when did your child sleep through the night reliably? (highly unscientific survey)

[Kveta]

By sleep through, I mean a reliable 10 hour stretch, so 7-5, 8-6 or thereabouts.

1. 0-3 months
2. 3-6 months
3. 6-12 months
4. 12-18 months
5. 18-24 months
6. 24-36 months
7. 36+ months (please state!)
8. HA HA HA HA HA what is this sleep of which you speak?

just curious, after being told by family that DS is clearly very delayed and DH and I are shite parents, as all babies should sleep through between 3 and 6 months. And then speaking to other parents who had 'good babies' who slept through early.

We are currently somewhere between 6. and 8. on the above list (he's 29 months and up several times a night most nights)

thanks :)

DD was 6 months, the moment she went into her own bedroom and started weaning. And I mean proper 12 hour a night sleeps, which she's consistently done ever since, now 8-8 aged 5. Wakes up if having a nightmare or needs the loo but otherwise is an excellent sleeper.
I am an evil sleep training mother though.

DD1 about 8w. Dream child.
DD2 5-6m, it was never the sleeping that was the problem, it was getting her to that state to begin with!
DS is 2.6 and has slept through without medication (for teething/illness!) about half a dozen times. He's in a 3-6y sleeping bag to stop him wandering the house after dark. :(

Very good at about 3 months. A consecutive stretch of two weeks at about 9 months. On and off since then. DD is 11 months.

If she wakes properly in the night, she'll be up for two hours, minimum, whatever method we try. If we run in immediately to give her her blanket / remove her head from between the cot bars / lie her down from sitting up, she'll pop back off - that's by far our preferred option. I'd say she wakes at least once, often three times - for five minutes or two hours, depending.

Ouch! It's really hard to think that we're not doing something wrong - but she eats, naps, plays like a dream during the day and is rarely grumpy. It's just those looong nights.

DS slept through reliably from 14 weeks till 6 months. Between 6 months and 7 he would wake up occasionally. Now at 12 months he wakes up constantly!

DS was about 2 weeks old when he started sleeping through, DD about 3/4yrs old.

8 weeks old

GreyGardens we did some evil sleep training too. DS is more evil than us, sadly. Controlled crying resulted in lots of vomiting from him, he screamed for 4-5 hours more nights than we were happy with. we tried it on 3 seperate occasions, on advice from HVs.
gradual withdrawal worked for a few months, but doesn't work now.
shush patting never worked.
routine makes no difference.
bfing made no difference either, and when I night weaned, he still woke regularly, and still does.
dummy removal - 1 week of sleeping through, yay, then back to square one.

Is it wrong to be quite glad to see that different children from the same parents had different sleep habits though?

Between option 1 and 2. He slept 11-6 from about 6 weeks with the odd blip. Then slept 12 hours regularly from just over 3months - he's just super chilled like his dad!

:o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o

DS1 TEN YEARS OLD Is still a bloody nightmare. Woke twice last night (normal for him)
DS2 7yo, is my sleeping angel and has slept through from about 3yo after getting over night terrors.
DS3 3.4 yo still wakes once most nights.

So, last night I ended up in DS1's bed and DH was on the floor with DS3. We often play musical beds in our house
We had a week at October half term where they all slept and it was lovely

I also look 50, but I'm not!

DS about 3 months
DD about 3 years.

Good thing DS was born first tbh

My DS is 19 months and sleeps through (12 hours) probably two nights out of three - not sure if that counts as reliable. It's liveable with anyway.

6 months, as soon as she went onto solids. Practically to the day.

Ds1 - around 8 months, after we did CC because I was losing the will to live.
Ds2 - 6 weeks - best sleeping child ever.
Foster baby - sleep is for the weak, 13 months old and wakes up 2-3 times a night, every night.

Really interesting and comforting thread, thank you! :)

5.5 months

DD pretty much from birth. DS is 13 months and is still waking for a night feed. :(

Between 3 & 4 (years) for both my children.

Neither have ever slept 12 hours though.

DS did one magical 9hr sleep stretch at 3 months.... He then only reliably went all the way through at about 2ys... He's now 3.5 and called up twice last night - we suspect it was the re-occurring dream about a wolf....

DS1-3yrs!
DD1-5mths
DD2-6mths
DS2 is currently 4.5mths and showing no signs of it happening anytime soon. It seems my boys just don't sleep.

Kveta you have my sympathy, I can't function without sleep! I think this is half the reason we stopped at one child, didn't dare risk a non-sleeper .
Actually that 6 months felt like a very long time at the time, especially as my best friend's dd slept through from about 12 weeks.
But yes, it's often down to luck.

Should have said that DS's saving grace is that he never wakes up before 7... love him SO much for that.

My baby still comes into bed with us pretty much every night - she's 7.6!

It is getting very trying but am hoping new bed in bigger room over the summer might make a difference.

dd slept through at 11 weeks, sleeping well until moving into her own bed. She then used to end up co sleeping with us at some point in the night, as was always with us when I woke up!
ds slept through regularly at 5.6 years old!! Now sleeps well at 8 years old, but is always up by 6am!!

kveta I think it goes to show that what works for one is wrong for another. Give it all a try to find out what works for that particular child. Ds2 has done away with any smuggery I may have had. And it's more than just sleep. :) Everything I thought I knew with the first two has gone out the window with ds2.

1. - About 2.5 years. Talking 12 hours here - he was doing 8 hours reliably before this but I can't remember when.

If you speak to families who co sleep and breastfeed on demand the usual age that a child sleeps through is somewhere between 1 and 3 years. I think that it's likely then that this is the biological norm and anything earlier is likely to either be caused by sleep training, or just naturally fall outside the usual spectrum (as with anything!)

I think that sleep training probably skews the average lower, and I would guess that the original "experts" who devised it were going off these unusual babies who slept through early, which is a shame if it means parents have unrealistic expectations and then are frustrated with their child's apparent lack of sleep.

Actually what gets me is the lack of support. If you are lucky you have a lot of support when you have a new born. Everyone expects you to be tired, encourages you to rest etc. 3 years later the empathy is gone and people expect you to get on with it. :(

Sorry for the mini rant.