Can co-sleeping babies sleep through the night?

[Almondine]

I co-sleep with my 15 month old daughter & she has never slept through the night & typically wakes every 3 hours, usually requiring a feed to get back to sleep (if she doesn't have milk & I cuddle her or rub her bottom to help her go back to sleep, she doesn't seem to sleep as deeply & tends to wake again after an hour).

The issue is now that I am going to be changing jobs in 2 months which will require me to be on call overnight, & I think it would be good to get her sleeping better now & possibly able to be settled by my husband (although this is a whole other issue!) so that she doesn't get stressed with me not being there overnight (obviously if she slept through & never realised I'd gone that would be perfect!)

Any advice from any other co-sleeping mums?
Thanks,
A xx

ALMONDINE, my lo is 13 months and we co sleep. it hasnt always been the case but we r going to be working on some sleep training soon.

have u done any sleep training at all?

My wee boy (10mnths) co sleeps with me and for the last three months or so, has been sleeping for longer periods. He feeds to sleep at around 8pm and wakes every 90mins or so for more milk, which can be frustrating, but i'm going with it for now. Then, when we go to bed at around 11, he has one more feed and then often sleeps right through til 7am. Sometimes he wakes at 6 for a pre breakfast feed but we both usually doze off again til he wakes properly with a smile and a frolick! He used to wake every three hours too, I don't know what happened to change his pattern,i wonder if it's to do with carbs at dinner, or how active he was during the day? Who knows? but i mostly wake refreshed.

Having said that, it doesn't really help you in your situation. I know mums who breastfeed but give formula before bed? Also, my poor husband sleeps on a mattress by our bed, so our baby does have a lot of space to stretch out and isn't woken by us moving about in our sleep. That may be a factor? I'm not certain about it though.

Interesting question. My co-sleeping 8mo is also a frequent waker. Last night I managed to settle him in his bedside cot (which up until now has functioned as a very expensive toy holder...) and he slept for longer than he has done almost ever. Not sure how long exactly but must have been a few hours as I had boobs like Pammy ;) when he finally woke. I'm not going to believe it until it happens again, though!

Another thing I'm intending to try tonight is to spoon feed him at dinner. We have previously been blw'ing but I am hoping that a larger meal might help him sleep longer [triumph of hope over experience emoticon].