Do extended bfeeders find that their DCs sleep all night?

[fustilarian]

As the 1st birthday approaches, am mulling over the fact that I haven't had more than about three unbroken nights' sleep since she was born.

We have done so many things to try and encourage her to self settle, and very often she does, but not every time every night.

I leave her standing up in her cot and she says bye bye, I hear her looking at her book in bed and then going off to sleep, then she's up again randomly once, twice, sometimes three times, and up to about six times if she is ill/teething.......DP usually tries to settle her but to no avail, she is dead set on the milk.....

what can I do, if anything?

Mine doesn't and he is three.

But we co sleep so I hardly even notice when he wakes.

my ds (15 months) only started sleeping through once we stopped bf (about a month ago)- but even so its still not every night by any means - he usually still wakes about 4.30 or 5 - but thats a million times better than before. We didnt stop cause of the sleeping but it is a nice consequence.

(not an extended bfer but thought you might like to know that ff dd, now 2.5 still usually wakes at least once for water or a cuddle!)

Ds woke up for feeds in the night till he was 18 months old - but as he would still guzzle a bottle of EBM if I wasn't around, he obv needed the drink. Then he just slept through, and has done so with maybe 5 exceptions in the year since (and he was ill or there was thunder on all of those)

Dswas bf until nearly 2 and co-slept entil 2.5, he slept through the night 7-7 (unless really ill) from 7 months ish.

Obviously I was very smug about being such a wonder-mum.

Then along came dd. We did exactly the same as with her brother, she is 8 and a bit months, she wakes what seems like a million times in the night and only the boob will settle her.

My point being I don't think it's the parenting, it's the child.

With Wherewolf on this - dd1 and ds1 both bf til 1.5 and both slept thru from 8wks and weaned themselves. Ds2 and dd2 were hell to wean and really crap sleepers. Did nothing different. Dd2 wakes at the sound of a mouse fart and she's had the noise of 3 sibs all her life.She's 2 and a hlf,still bf and still feeding from 5 every morning.

Still breastfeeding 17 month old DD and she slept through (11-7ish) from 3 and a half months.

Will wake for feed in night if she's ill though.

Mine did, and so did two of his ex bf friends (no sleep training involved).

I know of far more who don't, though, and an equaly large number of ff babies/children who wake at night

my 17 month old ds does. Has done for around 2 months now.

NO!

Fed dd until 13 months - didn't sleep through until 18 months.

Fed ds until 18 months - didn't sleep through until 3.5 years.

Did nothing different, just very unsettled sleepers. Ds brought me to my knees! If he had been my first child, he would have been the last. People thought I was exaggerating when I said he had woken over 20 times a night. But it was true.

However, a brass band could walk through his room now, or I could give him a fireman's lift and run round the house and he wouldn't wake at all.

DS (3) still feeds morning and night. He slept through at about 7 months, with no real problems getting him to sleep since about his first birthday, I think.

My DD 19 mo still wakes at least once but usually more often (and doesn't even go to bed until 10.30pm so if you counted night as starting at 7pm it's even worse.)

3 of my older 4 slept through from about 4 months (all BF to over a year). The other didn't sleep through until he was 2 years old.

I agree with wolf that it's the child, not the parenting.

DS has slept through (barring illness, teething or getting stuck sideways in the cot) since 9mo. Still BF at 20mo (though now only at bedtimes).

I did do CC at 9mo though

dd1 bf until 3 and a bit, she slept from 7-7 from 3 months old and is still an excellent sleeper
dd2 is still bf (nearly 3) and has always been a crappy sleeper. I can sort it out if I put my mind to it, but she is just restless and likes company and human contact in the night.
it ain't nothing to do with the method of feeding, children are just people and people are all different.
imo.

No, at 18mo
But when he's not ill/teething we co sleep and it's fine, Wake slightly when he latches on.
When he is ill it;s another story

My DD is nearly 16 months and wakes a zillion times throughout the night - whether she is in bed with us or in her cot - and then she turbo-feeds from 5am through till 7am.

I am exhausted.

Will it ever end?

The irony is, she slept through from roughly a month (i can't remember now cos my brain is so sleep deprived!) through till 6 months. She was SO easy and a dream. Like WhereWolf, i was soooo cocky! I thought this parenting lark was sooo easy.

How the gods have laughed at me!

My 21 month old DS has been sleeping through (touch wood!) from pretty much bang on 18 months.

mine does and has done since he dropped afternoon nap (he is 3).

at about 18m i decided on some vague rules, no milk between 2am and 4am was the main one. dh got to settle him then.

ds into own bed own room at about 2y. he still arrives in our bed but either doesn't ask for milk and sleeps or stays in own room till about 6am.

My 14 mo bf DD has mostly slept through the night (12 hours) from about 5.5 months old. There have been occasions where she wakes in the middle of the night (teething, ill, sleep pattern disturbed), but I have not had to give her a night feed for several months now. She feeds like a trooper when she wakes though!

I agree with the comments above, think it is down to the child, not the parenting style. I am a very relaxed, no routine type mother, have exclusively b/f etc., so by all accounts DD should still be waking frequently. Think she's like me though and just loves her sleep!

bf'd both of mine until they were 2 and they were both unbearably crap sleepers. I did CC with both of them (out of desperation), which helped dd get the "through-the-night" thing sorted at about 2.6, but ds has proved much more determined. Was still waking once or twice a night until well over 3 and is not even a reliable "through-the-night" boy at nearly 4.

DD slept through from ten months but we did sleep training - basically each night I extended the time between feeds by five minutes. I didn't let her cry I sat and talked to her and held her till it was time. It nearly bloody killed me and was a severe test of my resolve but it worked. Since she figured out she wasn't getting fed until 6am at least she stopped waking up.

Now she sleeps sevenish till 6:30ish. She's two now though. I think age plays a part but so does being fairly prescriptive about when it's okay to feed and not.

well DS didn't sleep through until he was about 2 - and then only intermittently though he is getting better (and will allow himself to be settled by DH most of the time).

BUT my friend's DS (who is exactly the same age but has been FF since about 8 months) has exactly the same sleep patterns. So I don't think it's necessarily to do with the feeding. Oh, and he wouldn't go down for his dad either for quite a long time.

Don't give up bf just to make the sleep better.
People tell you it works (eg my mum) but after she went on about it so much that I did wean DD at 14mo she continued to wake for a cuddle anyway.
Started sleeping through at 16mo as did my friends DD who carried on bf. I felt quite cheated and wished I'd carried on.
Am firmly of the opinion that sleep is a developmental thing like walking or talking.

My still nursing 2 year old does generally sleep though...between 7pm and 7am, unless she is ill or has a nightmare.

I can't honestly remember when she started to sleep though and TBH I don't think number of times a child wakes up at night is affected by how they consume their milk.

However I do think a breastfed child is easier to put to sleep in the first place and easier to put back to sleep if they wake in the night. Plus nursing gives them so much comfort whilst ill, teething or waking froma nightmare (speaks the mum of a teething baby)

So to my mind I would rather have a breastfed child waking up a couple of times a night and being able to put them down with a quick 5 minute feed, than be fathing around with cows milk or formula during the day and having no instant comforter