what to expect sleepwise at 6weeks??

BUDDI · 2003-08-22T16:58:10+00:00

ello..my six week old is dozing off between 9 and 10.30 pm..waking for a feed at midnight ish (or i wake him if he doesnt manage himself)..then he usually wakes between 2.30am and 4am (dpending on last night feed) and then gain 5-6am..sometimes we lie in until 8.30am, or he lies in bed with me gurgling away until I can muster enough energy to climb out of my slimber. Ideally it would be good to get him to go through from 11.30pm until 6am..am I dreaming? I'm just not sure what to expect at this stage, and what i should be doing to encourage him eventually sleeping through. Am I supposed to set a bedtime..like 7pm? millions of questions..so little time!

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SamboM · 22/08/2003 18:05

Dream on girl, dream on!

I honestly can't remember, but I don't think my dd slept that long till she was 3 or 4 months.

CP · 22/08/2003 18:17

BUDDI, congratulationson the new arrival! We decided to push for a bedtime of 19h00 with dd so that dh and I could have our evenings which when established was/is worth it. I think you may find you have a 'dead of the night' feed for a little while yet though as their tummies are not big enough to take the milk they need to go through the night. Perhaps by 10 or 12 weeks you may be able to drop them if you are lucky. Good luck.

hermykne · 22/08/2003 18:24

buddi
6 wks is in my opinion a little early for bedtime setting. my dd was a feeder a eleven pm then 2.3o then 6, but eventually settled with the evening feed at 7.then her routine changed and she was up til eleven at three months, us knackered. but if they are hungry - are you bf? you will know quite quickly the cry for food.
Gina Fords book, dare i say her name!, is good for getting you on a schedule. not religiously sticking to it. but you can plan your days. and then have a bit of time for you and your hubbie

Dahlia · 22/08/2003 21:46

Buddi - my dd2 is 9 weeks old, she has a bottle at about 10pm and will usually go through til 7am - she is on 5oz feeds at the mo, when she goes on to 6 oz in a couple of weeks I will try to put her down at about 7pm and see how long she goes!! But I appreciate we are incredibly lucky with her sleep, most babies do not do this well so early on. I presume you are breastfeeding? I suppose mine goes longer because she is bottle fed.

misdee · 22/08/2003 21:53

i'll probably get shot fopr saying this, but six weeks is not too young to be setting a routine up. if u can do it (not always possible) do a winding down routine (bath, bottle, bed or something similar), get your baby used to the bedtime routine and hopefully soon he'll be sleeping longer. u may still be having night feeds, but if u can get him asleep say by 7, it will give u some 'me' time even if its just u watching eastenders or having a long bath. 6weeks is very young, but i dont see why u can start a routine now.

motherinferior · 23/08/2003 10:30

EVerything's worth a go, IMO. I can - and frequently do - bore on and ON about sleep with my eight week old; at the moment a night through seems a lovely lovely fantasy we may realise in about six years' time...but you may get lucky. Just don't tell me when you do!

ninja · 23/08/2003 20:32

Does your DS seem tired before 9? At about this age our DD was getting overtired in the evening (now that's another thread!) and we did start putting her to bed between 7 and 8, she still seemed tired and so now we start a bedtime routine between 6 and 6.30. It's now possibly my favourite part of the day with her (and not just because freddom for me is only an hour away!), but she loves kicking naked under her mobile, her massage and bath time (with me) - getting her to sleep has been more difficult but getting better and she's definitely ready for it. Her first stretch of sleep is the longest 7.30ish til - well 10.30, 12.30, 1.30, 2.30 or 4.30 depending on the night! I'm happy with that as later it'll free me to go out without her needing to feed.

Sorry I'm rambling - I guess I'm saying if a bedtime of 7 fits then give it a go - it does mean time for you. As for sleeping those hours plenty do seem to - plenty don't but it's possible I'm sure

Original poster

BUDDI · 24/08/2003 21:54

thanks for all your replies..I guess its just 'make it up as you go along' at this age..or he does nayway, ! yawning widely after what feels like a few seconds sleep..it is nice in the evening tho you're right..to have a soak or watch eastenders xx

OP posts:

Payney · 25/08/2003 21:27

My three month ds will go to bed at 7pm, is woken at 10.30 for a feed then will sometimes go thru till 6.30 or will wake once during the night. This is (I realise this now) quite good although the girls from my antenatal classes seemed to have babies that slept all night so I felt as though I was doing something wrong. Once tummies are big enough to hold more food, they can sleep for longer.

pumpkin2 · 26/08/2003 11:45

My DS is 10 weeks and has really got settled in the 7-10 bedtime, now has to be woken for a feed at 10.30ish - I have to say, we only managed this by following Gina Ford, I would recommend her if like me you are someone who needs a bit of structure, even if your baby won't do exactly the same everyday I find it gives me a rough framework.

Re nightfeeds - down to once a night now - time varies hugely depending on how much he takes last feed (Dad does this one with a bottle of EBM so we have an idea how much!) but last night - hurrah - slept till 6.30!!! Did a v late last feed tho 11.15 so that may have helped.

