When will baby sleep through the night?

[atvh]

At the moment my six week old baby is having a feed at about 10.30pm, another at around 2.30-3.30am and another between 6.30-7.30am. Does that sound about right for six weeks of age?

Also, when can I expect my baby to ‘sleep through’ from say 11pm to 6-7am with no feeds in between, so I can get 7-8 hours of continuous sleep and drop the middle of the night feed? I know there’s no categorical answer to this and I’m sure it’s a long way off, but I’m really missing my sleep since having a baby and would be interested to hear other people’s thoughts and experiences.

[peajotter]

You will get used to it op. I really function best on 9 hours continuous sleep. My kids slept through at 18 months, 5 years and 2.5 years. You find a new way of coping and your body adjusts. Don’t fight it.

[moleeye]

Same as @AvocadoPrime, dd slept through from 5 months (bottle fed)

Ds is currently 14 months and a boob monster. I can count on one hand the number of times he has slept through! Although he sleeps 6-4am, wakes for a feed then goes back to sleep til 6am

[atvh]

Thanks. When LO was born there were two middle of the night feeds (around 1am and 4am) so I’m glad it’s now dropped to one!

[Drivingdownthe101]

If you’re struggling to that extent with lack of sleep can you go to bed a bit earlier? When DD2 was up every 45 mins (she did this for 2 months solid) I went to bed at 7!

[june2007]

Worst was when my DD decied to wak up between 3-5 and be up for 2-3 hr. (urgh this was when she was around 5-7 months.)

[Letsallscreamatthesistene]

Hi OP. My son at that age fed at 9.30, 1am, 4am then 6am. Hes now 11 weeks old and feeds at 1am and 5am.

It doesnt stay the same, there are regressions here and there for most people. Some regressions are big, some babies cope with it all a bit better. You never really know. Im the same as you though, super anxious about sleep regressions. I try not to think about it though and am just enjoying the sleep im getting now.

[aimzxd]

Sleep when baby naps! I had to and it made all the difference.

[MrFlibblesEyes]

Ds dropped night feeds at 11 weeks and has slept through pretty reliably ever since (he's 7.5 months now). By slept through I mean that I don't have to get up to him, as he does sometimes wake in the night but he just shuffles around a bit and goes off back to sleep by himself with no intervention from me! He sleeps from 7pm and gets up at 6am. Sometimes I can hear him awake from about 5.15, but he dozes on and off and chats to himself so I just let him get on with it until 6 😁

[Eggcellent29]

From about 8 weeks. He sleeps in sling 6-10, has a dream feed when I go to bed, wakes up around 6am

[Liland]

A lot of you saying 18 months and older is giving me hope for my 16 month old, thanks! A bit more complicated because he still needs 2 night feeds because he doesn't really eat solids yet (long complicated history, under several nhs teams). I live in hope!

OP, yours sounds great! Mine had that sort of feeding schedule at up to around 4 months, and then he woke 1-2 hourly for the next 8 months with various teething and digestive issues. I'm very grateful for my current 3-4 hours of solid sleep! You really do get used to it as time goes on, the nausea and confusion stops :) Hopefully you'll have a good un though!

[Chungus]

Mine was 4 years old. She woke at least every two hours until she was 2 years old.

[PotteringAlong]

My youngest has started sleeping through the night during lockdown. He is 3 years and 4 months old.

DS1 was about 3 when he started sleeping through the night. DS2 was a sleeping dream (compared to the others) and started sleeping through the night at about 14 months.

Mine all regressed at 4 months and then stayed regressed until they slept through!

[atvh]

Ds dropped night feeds at 11 weeks and has slept through pretty reliably ever since

@MrFlibblesEyes That sounds promising! What was the longest he’d sleep for at 11 weeks without needing a feed? And did he go through the four month sleep regression?

[veggiesausages]

It hugely depends on the child.
First slept through reliably 7-5ish never took a dream feed and liked to get up early.
Second is two and still sleeps worse than your six week old.
I haven't parented them differently, they are just different personalities with different needs and wants.


