Realistic expectations for 8 week old

[helenlouisey]

Hi

Just wondered what was a realistic sleep pattern for an 8 week old? Our DD was going 5 & 1/2 hours at night a few weeks ago, now I'm lucky to get her to go 3 hours. How do I go back to getting her to stretch to 5/6 hours at night again? It seems quite a few of her 'friends ' will now go between 7 and8 hours between feeds at night & just wondering what I'm doing wrong ? Abu suggestions ? Thanks

All babies are different, but I think it's pretty unusual to get an 8wo sleeping for 5hrs, let alone 7hrs. There is so much going on for them that their sleep patterns will change depending on growth spurts, jabs etc.

My LO didn't sleep more than 3hrs at a stretch until she hit 12 weeks, and then it was only 5hrs for a couple of weeks before she regressed to 2.5 hr stints, dammit

I think the general guidance is not to sleep train until 6 months. Is she waking to feed?

I think the main thing you can try to do at that age is to teach them the difference between day and night, by starting to give them a consistent bedtime routine and being calm and quiet with little eye contact etc when resettling or feeding. Also try and ensure DD is getting as much milk as possible during the day. Hopefully she will start doing a longer stretch at night before too long.

Having said that, I wouldn't worry too much about her doing 'worse' than in the past. Frustrating as it is, I'm pretty sure it's totally normal.

The best thing you can do is think "it's only a phase" and wait for her to move on to the next one!

She's only tiny, and her patterns will change frequently over the coming weeks, but there is little you can actually do to make her change. She will vary her habits according to whether she's having a growth or developmental spurt, even sometimes according to the weather!

Congratulations on your lovely baby!

Ooh, and forgot to say: light (or lack of it) is so important in setting baby's body clock. I would keep things as dark as possible at night time. If you have to change her (and I only would if there's poo or if it's bothering her - after all, if she slept through you wouldn't, right?), then try to keep the lights dim.

At the time you want her to wake up take her somewhere bright, ideally exposing her to natural daylight.

Best of luck x

Glad you posted this, I've been wondering if I was doing something wrong by not having my 9 week DS in any kind of routine yet! It's not for want of trying, but every day he is different so it's impossible to get any consistency. For example last night was great, he slept from 11pm til 4.45am, then had a feed and slept again for another hour and a bit. He's had a couple of good naps today so I was hopeful of another good night. But...been feeding him more or less hourly since lunchtime, he had a bath about 9.30 then a good long feed but is still awake! Sat on the bed in my nice dark quiet room while he cries, wriggles and throws his arms about! His last nap was about 6pm why isn't he bloody tired?!!
Oh, re the light thing, do people have the room pitch black at night once baby's asleep? I've tried having my bedside light on low and turning it off, don't think it makes a difference but does it panic them if they wake up and it's dark?
Sorry to hijack OP, but the general gist of my post is 'you are not alone!'

Hi Cydonia, not sure whether it helps to have it pitch black or not. DD is in our room and we have a small nightlight and leave the hall light on and door ajar so it is dark enough for us all to sleep, but so I can see well enough to do night feeds. The curtains are thick, but not blackout ones.

She certainly knows the difference between day and night - she wakes hungry once or twice a night, but resettles quickly, whereas it's a full-time job trying to get a nap out of her at the moment, and even then they tend to only last about 45 minutes. So a daytime routine is pretty much impossible for us, I just try to keep bedtimes consistent if I possibly can.

Hope that helps - best of luck :)

Matters have not been helped by the blackout blind falling down last night! Though he did sleep from 5.30am - 8.30 in practically broad daylight ( v thin curtains! ) so maybe doesn't matter? At the moment he goes to bed so late that by the time he wakes for a feed it's light anyway so don't have to worry about suddenly switching the light on. He is self settling occasionally though so I'm going to focus on the positives! Small triumphs and all that.

sorry are you talking about 8 months or 8 weeks??

8 weeks, expect nothing. everything will be a bonus. honestly look at the threads of "honestly when did your baby go through the night" very very very few were doing anything other than waking every few hours for milk at 8 weeks.

be kind to yourself and her, she is very young and you will not do yourself or her any favours by having timed expectations of her or yourself!

My 8 week old is EBF and has started going from last feed to 5 or 6am. I have changed nothing she just seems to have done it on her own. She feeds a lot during the day but if this helps her sleep at night I don't mind so much (until my DS 19 month old starts playing up when he knows I'm feeding!). My DS was also EBF but would not sleep through at all until he was older so I'm still shocked she has done it so early.
However, jabs next Friday so worried this could all change very rapidly!

Oh it's such a relief to read this thread, my 8 week old was also sleeping 5hours and then has just suddenly started struggling to even go 3 hours. He is feeding a lot during the day but never seems to sleep, he will cat nap for 20mins maybe twice and that's it - i was worried this was why he wasn't skeeping at night as I had read that babies who sleep well in the day sleep well at night and I wondered if I should be doing more to establish a daytime routine?

A good rule of thumb with all children is to assume they won't sleep, at all, ever, and then any sleep they do get will come as a pleasant surprise.

Glares down at non-sleeping 20 month old