When (if!) your baby first slept through the night, how and when did it happen?

[Caz10]

My dd1 never slept through the night until she was almost 3, so I have no experience of this! I find it a hard concept to imagine! Did your babies go from waking through the night to not waking at all just in one fell swoop? Overnight, so to speak?!

Dd2 is 3mths and only waking twice, which is miraculous compared to dd1, so I have high hopes...is it as simple as one night she might just miss out a feed? She is only little so I think what she is doing now is perfectly reasonable. But maybe one day...?! And can I engineer it in any way??

DD slept through between 6 and 12 weeks old. She then stopped sleeping through and never did again until we did 3 nights of CC when she was 20 months old.

What would you consider sleeping through?

As far as I was concerned DD was dream baby for doing 11pm-6.30am (our sleeping hours) at 2-3mths, it took months and months longer to get to some kind of 7-7 arrangement (much needed as she was one of those won't-nap-unless-in-mummys-arms until she was 1). Babies are extremely odd!

my ds was 5 and at school when he first slept entirely through the night.
till then, he would wake between 10-20 times a night, every night.

HV gave up on us, no one could help. It was torture.
Now he is 8 and i have to poke him at 8am to get up some mornings

DS1 slept 10pm to 7am at 7 weeks (but screamed for the rest of the time). DS2 woke for at feed at 2am until 5 months.

DD1 was 6 weeks, practically overnight. She would go from about 8pm to 7.30ish am.

DD2 from the off. She went through a phase of waking several times a night at about 3-6 months but then back to all night.

DH & I were very lucky with both of the girls TBH.

Ds is 12 weeks and started sleeping through(7pm to 6am, no dream feed) the odd night at 8 weeks and (touch wood) has done consistently for the last 2 weeks. I keep thinking it won't last but i have fed every three hours (7pm to 7pm) and woken him if necessary then demand fed at night. Whether he would of anyway i don't know. Hes ff so that probably makes a difference.

He did it off and on from about 3 months, but only regularly did from about 10 months. He is ok now at 23months unless ill, too cold, or teething it seems.

DS1 - 20 months, but not consistently
DS2 - 2yo - still waiting...

Oh goodness, all so different! Bigun you deserve a medal, I thought 3yrs was bad...

I am not after 7-7, although obviously would be lovely! Would consider current bedtime of 9pmish through till 6ish a rip roaring success! Right now she wakes twice in that time, but over the past few nights has seemed much less hungry at the night feeds, I was getting my hopes up wondering if changes were afoot!

My DS dropped his 11.00pm feed first and still woke about 3.00am and then that time just kept stretching until 6.00am. We were mean and put him in his own room at 4 months as he was keeping us up and vice versa. On the first night in his own room he slept through. We didn't though and were checking him all night :)

Well, I read that medically speaking sleeping through means midnight to five. So dd six weeks old slept through last night. dd1 was by six months and I can't remember for ds. But he's 2.9 now and sleeps 8-6 and a 2 hour nap so waiting sometimes pays off. Dd1 slept well til toddler then spent next two years sleeping in our bed! After three, I am taking each night as it comes, enjoyed the sleep with dd last night, although preceded by fractious evening, but not expecting anything!

Be interesting to test the theory that formula helps length of sleep. Dd ebf.

I tried formula with dd1 once but she wasn't used to it and it just upset her tum. Now could not contemplate all the kettle boiling etc!

I have evidence that formula doesn't work - DS had a bottle of formula at 10pm and never did 10-7ish until he was 6mo. DD who was ebf slept 7-7 at 14 weeks old for 2 whole blissful weeks.

She then hit the 16 week sleep regression/growth spurt thing and didn't sleep through until 9 months old (although usually only one feed) which coincidentally or not was when DS also finally did 12 hours through.

DS was 12 days old and still in hospital, it was quite a shock.
DD 6 weeks and I had to work at it.
I did bath and then a feed at 11pm then they'd sleep through till 6.

I don't think how you feed makes much difference tbh. Mine were both ff. I co-slept with one and not the other, did NCSS and CC - none of it did anything. In the end I just decided that they'd sleep through when they were ready and there was very little I could do.

Having had three so different I'm inclined to agree. Dd2 has done longer chunks of sleep sooner than the others but also done proper waking up at night rather than just feed and go back to sleep. And all ebf, but different weights, time over/under due date, and number of siblings taking attention/focus from them. Also, my style of parenting has changed-I was seeking routine and structure with dd1 now I go with the flow and the baby's pattern more. Who knows what helps/hinders any baby? Sorry to sidetrack!

3 nights of 11 hours sleep at age 3 months. It happened next at around 17 months without any intervention from me. At 19 m.o. DS now sleeps from bedtime to morning roughly one night a week.

IME sleep is rarely linear - it's messed up by teething, growth spurts, developmental leaps (there are common sleep regressions ahead of the developmenta spurts at 19 weeks, 26, 37, 45, 55, 64 and 75 weeks).