When did your babies sleep through the night and..

[MyNameIsMarya]

When did it actually become fun? My DS is finally slowly growing out of the potato stage and becoming more interested in the world.
He's 13 weeks in 2 days and it's still pretty boring. He can't grab toys yet, nor does he swat at them on his play mat. But it's still 100 times better than the first 2 months.
He used to sleep almost 4 hours followed by a 3 hour stretch but now he's gone back to being a terrible sleeper, almost like newborn. 3hrs, 2hrs, 2hrs. And he doesn't always seem to be hungry either. Just very fussy. I can't soothe him unless I give him a pacifier. Then he falls asleep within a couple minutes.
I'd probably feel much more content being a mum if sleep was better. A couple weeks ago he slept 6 hours straight and I was the happiest person that whole day.

I think it gets gradually more fun from where you are now, as they become more interactive and less potato-like. By 6 months they are pretty fun, and 1 year olds are brilliant. Neither of my DC sleeps through the night at 4 and 7 but I'm sure many others do.

My DDs sleep got much worse between 4 & 7 months than it was at 3 months but once she could sit up a bit (I think around 5 months) she was a lot more fun in the day because we started to be able to play a bit which made it less tedious.

Once she started cruising and walking she got more fun (9-10 months) and now she’s 2 she’s really fun because she understands so much and chatters away. Some of the stuff she comes out with is hilarious!

She didn’t regularly sleep through until about 20 months but we didn’t sleep train.

My 4 year old still wakes up consistently during the night. You get used to sleeping less!

DC1 reliably slept through the night from 2ish. He slept for decent chunks before that too. DC2 is 11mo and sleeps in 2 hour chunks at best. I'm very tired

Sleep was at its worst for us between 4 and 9 months. Slept through at 10 months, consistently by about 13 months.

Im afraid I didn’t really find it fun until he was walking and talking. I absolutely love it now though (2 years old).

3-6 months is a vast improvement on the newborn stage and 6-12 months is BRILLIANT (except if you get the sleep regressions, which is hell but thankfully short lived). They’re just lovely gorgeous chunky things and can sit up, crawl, sit in the high chair, enjoy a pushchair trip… they just get better at everything.

I can see why so many people have 18 month-2 year age gaps, I was high on life when mine were that age because they were so awesome.

Mine would occasionally sleep through from 6 months-ish and when that happens you can make a start on not feeding them during the night, see how it goes.

DC1 wasn’t a terrible sleeper as a newborn. He woke twice a night from birth to be fed…but the night wakings continued until he was 2.5 yrs old. Nothing really worked. He’d wake at about 1am and need to be settled back to sleep, then was up for the day at 5am. It was hard going.

He was extremely alert and quite fun from very early on. He crawled at 5 months and was an early walker and talker, which was fun but exhausting. You’ll miss the snuggly baby days when they become demonic toddlers!

DC2 slept a 12 hour stretch from about 3 weeks old. I used to lie awake and poke her to see if she was breathing as it was so unusual to me. Ridiculous, but I thought there must be something wrong with her. She always slept like a log. She was a sleepy, snuggly pudding until she was about 5/6 months old. Then she perked up a bit.

I suppose the moral of that waffle is they are all very different little beings.

They do get more interesting I promise. Until then prioritise all the things you want to do eg go out for lunch, for nice long walks and hikes, cinema, art galleries, museums, gardening, whatever you enjoy just with baby along for the ride. It will turn to going out to soft play, kids events and family attractions, running round after a toddler and having to stay in in the evenings for bedtimes soon enough.

mine slept through at 7 months, 2 years and 7 years, it is just luck in the most part as to which you get (medical conditions excepted)

My baby is almost 10 months old now, he slept through the night for 9 wonderful weeks from 7 months old. The last few weeks have seen the reintroduction of a 5am night feed, it only takes 10 minutes and he goes straight back to sleep but I rarely manage to go back to sleep myself at that time. We're also in the stage where he can stand up in his cot but can't sit back down again so I need to go in and lie him back down every time he stands up. Babies are constantly changing their sleep patterns.

5 months was probably my favourite age, he was rolling around the room playing with his toys but not so mobile I couldn't leave the room for a few minutes. 6 months onwards is good too but you have the extra hassle of solid foods then.

My babies slept through from about 10 weeks but the fun part didn’t really come until they were around 1 and started developing into proper mini people.

