breastfed newborns...when did your baby start sleeping longer at night?

[mamaesi]

Ok I am not expecting too much from my 10 week old... but my lack of sleep is really destroying me and I would like to know it will get better..

so when did your baby go for more than 3 hours at night? top tips to encourage this?

I hate to be the voice of doom but my 20 month old still wakes wanting fed all bloody night.

mamaesi tbh I wish I hadn't asked this question of other people when DD was a newborn. Whether it was the answer of 5 weeks, 2 months, when they start solids, when they start crawling...as each of these markers went past it just made me feel a failure that DD is still not sleeping through - now 9 months. what I would say is you learn to cope with the sleep deprivation a lot better (if it does continue which it may not for you). The majority of my friends babies who are "good" sleepers started sleeping through between 2 and 4 months of age. Those of us with bad sleepers are still waiting. In my small sample group it is about half and half. Sorry if that sounds negative, I remember how dire the 3/4 month mark was before I learnt to cope with the lack of sleep and accepted DD as the funny little character she is, good and bad. Good luck.

Don't know. Ds was probably feeding more than every 3 hours at 10 weeks but by 6 months was sleeping 13 hours a night solid apart from when he had a growth spurt and would feed all night for a couple of nights before going back to sleeping.

Dd is 3 and sleeping through the night is still the exception rather than the norm. I stopped bf her around 21 months and she was still merrily waking up 10 times a night )yes really, not exaggerating) for a feed.

You do kind of get used to the lack of sleep. I consider a full hour at a time to be a good thing, 3 is bliss

I really don't want to tell you it won't give you any hope but I do know of other breastfed babies who slept well. I co slept though and this both made it much easier to hardly wake up and easier for her to wake up regularly without me putting a stop to her antics. She's 1 year now though and I don't feel sleep deprived anymore and haven't done for many months despite ongoing antics.

I think ds went more than 3 hours at night from the start - at first I had to wake him for nightfeeds. By 6-8 weeks he slept 7pm-3am and then woke at 5am and 7am iirc. That lasted til 18 weeks, then he started waking loads, and he is sleeping through reliably now (just!) at 17 months.

Basically, they are all different I think.

My tips would be, learn to feed lying down, have the baby in bed with you, doze through feeds, and nap in the day.

DD1 never did - it was long after she stopped being breastfed that she finally started sleeping through. Probably around 18 months.

DD2 started stretching out at 9 weeks (midnight to 6) and was going 10 to 7 at 4 months. Now, at 4 and a half months... she is waking every hour again

I think some babies are good sleepers and some aren't regardless of feeding method. I seem to have got the two extremes.

at 10 weeks I think we were on 10pm & 3am or midnight and 5am, roughly. We had a first full night through around 6 months.

At 10 weeks DS was pretty good and would have a dream feed at 11 and then a feed at 5. If he woke at any other time I would offer water but he rarely did. Was great until 6 months. Now at 11 months he will wake every 45 minutes if he's in his cot.

no sense to it all!

so maybe I should be asking for coping mechanisms... ??

as my tiredness is making me irritable and slightly depressed. And I cannot nap in the day as I have a very active toddler keeping me going all day.

What helped me through (and still does at 14 months) was feeding with my eyes closed. It's not as good as sleep, but for me, it just gives my brain/batteries a bit of a recharge.

Not rocket science I know, but it really helped me out.

I also made sure I went to bed as soon as I'd got DS off to sleep - was a bit rubbish as I didn't get to see DH much, but looking back, that stage didn't last that long really.

Final coping mechanism, keep reminding yourself 'this will pass...'

HTH

I go to bed when dd does, and try to be asleep by 9. I don't have a dp though so I don't need to worry about missing out on seeing anyone.

I also completly lowered my expectations. I gave up even really thinking about the sleep issue and just decided to roll with it. It works for me but also please note that dd is 20 months ans still wakes up about 6 times a night so it is probably not the way to go.

During the day I just try to put one foot infront of the other and generally I feel okay. I am a student so days when I am in college can be hard. I just try to have quite lazy days when I am at home.

16 months. This was after some gentle night weaning and sleep training though.

However, I work with lots of mums and new babies and have known some BF babies who slept through from as early as 6 weeks.

All babies learn at their own rate.

Don't give up hope, mine slept trough from 11 weeks, 7.30 - 7.30ish. I always gave her a bottle of expressed milk as her last feed though. Breast feeding at the end of the day seemed to send her to sleep before she was full, consequently she would wake up an hour later for another feed, fall asleep, wake up, feed and so on until about 10pm.

DS is 15 months. I can count on the fingers of one hand the occasions he has slept longer than 3 hours, and they are all in the pre-midnight slot.

Things have actually got worse as he gets older, he used to feed for 15mins then fall asleep again. Now he wriggles and farts and screams when you try to out him down.

I have given up. I am a zombie. I look and feel like shit.

The only coping mechanism I can suggest is not having any expectations, that way you avoid disappointment.