kids to others.

Your colleague probably has no idea how often his wife is up feeding in the night, he will be fast asleep himself!

Both my exclusively breastfed babies slept through 11-12 hours from 10 weeks so yes it's probably true. They were big babies though which apparently helps?

The wonderful midwife and lactation consultant Olivia Hinge (with an excellent book I highly recommend) was discussing just this on her instagram yesterday. Definitely worth a follow. She makes the excellent point that while babies of this age may indeed be capable of sleeping through the night, it is neither the biological norm nor necessarily in their best interests. Likewise she made the point that whilst we as adults are capable of all sorts of things, we may have to place ourselves under considerable psychological and physiological stress to do so.

My child was the same as yours. Other parents were commenting about how lucky I was. I think it's a case of exaggeration

Your baby's sleep sounds amazing for a breastfed 4 month old! Sleep training isn't really advised for babies that young. Keep doing what you're doing!