It is also not linear so all of these saying their 4/5/6/7/8 month old sleeps through had best not get complacent! Also people tend to view past events through rose tinted glasses. Just saying.

[peachgreen]

Is there a chance that my baby will continue to be a fairly good sleeper or do they all regress at some point?

DD wasn't sleeping as well as your baby at 6 weeks but she's been a pretty good night sleeper from about 2 months - she didn't drop her 3am feed until about 5 months but she slept from about 7pm-3am then 3.30am-7am which I was happy with. Apart from the odd night or couple of nights where she's woken and been hard to settle or not settle at all (usually illness or growth spurt) she's never had any kind of sleep regression and now sleeps 7pm-8.30am at 24 months. Of course that could all change!

Some kids are just good sleepers and regressions aren't an inevitability. (Though I should add that DD has always been a bit of a pain with naps!)

[Letsallscreamatthesistene]

Im loving reading all these regression stories because until now I thought it was an inevitability

[ThunderCrack]

Your baby sounds a good sleeper


Every child is different.

Nephew slept through, for atleast 12 hours, his mum would wake him after about 6 hours for a feed when he was little...
His always been the same... Dropped night feeds at 6 months, and slept 13 hours straight, still doing it at 2

Other nephew...
Still wakes up in the night at his 7 !

Every child is different

[sugarbum]

no point comparing really. Mine were both 2.5 years old. They woke anything from 2 to 6 times in the night.
My friends baby slept through from 6 weeks.
I can't get my 13 year old out of bed before 10.30 now...

[Spam88]

I have been blessed with two dreadful sleepers 😂

DD slept through for the first time ever around the age of 1 (it was a fluke). From about 18 months she was sleeping through around half the time. She's a little angel now though (just turned 3).

DS is almost 6 months. He likes to spend his nights feasting. We're cosleeping so I just go to sleep and let him get on with it (I'm half joking). Four month regression didn't really happen for him though, whereas DD was a NIGHTMARE. I had whole nights where I didn't so much as get into bed. Before that she was doing two hours between feeds which is better than DS at that age.

My top tip is don't look at the time when you wake up. And if you're tired, go to bed in the evening and leave him with DH.

[Mybobowler]

That sounds pretty good for 6 weeks (which in no way diminishes how bloody exhausting it is). My 17 month old has been a very inconsistent sleeper - she did a short run of full nights just before the 4 month regression hit, but she wasn't consistently sleeping through until about three months ago. Even now, a 5am start isn't unusual!

Sleep development isn't linear, you'll have good nights and bad, but don't let anyone try to tell you they sleep deprivation isn't really hard to bear. Be gentle with yourself and try not to worry about doing the "right" or "wrong" thing - they all sleep eventually!

[HauntedGoatFart]

My top tip is don't look at the time when you wake up. And if you're tired, go to bed in the evening and leave him with DH.

Yup. Never look at the clock in the middle of the night. It doesn't help, and stressing about how much sleep you aren't getting does nothing but make things worse. Your body adjusts. Mine are 5 and 2 and still sometimes wake in the night. I was still doing 1-2 regular night wakes at 8 months when I went back to work with both of them and that kept up until they were about 18-20mo.

I also used to go to bed (without them!) at about 8pm when they were tiny. DH would sit up with them until midnight/1am and then deliver them to me.

[2007Millie]

OP, please, take some advice here and park all your worries, questions and anxiety away.

You're going to do yourself more harm that good.

My bottle fed son woke every 2 hours until 6 months. Still wakes 3 times a night at least at 19 months.

Breastfeed little girl of a good friend slept from day 1 for 12 hours.

Every baby is different and you will cause yourself stress over thinking this and 'waiting' for something that might never happen

[firstimemamma]

10 months for me (breastfed).

[Thirtyrock39]

A breastfed baby shouldn't be sleeping for twelve hours without a feed as a newborn though - I had to wake mine every four hours if not more for feeds as a very sleepy newborn
-tiny stomachs need refilling

[2007Millie]

@Thirtyrock39

Every child is different. Some babies are perfectly fine sleeping that long.