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.

[sausagepastapot]

Took my daughter 4 years.

[MrFlibblesEyes]

@atvh at 11 weeks we used to give him his last feed at 10 when we all went to bed and then his next feed would be at 6am when we got up! He never really fed much in the night though, I can't remember exactly when it got more structured but for as far back as I can remember he fed at 10pm,2am,6am and then just stopped needing the 2am feed! Then we gradually brought is bedtime forward.

As for the regressions he's never really suffered with them but I think that's a fluke of his temperament more than anything. He prefers to be put down to sleep and won't sleep if you rock him (or are present in any way 🙄) so the dreaded four month regression didn't have the same effect on him because he already self soothed! From what I understand the four month one is different as it is habit forming so if you have to start picking them up and rocking them etc to soothe them when they wake up, it can be very difficult to break any habits formed. We were quite strict about just soothing him in his cot and not picking him up to comfort him which isn't everyones cup of tea but it seems to have worked for us 😬

[MrFlibblesEyes]

^ so he just started going back to sleep by himself pretty quickly as waking up was not entertaining and the regression only lasted a week ish...

[Sipperskipper]

I know how hard it is to feel anxious about sleep. My DD was such an awful sleeper in the early days I feel almost traumatised by it. May sound silly, but it was awful.

We switched to formula at 6 weeks, and she started (what I call sleeping through) at 9 weeks. She would come to bed with us at 1030pm, have a feed and then sleep until 7am when I would wake her for her morning feed.

Things that helped us get her sleeping solidly (although may have been element of luck too!)

• strict (ish) feeding routine. Plenty of burping to encourage more milk to be taken duing the day. We fed her 3hrly on the dot. If she cried in between feeding would be a last resort after trying other things (dummy, cuddle, change of scenery etc). Our routine went feed at 7,10,1,4,7, 1030pm.
• Dummy for comfort - she was very, very soothed by sucking
• As she got older (maybe 3 months ish?) having a decent nap routine to avoid overtiredness
• Swaddle for sleep - stopped the startle reflex and helped her sleep more deeply
• Try other ways of settling in the night if wakes - dummy, patting, sshhhing etc. Feed as last resort
• White noise
• Wake at the same time every day to set the feed times, and body clock

She did have a sleep regression at 4 months, but its because her dummy was in when she went to sleep, and wasn't when she stirred in the night, so she would wake for it. It resolved quite easily by taking her our of the swaddle and getting her a little bunny with dummies attached & she learned to find them herself.

Since we moved to formula and got a decent, strict routine she has been a brilliant sleeper, and still is age 3. I can count on one hand the amount of disturbed nights I have had.

I'm expecting again in August though and could have a completely different experience!

[lots33]

DS slept through (from 7-5) at 18 months. Prior to that he woke for feeds every three hours. How I envied my friends with babies that slept!

Then I had DD who would only asleep attached to my boob, wouldn’t transfer and screamed blue murder if anyone else tried to settled her.i would feed her to sleep (which I didn’t need to do with DS) and ease myself off when she was deeply asleep. I never had more than 40 minutes and she’d need feeding and settling again. I ended up co sleeping because otherwise I had no sleep, and she’d help herself by the age of 3/4 months, but woke me vv regularly. She slept through, in her own bed, at 5, but still ends in with us most nights.

Then I realised that DS was a dream ! 😂😂

[2007Millie]

Oh and OP, take no notice of the self soothing/bad habits/rod for your own back posts etc.

Generally, it's all a load of bollocks and is totally child dependent.

You can have the best routine in the world, but it can also make f all difference

[arianwe]

That's really good for 6 weeks! My baby is 10 weeks and is doing the same as that :). With my first daughter, I think there was the odd night she slept through at about 4 months, but then the 6 month sleep regression hit early and she was up hourly for what felt like forever.

We did controlled crying, and after that she mainly slept through the night. So at about 6 ish months is possible x

[aimzxd]

My baby was premature. It was rare he woke for feeds. Because of medical reasons i had to wake him every 4 hours round the clock (issues with glucose & being 4.4bls when discharged), so 8pm, 12pm, 4am and 8am. I napped when he napped. From 3 months he started going 7/8pm to 5/6am. When he wakes at 5 I miss the night feeds so I can lie in till 8 🙈😴.

[Thirtyrock39]

A breastfed baby under 6 weeks needs regularly feeding 2007Millie - I work in this field and breast milk is processed much quicker than formula so newborns need regular feeds to prevent dehydration and to maintain a healthy blood sugar - it really isn't safe for a breastfeeding newborn to go twelve hours without a breastfeed

[atvh]

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

I’m not an expert, but I was told in hospital and by my midwife that newborns need feeding every three to four hours maximum or their blood sugar can dip dangerously low.

@Sipperskipper thanks for the detailed advice, that’s really useful.

[Chungus]

Yes, I was told off my midwives at the hospital for letting my DD sleep for 6 hours when I should have woken her after three. No one told me!

(I had to have an emergency c section and I'm fairly sure the drugs from that in my milk were the only reason she slept that long).

[2007Millie]

@atvh @Thirtyrock39

Like I said, every baby is different and needs different things. I'm not going to get into a debate about it because that's precisely what I'm trying to encourage the OP to not do which is to encourage not talking about sleep.

[atvh]

My LO is now nearly 8 weeks old and is typically feeding at 10pm, 3am and 8am. So things are a little easier than when I started this thread, but we’re still nowhere close to sleeping through the night.

[peachgreen]

Honestly, that's pretty great for an 8 week old.

[Ihaveoflate]

Your baby is only feeding once in the night (3am) - I'd say that was pretty damn close for an 8 week old!

My baby dropped to one night feed at 8 weeks, but she didn't start sleeping through the night until she was 5 months. She went through a short phase of waking up for 2 feeds following an illness at about 15 weeks. Expect things to go up and down for a while.

[Tobebythesea]

DC1 - 13 months
DC2 - 8 months

[Llamapolice]

Echo those saying that's great for an 8 week old! Mine (breastfed) has a very similar night feed pattern, difference is she's 13 months

[NoParticularPattern]

Mine both have worse sleep than that and one is 11 months and the other 2.5yo. Honestly I’d give quite a large sum of money for that amount of sleep!

[atvh]

Thanks. Last night was 9pm, 1.30am and 7.30am. So not too bad!