Payney · 26/08/2003 23:06

Is there any logic in this business of child rearing??!! My 12 week old ds will take a huge feed at 10.30 (bottle) so I end up thinking I will have a long stretch of shut-eye and instead I am up three hours later (I realise this is a long time for some of you, so I apologise for complaining!). Last night, instead of having to wake him at 10.30pm, he woke at 9.45 - shock horror!What would GF say??!! Here I was expecting a couple of night feeds as a result, only to be woken at 6 am then being able to put him back down until 8.30 am by which time I had painted the front door, the garden gate and the wendy house (I am not being smug - just interested to know what determines this). It doesn't make any difference if he has fed loads in the day either so what is the secret? I'm not complaining as I realise that a 0 - 1 night feed is great at this age - I am just trying to work out how one night I get a great night's sleep against the odds, then I do everything by the book and get woken up! Sorry for waffling - I've just recently hit on this website and it's a godsend! I had PND at the beginning and I've only just started feeling like a "proper" mum. I only wish I had heard of mumsnet then - I'd have saved a fortune on magazines and baby books!

Lamin · 27/08/2003 09:18

Payney you sound just like me! I am forever trying to figure things out with my ds - I feel like I am conducting a permanent scientific experiment. He is now 16 weeks and more often than not sleeps through till about 7. When he wakes now I don't feed him just a cuddle and a bit of water. A word of warning though watch the amount in your 10.30 bottle. Like you I made it really big thinking it would help him sleep through but now I think it is going to take me ages to get him off it. He is going off his 7am bottle but I am scared to reduce the 10.30 one, a la Gina, in case he starts waking up again. Going to have to bite the bullet sooner or later!

Lamin · 27/08/2003 09:19

Payney you sound just like me! I am forever trying to figure things out with my ds - I feel like I am conducting a permanent scientific experiment. He is now 16 weeks and more often than not sleeps through till about 7. When he wakes now I don't feed him just a cuddle and a bit of water. A word of warning though watch the amount in your 10.30 bottle. Like you I made it really big thinking it would help him sleep through but now I think it is going to take me ages to get him off it. He is going off his 7am bottle but I am scared to reduce the 10.30 one, a la Gina, in case he starts waking up again. Going to have to bite the bullet sooner or later!

Payney · 27/08/2003 12:18

At what point should you start giving them water instead of milk during the night? My HV keeps saying, "Not yet" but doesn't go on to tell me when is the right time. When does the 10.30 feed stop ideally? So many questions...

codswallop · 27/08/2003 12:21

sorry to disapoint you all but even at 5 months there is no logic at all

Bobsmum · 27/08/2003 13:06

We aimed to have a bedtime of 7pm.
Ds had another "top up " feed at 10pm ish (we woke him up just before dh and I headed for bed). It was a bottle of expressed b/milk because ds would fall asleep immediately on the breast!
The 10pm feed was dropped when we introduced solids at 5.5 months, but tbh I think he could have slept through from 7pm sooner than that.
He slept through till 7/8am from the 10pm feed at 9 weeks.

Lamin · 27/08/2003 17:39

Payney I messed about trying to give water in the night (on my mums advice) from when ds was about 8 weeks old but tbh this was far too early for my ds and meant he just woke up again an hour later - he is a very greedy baby! - so I just made life more difficult for myself. However as your baby has already shown you he can do it I would try water. My mum got so sick of me moaning about him not sleeping that she came and took over one night a couple of weeks ago and gave him water and he has more or less slept through since then! Gina says drop the 10.30 feed when they have slept through for two weeks consecutively. I am going for it when I get back from my hols week after next. Also have sympathy re all your friends babies sleeping through - my NCT lot claim theirs all slept through from about 10 weeks!! How rubbish did I feel. Have sneaking suspicion they are perhaps being a bit liberal with the truth though ...

codswallop · 27/08/2003 18:37

you need to investigate what they call sleeping though. I define it as 12 hours. ( ie 7 - till 7) No sneaky top ups.

Bobsmum · 27/08/2003 19:25

I agree codswallop. I have a few friends who claim that "sleeping through" means making it through to about 5am, being fed then "sleeping through" again till 8am. Certain mums maintain that because the feed "didn't last very long" then it counts as going through the night...um..no.

Other mums I know have kept their babies up till around midnight and then claimed that the babies waking up at 6am also counts as "sleeping through".

12/3 unbroken hours is a real "sleeping through the night" IMhO. The Sleep Council recommend 14-16 ish hours for babies and very young children.

At 6 weeks, they're too young to go 12 hours without needing a feed - their tummies are only ickle.

SamboM · 27/08/2003 19:27

Bobsmum, that 14 - 16 hours is including naps isn't it? Can't imagine my dd sleeping that long (unless drugged)

Imagine it, bed at 7pm, wake up at 11am!!!!

Payney · 28/08/2003 22:19

My baby's a hubba so I thought that his tummy would hold more - he can go through from 10.30 to 6 but has not done this for two consecutive weeks yet. My mate's baby is a week older, is a tiny mite having been born prematurely and will sleep through from 8pm to 8 am (has done from the start)...
Am feeling like bad mother - having said that my ds is 12 weeks, my hv informed me today that he is almost 14 weeks old. Oops... . I am back in work on Monday so am hoping that concept of time will return!

Bobsmum · 28/08/2003 23:05

Sorry - bit slow on the uptake yesterday.
Sambo M - I meant 14-16 hours in total during the day not all at once...if only

Bobsmum · 28/08/2003 23:06

Sorry - bit slow on the uptake yesterday.
Sambo M - I meant 14-16 hours in total during the day, not all at once...if only

Bobsmum · 28/08/2003 23:06

doh

ninja · 29/08/2003 08:50

Sleep books that I have read define 'sleeping through' as more than 5 hours - don't know if that makes you all feel better. The problem to me is when the five hours are. My dd sleeps better at the beginning of the nigt and it doesn't make any difference if I wake her up to feed when I go to bed or not.