Do your babies sleep through

[columbiae]

Trying to prove a point to DH. We have our first baby who has never slept through in his whole 5 nearly 6 months of life. He’s currently sleeping worse than ever so I’m very tired as he only wants mummy despite daddy trying to settle him

after another bad night, DH turns to me and says “I wish he’d sleep for you” I say “he’s a baby” and then he says “don’t babies sleep through at this age?”

I don’t have any babies in my family and my friends don’t so it’s the first baby in my life but I know for a fact babies don’t all sleep through at this age! It’s the first baby in his life too but someone in his work made a comment about their babies all sleeping through by 4 months (bollocks I say) so then he asked me that question

SO - do your babies sleep through? What age are they?

(also if you have any tips regarding our baby waking up for settling hourly I will take them😩)

My little boy started sleeping through at 12 weeks but all babies are different.

Many adults don’t sleep through… I’ve had three kids, we are consistent and firm etc etc and one of mine went through good and bad phases but regularly woke until 3 years old. I know ppl will say it’s unusual or that we did something wrong or they wouldn’t start for it etc etc but nothing on earth we did stopped then waking at night and as they were young we obviously had to deal with it at night. But mine were all bf and still waking at 6 months, in fact they slept better as newborns as 6 months they were standing , teething, more alert etc etc .

Babies that sleep through before 6 months are 100% in the minority. And babies that do sleep through before that rarely consistently sleep through for evermore.

As PPs have said, sleeping through is rarely forever. They might sleep through for 1 night, a month or even 4 months, then regress back.

Frequent night waking is common and normal in under 5s. Some kids sleep through for periods of time then regress etc

DS1 started sleeping through when he was 1 but there were often times when he regressed and didn't sleep well or kept waking.

DS2 slept through from 6 weeks til he was 1 then was an awful sleeper til he was about 3.

They are 7 and 4 now and only in the last year I can say that things are more consistent.

It's very exhausting but the sooner you accept it the easier your life will be

They are all different.

Both mine slept through by 4months old, well from 6.30 to 5.30/6. Didn't do anything to encourage this they just both naturally did.

Obviously get the odd moments where they don't.

They share a room now and often wake each other up so I started to use a white noise machine recently and they stay asleep even if the other wakes.

No never did, still wakes up minimum once a night at 2. First 18 months were full of sleep regressions. It once took us 4 days to get through a one hour episode on tv.

Dd1 slept through at about six weeks, then she started waking again at around 12 weeks but she reliably woke for a feed and resettled.

Ds not only didn’t sleep but actively screamed all night until he was about 17 months.

Bizarrely (after the ds experience) we had another! Pretty much from birth she woke once for a feed in the middle of the night and then went back to sleep. She was a dream, if you’ll pardon the pun.

Mine slept through 6hrs at 6wks, then 10-12hrs by 12 weeks. Appreciate I’ve been very lucky though!

I was lucky DC slept through from 7 or 8 weeks, this was from around midnight through till 7 or 8. Managed to skip the 4 month regression but after an ear infection at 9 months massively regressed. Then by just over a year started sleeping through again with the occasional wake up and will normally go straight back off with a cuddle or a feed. DC is nearly 2 and that could all change again.

All babies are different.

My five almost six month old will sometimes sleep through but then other times she's up twice in the night. I'm still waiting for my two year old to sleep through or at least settle at night for his dad and not need "mummy cuddles" all the time. My four year old has consistently slept through since about ten months unless she's poorly but she really likes her sleep

My first sleepy through at 18 months. Second is 26 months and still wakes up at least once but usually twice.
Most of my friends babies seemed to sleep through from about a year old, but this was also the age they went back to work and stopped breastfeeding which I think make a difference. Mine just wants milk all the time 😕

Only 4 months old here but I can't see it changing anytime soon. He wakes a lot in the night, particularly if we aren't co-sleeping. He's in a next-to-me cot (when I can get him to settle in there) otherwise. I'm not even sure how many times he wakes, so it's often enough. It has been every 1 or 2 hours though recently (possibly the 4 month sleep regression). He is breastfed and usually just has a little drink and will settle back down very quick.