At 7..years? How did you survive that? I can't imagine having another baby because I can't handle the sleep deprivation. Other than that I love my baby and he's getting more interesting with each passing day even though he's still pretty boring. I can't imagine going to the cinema with my baby if he screams I'll be so embarrassed...

Our daughter is 9 months, she doesn’t sleep through, but when she does wake she settles very quickly, so you can get back to sleep quite quickly.

She has just this week started crawling and clapping. I would say we’ve found her fun from about five months maybe, as from then she has been giggly etc.

DS 8 weeks, DD1 6 weeks, DD2 still wakes and she's almost 2 1/2 yrs 😴

About 10 or 11 months.
I’m gonna say he became ‘fun’ at around 18 months or so. When they can walk properly and start to talk basically 😂

DS 10 weeks
Dd 12 weeks by which I mean a decent stretch of 7 hrs not 7-7 which tbf DS never did.
Much more fun from 3/4 months. Ds was born in April and I have very found memories of August and September that year. Dd was born in October and by January/February we were getting out and about loads.

More fun by 4 months and has increased in fun levels ever since, now she’s 9 months she’s active playing and giggling and exploring all day and she learns to do something new every day too. She doesn’t sleep through yet but sleeps usually 7.30-6 with one feed at 4 so not so bad.

Still not sleeping through at 12 months but usually only up once which is a vast improvement on pre six months which was hideous! I think he is super fun now but
I agree with PP who said when they are little do going out for coffee, baby cinema, pottering around town while they are still very portable and don't need entertaining.

Can I ask whether these babies that are sleeping through or decent chunks are breast fed or formula fed? DS1 was formula fed and slept through from 10-6ish by 3 months. DS2 was exclusively breast fed and was awake hourly until he was about 18 months wanting boobing back to sleep. Even now at 3.5 he sleeps through maybe 2/3 nights a week and the rest of the time ends up in with us. I’m pregnant with DC3 and am intrigued as to how this one will sleep as I’m hoping to breast feed again.

I'd say DS was more fun from about 6 months when he could sit up and roll etc. As for sleep he's over 1yo now and still doesn't sleep through the night but he only wakes once usually around midnight which is just a quick put dummy back in and shush and he drops straight back off. Then he wakes up about 4/5am which he comes into bed with me (we used to co-sleep all night) and he'll have a breastfeed and drift back off till around 7.30am.

I think its partially about adjusting expectations as its normal for babies to wake through the night for quite some time. You can combat the tiredness a bit by going to bed the same time as little one a couple of times a week. If you have a partner alternate lie ins at the weekends. If you can nap when baby naps during the day it does help massively but of course I know this isn't always possible as there's often housework/showering/eating to be done then.

If LO is bottle fed then you and partner can tag team feeds too or just tag team resettling. So one of you have a shift from say 7pm until 1am whilst the other sleeps. Then swap and from 1am till morning the other does any resettling etc whilst the other sleeps.

DS was ebf until 4 months
Dd had one bottle a day from 2 weeks and a second bottle from 12 weeks. Then 50:50 till 6 months.

I’m just ahead of you OP - baby boy is 6 months. Slept through consistently from about 3.5 months in his crib, then moved into his own room just before he hit 6 months. Bath, bottle bed 8-9pm every night same thing. He was breast fed for the first 6 weeks, then combi fed until 6 months. Now formula & 3 meals a day + one snack.
Hes really become ‘alive’ since 4 Months I’d say. Very giggly now which is great fun!!! Enjoy xxxx

I much preferred 6 months onwards and look forward to days with my 3 year old now (still find days with my 21 month old testing). Both mine slept through at 3 months. Have the odd rubbish night still and they're both up and ready for the day at 6am but I don't mind as they're usually asleep by 7pm. Hang in there it gets easier.

My 14 month old rarely sleeps through still. It doesn't get any easier in fact probably harder! But it's so worth it when they start having their own personality - once on the move though you'll be even more exhausted than you are now, But hang in there! And your not the only person who doesn't instantly love the feeling of motherhood, there's good days and bad! 🤪

About 9 months but was having good stretches prior to that. Ds is 4 and I found about 2 months to 18 months delightful, 2 years to about 3 and a half the hardest, and I'm really enjoying 4.

Slept through from 5 months, felt like I'd won the lottery, then all went to shit at 20 months (waking 2-3 times a night). Started sleeping through again at 2.5 yrs and now rock solid sleeper at 3 yrs.

Only got fun for me when she was properly walking and talking, and out of nappies at 2 years. So when she wasn't a baby anymore basically!