How to get baby to sleep through the night

[TiredMommy93]

My DS is 10 1/2 weeks old and I've read that some babies sleep from 11pm to 6am already at 3 months. Which would be wonderful!
Mine sleeps at 10pm, wakes for feeds at 1-2am, 4am and 6-7am.
He weighs 14 pounds already and I doubt he needs that much milk at night!

Any tips?
How did you get your baby to sleep through the night?

So I am pro sleep training and very supportive of parents who want to get good sleep for themselves and their babies. However, at 10 weeks very few babies will sleep from 11pm to 6am! Especially bf babies. If he’s waking for milk, he needs milk. You’re doing the right thing by responding to him. If you want longer stretches at this age, I would try swaddling and white noise (as loud as a shower).

When you find out can you let me know so I can do it with my nearly 2 year old? 😅

It's very very natural for them to still wake at your baby's age, the ones that sleep through are not the norm.

Are you breast or bottle feeding? As I think that makes a difference based on friends babies. My third is currently 5 months (breastfed) and has slept through a bit recently but I haven’t done anything to make that happen, I think she’s just ready. I’m fully expecting it to all change again though as sleep changes so much in the first year! I find low expectations helps then it’s a nice surprise if they actually do!

I'm bottle feeding

It’s random. There nothing you really should be trying at ten and a half weeks except make sure he’s clean, well fed and comfortable. After that it’s up to him.

Make sure he's getting calories in the day. Make sure he's sleeping the right amount in the day - not too much or too little! Bed at 7pm ensuring he's had a really good feed. Wake at 10.30pm for a dream feed. Reduce or restrict feeds for the rest of the night. Ensure he can self settle.

Guess I'll have to be patient then. I'm just a bit jealous! 7 hours in a row seem like a dream.

Enough calories. You're getting him used to food in the day and that 7am to 7pm to for sleeping.

Don’t assume that everyone who yells you their baby ‘sleeps through’ is telling you the whole truth.

Your baby is tiny. So so young. How do you get babies to sleep through the night? Time and patience. And massively adjusted expectations. Get the book that you read that hugely unhelpful "fact" in, and chuck it in the bin. It's like saying all 35 year olds sleep from 11pm - 7am and don't wake up, need a week, feel sad, lonely, have a weird cramp, or hear a fox in the garden and wonder if it's a burglar and then freak themselves out and not be able to get back to sleep for an hour. Make a cup of tea, give yourself a massive break and adjust your expectations.

I bottle fed and DDs feeds at that age would be 7, 10, 1, 4, 7 and a feed at 10 to get her through the night. I started to drop the 10pm feed once i was having to wake her for it. From 13 weeks she happily went 7-7 without feeding (asleep at about 8 and I'd wake her up at 6:45).

Every baby is different but I agree with pps that I think bottle feeding helps as they don't associate feeding with the comfort and tend to feed more often when breastfed.

So your baby was fed at 7, 4, 1, 4, 7 right? During the day I assume and at 10 in the evening.
How much oz at each feeding?
I know they say don't have much expectations but I'd love to get more rest and time to myself. 😔

How much sleep are they doing during the day and at what times?

I'm pretty strict on a routine & have great sleep I think as a large result from it, it does depend on babies too, my baby is very contented so I think I'm very lucky but if I don't work on the day time naps the night doesn't work

Number one son slept through from 4 weeks, no amount of persuasion would wake him for a feed so I went with him.
Number 2 son didn’t sleep a single night through until he was nearly 3. Didn’t sleep through reliably until he was about 5.
Sons 3 & 4 as far as I remember were about a year.
Daughter number 1 slept from about 16 weeks, number 2 was like number 1 son, she can still sleep anywhere at any time.
I did nothing differently with any of them.

All babies are different and whatever you have read there’s no rule or method that will make every baby sleep so relax, remember you are doing an amazing job and while he’s so tiny let his needs guide you.

I mean... I think everyone wants more rest with a baby, but the people with ones who sleep through are just lucky!

I've got a seven-month-old, he wakes at midnight, around 3am and around 6am for feeds, then he'll be up for the day at 8am. My NCT group is nine babies; and there are two that sleep through - one breastfed, one formula fed - and the rest don't. Two of those have been trying sleep training, but even with that, the babies are hungry so are waking up.

Honestly, save yourself some heartache and stress and accept that he might need you at night for a while longer yet. When he's developmentally ready to sleep through, he will. I know it's really, really hard sometimes, but we've all found it a lot easier once you stop trying to force it. It's not something you have control over, unless you can make peace with how sleep training works and stick it out, and even that is not a guarantee.

Every babies different and being this little you really do have to follow their needs.

My baby is 13 weeks old (ebf) he is normally down to sleep around 730/8pm , I give him a dream feed at 11 and he normally sleeps til 5/6 for his next feed x

That’s a weird thing to say.

i can assure you formula fed babies have the same comfort associations. They get cuddled and heir while fed? I don’t tend to just plonk him down and feed him his bottle like I would a baby goat.

*held

I let him decide how much sleep he needs during the day. But I make sure he doesn't get overtired. And he sleeps well at night but always wakes up for feeds. He will get his bottle and fall right back to sleep with minimal soothing. So 10pm to 7pm with about 3 feedings. Which isn't too bad but I see more potential.
During the day he only drinks 2-3 oz every 2-3 hours instead 4-5 oz every 4 hours...

It really is hard but you WILL get your evenings back. I found it unbearable with the lack of sleep. It's more of a waiting game for baby to sleep though but please get more help if you can. One of my saving graces was having a relative coming round frequently so I could take a long bath if my partner wasn't around.

Sleep is developmental, they get there in their own time. Sleep training doesn’t make them sleep more, it just makes them not signal for help when they do wake. Some small infants do sleep through but that’s not common and I wouldn’t expect it. Many sleep more up to 12-14 weeks then start to wake more.

If he’s waking to feed he needs to feed, most babies need milk at night until a year (unless they don’t wake for it themselves) they also wake because they need comfort, because waking helps protect against SIDS and because they haven’t developed the ability to link sleep cycles yet. You can support sleep but you can’t force it.

sarahockwell-smith.com/2017/07/24/the-rollercoaster-of-real-baby-sleep/

Do you have a partner who could look after baby while you have some time alone? As you’re bottle feeding could they share the night wakes?

@Skinnermarink ok I'm not very good with words. I was thinking more about comfort feeding. Don't breastfed babies often feed for comfort?

And I obviously cuddle my baby when I feed her.

I meant to add, get your partner to do more night feeds and to take baby in the early morning while you rest.

You’re not doing all the night feeds every night of the week on your own though - right?