DS started to sleep through exactly at 4 months and still does at nearly 16m. I think 4m sleep regression hit us the other way around!

22 months here and he's slept through twice in his life, both within the last two months. Fortunately we're down to just one wake up now (or occasionally two), but that's fairly recent too. Your DH is being a silly 😆

Mine woke every 35 minutes until we did the Ferber method at 6 months. Reduced immediately to waking up twice for feeds. Then over a month we reduced this to one feed, and then no wake ups. Sleeps 7pm - 6.30am and falls asleep alone in 2 minutes with no crying.

Every sleep thread I post on I recommend downloading the Ferber e-book. Even if you don’t think sleep training is for you, what’s the harm in reading it.

Mine haven't at that age. It's quite unusual I think for them to sleep through that early.

DS1 would do it occasionally from about 18 months, consistently by 2.5.

DS2 never did it at all until 2.5, did it solidly for 6 months and then we had another baby and he woke every night for the next six months. He's nearly 4 now and it's not every night but at least once a week.

DS3 is 9 months old and hasn't slept through the night yet.

But there was an interesting thread recently about what counts as sleeping through - my ages here are based on putting them to bed, saying goodnight and not seeing or hearing them until the morning. Some said if they did a dream feed at 11ish and the baby didn't wake other than that, they counted it as sleeping through. If I used that definition then DS3 does sleep through sometimes, and DS1 was doing that consistently from about 1-2yo. I forget exactly. DS2 still didn't sleep through using that definition until 2.5 though!

5 month old here and we consistently have 2-3 wakings a night. Don't see it changing anytime soon to be honest - just have to roll with it :)

Sleep development isn't linear and I wish someone had told me that it can also fall apart after a stage of 'good' sleep.

My baby slept through reliably every night from the age of 5 months and | thought I'd won the sleep lottery. Then at 20 months she started waking 2 or 3 times a night and did so for the next year. She's only just started sleeping through again and she's nearly 3.

You can do everything in your power to encourage good sleep habits, but ultimately you can't make a child sleep. Instead, we caved in and bought her a small double so that we could just get in next to her. She hasn't needed me to do that for a while and I actually genuinely miss sleeping next to her (never thought I'd say that!).

Think your DH needs a reality check and manage his expectations - he could be in for a long haul!

My 2 youngest 12 week old and 7 year old both have slept through from 7 weeks old but my eldest 15 years old still doesn’t sleep through at least they don’t disturb me at 15 lol

2.5yo and a 3mo and neither sleep through. But then again neither have I nor my partner! So we can't exactly expect them to

My two year old has gone through periods of sleeping through. But they were always short lived and still mostly wakes at least once even now.

My 3 and a half year old wakes up once still without fail and my 10 month old average 3/4 times. I miss sleep #sendhelp

Sorry both of mine slept through practically from a few days old. By that I mean down at 9 and up at 630. Nap used to be 11-1, but they dropped that fairly young - they were too nosy and afraid they would miss something.

Both were big babies over ten lb and formula fed. I remember ringing my mother in tears worried sick they would starve. Only had the odd night when teething or sick.

I know and appreciate I was very very lucky. Happy to admit it here but would never say anything in real life.

My eldest slept through from 4wks.

The other 4. Nope.

Current 3yo wakes most nights, 11m old multiple times..

18 month old DS doesn't sleep throught. Well occasionally once a week/10 days. Consistently an early riser too (before 5am!). We have a blow up bed on his bedroom floor! It took me a long time to accept it but now I try and roll with it. Am used to teaching lessons on less than 5 hrs sleep (often broken sleep). I do long for the day he sleeps through though (everything crossed!). Sending solidarity your way OP x