Sleeping through the night

[Tiegs]

my Baby is five months old and doesn’t sleep through the night . He still wakes up a lot in the night to be breast fed. Feel like I’m doing something wrong . Should he be sleeping through the night now ????

I hate this flex. It means nothing and just makes other mums feel bad!

Don’t assume they’re all telling the truth, either.

See I hate the whole 'everyone who says their baby sleeps through is lying' comment. Because for a lot of mums they're not. My kids did sleep through from early on. What do I achieve by lying about it? It's not a flex. Most people i know only discuss it when asked by other parents. I always said it was not because of anything I did. I do not consider myself to be any better than any other parent because of it.

I had PND with both kids. DC1 had CMPA and was a miserable baby who screamed all day everyday for 8 hours a day. When I had DC2, I had two DC under two. I had no family nearby and had to do everything by myself. Every mum has their own struggles.

See, I don’t think I’m including mums like you in my comment. As you say, we all have different struggles. I had a happy content baby who took to a bottle no trouble, I could take him anywhere and he’d be happy as a clam BUT I was on my own, he didn’t sleep without 3-4 wakes until he was nearly 2.

SOME mums do use it as a flex though. Same as some mums do the same when it’s time for weaning, or potty training.

Same for my 8 1/2 month old. I'd be over the moon with just 3 hours! My 8year old was also a shit sleeper as a baby, so I thought I might be gifted one this time, but no.

You’re not doing anything wrong! My five month old has never slept through. Sometimes he only wakes up once (oh glory be), sometimes it’s approx a billion. Depends how hungry he is/ how much comfort he needs/ how sadistic he’s feeling.

Thank you for your help

Mine slept through from 6-7 months but was very much in the minority amongst people I knew. All the others in my NCT group were waking regularly for much longer, some still every hour or two. Also mine stopped magically sleeping through the night when she turned 1 and went to nursery and I’ve barely had a good nights sleep since.

I also think it is mostly down to the child’s natural temperament rather than parenting methods although one baby in the NCT group did sleep better after some gentle sleep training at 6-7 months.

No and don't listen to the people who say their babies sleep through since birth. This drove me crazy!

My 9 week old sleeps from 11 pm through till 6am. Change and a feed and he goes back down until 9.30am. I think I've been quite lucky!

Breastfed babies don't sleep through.

Mine slept through every night from 4 months, but I give formula to her at night.

As far as I know, breastfed babies wake up at night as long as you breastfeed them - either for food or for comfort.

You don’t wake your baby up for feeds ? I was told when my son was newborn to wake him ip every three hours for a feed

My baby slept 6pm to about 6am that to me is sleeping through

My 2 year old wakes more now than when she was under a year … but goes back to sleep easily - mostly except last night where apparently she had to sing to me for 45 mins at 1am 🤣🤣

One day I will sleep properly… but not yet

Nope, they may sometimes sleep through at this stage but then the next developmental stage pops up and everything changes again.

Mine started sleeping through at about 1 but has recently started waking again at nearly 2.

At 5 months they are very young and you still need to be reactive to their needs at any point. Keep going, it will get easier.

They eventually wean themselves - mine eventually did as did lots of friends babies who breastfed - it takes longer obviously if you follow their lead but you do get there!

Babies in our family (including mine plus nieces nephews) - all breasted ranged from 6 weeks old to age 4

Baby will sleep through when ready and there's not much you can do

One of mine slept through at 4 months, the other at 14 months. I could not tell you what caused this difference - they are both similar weight, temperament etc and could both settle themselves to sleep.

My mum upset me when my first was born by telling me that both me and my sister slept through at 6 weeks. Later she clarified this by saying she stopped feeding us at night a 6 weeks - but we actually still woke up a lot until we were toddlers.

My child is 6 and doesn't sleep through the night. Who peddles out this nonsense?