Why do so many babies sleep through

[ZebraZeebra]

And neither of mine just never have??

I read/hear about it so often. At six weeks/13 weeks/23 weeks...whatever. It's often on threads about babies going into their own rooms. My ds didn't sleep through until 13 months and my dd - 24 weeks - had yet to wake less than three times.

I just can't wrap my head round not having to wake up. My children woke the most in the evening in the time between their bedtime and my bedtime - whether they were downstairs or in their own room. Why didn't I get one of these great sleepers? stamps foot

My dd from 8 weeks went to bed at 7pm and would wake about twice a night which I didn't think was too bad. When she was 6 months I night weaned so she would have a dream feed at 10pm and then nothing till 5am. By 8 months she was sleeping 7pm - 7am

I personally feel that having a routine, putting her in her own bed, using a dummy and doing some cc all helped her sleep well however who knows really, it could just be luck!

I tried pretty much everything on this post plus every book I could get my hands on AND paid a sleep consultant.

Mine only slept through at 14 months.

My first never slept it was horrendous she is 14 now and would win a gold medal for sleeping. DS slept through the night (10pm till 8pm) from day one and has never woken during the night unless sick. Dd3 slept through after a few weeks and sleeps from 8-8 now at 3 years old

Breadstix - that sounds sufficiently unusual that it's worth asking your GP in case it's some kind of sleep disorder.

* The obsession with 7pm bedtime is something I find very odd*

Two reasons why you really shouldn't find it odd at all!

My two sleep 7-7, often later. No fighting sleep. No arguing about it. It is all they have ever known. It's bloody awesome, for them and us.

1. Some people really enjoy kicking back with their other half in the evenings. Enjoying a leisurely dinner, some wine and then maybe a few episodes of a box set. Not a chance in hell that I will believe that you are able to do this with young children around.

1. When they are 4 and start school it would be grossly unfair IMO to not implement a bedtime between 7-8. I presume you don't have young school aged children?

Enjoy - my 4 and 5 year olds cope with school perfectly fine on 9pm-8am bed. That's 11hrs and exactly what the NHS recommend for their age

7pm we arrive home, so no possible way they could be in bed then as they haven't eaten or anything.

7am is early waking for us. At the weekends and holidays like now they go to bed late 11pm or so, and wake 10/11am. We absolutely can have a lovely evening with children around. We are currently in Spain, kids all stay up until super late here. Last night at 11pm they were still playing in the local pedestrianised town square with other children, whilst Dh and I chatted together over a bottle of wine.

At home we enjoy a leisurely meal most nights with the children, then they play and entertain themselves and we can chat together. Having children surely means most people spend there life with children around and still socialise/ eat/ talk. You can't just banish them to bed early so you have alone time. What will you do when they are teenagers and completely unused to having to spend time with them after 7pm?

bertie we have had lots of people involved at some point or other....paeds consultant who was useless HV's, sleep practitioners. One thing we have never done is a proper sleep clinic (was sent to a sleep meeting which turned into a self pity party and didn't actually produce anything helpful) as we can't afford it. We just keep getting told he will grow out of it not very useful when you're hanging out of your arse!

We have resigned ourselves to the fact that this is how it's going to be.

Art. ... like most children, I too was in bed around 7 at 4/5 years old.

And my folks were able to adjust the slow increase in bedtimes just fine. Mind you, at 13 I had a bedtime same as yours. Mine will two.

It's fab that your two ill play nicely very evening late evening. For my just turned five year old, by 6pm he's going glassy eyed. By 9, I would be carrying him up to bed utterly exhausted.

It's not banishing, but I'm not ashamed to admit that I love having some alone time with my dh without us being on call for bottom wipes, encouraging veg eating and the thought of reading a bedtime story at 8 30 doesn't entice me. At. All.

Dd was later than all the other babies we met up with. But Ds, he was 3 and a half before he slept.

I didn't sleep until I was 2 and mil was 5! Dh however went 'thru the night' at 2 weeks. I asked MIL what it meant and it turned out he slept midnight til 6am.

We have two DDs (7 & 4) who slept through the night from 6 weeks and 8 weeks respectively - without us doing a thing. Honestly, no sleep training, no feeds, no CC - nothing.
Our DS (16mo) did not get the memo we have been up 3+ times a night with him from birth, feeding, rocking, singing, shushing etc.
Eventually we cracked and had a sleep consultation with Andrea Grace online - who helped us to retrain his sleep routine and he is now sleeping 12 hours without a peep. It took 3 nights to achieve. That woman is a miracle worker!

My DD has "slept through" from about 7 weeks. By this I mean she hasn't needed a feed or any attention between about 7pm and 6am. She does, however, wake up regularly and chatter to herself or play with the toys hanging on the side of her cot. I discovered this when I had to share a room with her in a hotel recently!

Hey fellow bad sleepers! DS is 20 months and still co-sleeping, fed to sleep and waking a few times a night depending on eczema /teething etc. Had NEVER done the "sleepy but not asleep" thing people describe when little - was either 1) asleep 2) on the boob (may include asleep on boob) 3) screaming.
Also the don't go in for a murmur - options are 1) asleep 2) screaming and shouting for Mummy. Fortunately he's lovely when he's awake or I'd have probably given him to the gypsies by now.

I give it the MN chant of "this too will pass" but its nice to hear I'm not the only one.

Combination of luck and / or sleep training I think. DD1 was just simple luck, she was small at birth but put on weight exponentially and slept through 7pm - 7am ish (i.e. 11 - 12 hours no feeds, no wakes) from just over 8 weeks old. I didn't really do anything to achieve this it just happened.

DD2 and DS would not have done this I think, but I was confident in the knowledge that that sort of sleep COULD be achieved and so I encouraged it and worked on sleep training by always trying to resettle without feeding in the night (which sometimes worked) and I cut out the remaining night feeds one by one from when they were about two months (not much fun - sitting up cuddling and rocking without feeding until they dropped back to sleep, but after a couple of nights we'd crack one wake/feed), then a week or so later move onto the next one. So all three of mine slept through 7pm to 7am isn with no feeds or wakes by about 12 weeks.