Sleeping through the night/requiring just one feed...is a 6 week old meant to do this?!!

[amandine07]

I think I know the answer to this already!

My baby is 6 weeks old...we are finding the sleep deprivation is starting to take it's toll.

My OH does late feed at around midnight then I'm up in the night a few times....for example I was up to feed at 1.45am then 3am and then up for the day at 5.45am

My OH thinks we need to speak with the HV or GP about our baby's sleep. He mentioned work colleagues who say their baby only needed one night feed at this age.

One of this friends has a baby the same age as ours and OH says that she is sleeping through, only wakes once for a feed between midnight and 6am

I just told him not to compare to others, plus his work colleagues have rose tinted spectacles as their kids are all pretty much school age now.

If you have a 6 week old, how is the sleep going currently...?
Didn't manage to sign up for NCT & ante natal classes were too crowded to make any meaningful contacts...don't know anyone else with a baby the same age as ours.

Now feeling paranoid & worried not to mention totally knackered!
Any thoughts?
Thank you in advance

So this is fathers saying their babies only needed on feed at night at 6 weeks?

Now, in my book 1.45am and 3am is only two feeds in the night. But then I wasn't the one being woken up last night.

I think your baby is normal.

Her sleep sounds normal for that age imo. Some babies do sleep more than others. FWIW, my first ds slept with one waking from about ten till six, but then started waking every two hours at four months.

By all means speak to the HV but I think they will tell you it is normal.

Thank you
I do know it's pretty normal but I'm sick of hearing how so and so's baby practically sleeps through the night at a similar age.

My nephew slept like an angel for the first 3 months then he was up at all hours and continues to be this way at 18 months!

When does your baby go to sleep for the night? Just wondering if you are doing bedtime a bit early ... so your baby is having his/her best sleep in the evening rather than at night when you are wanting to sleep.

That's what happened to us - we started with the 7pm bedtime WAY too early and found DD slept well between about 7-12 or 7-1am but was up loads from 1am to morning. With hindsight we should have made her bedtime 11pm, then she'd have slept till 5 or 6.

PS I'm not sure she was doing her 7-12 stretch at 6 weeks though. Probably a bit older than that.

Excellent point minipie.

Op your baby sounds totally normal. It's exhausting. But it will get better.

My dd is 15 days old &:my brain is barely functioning!

My DD is 7 weeks today. We go to bed with her between 11 and midnight. She sleeps until 4 then back down until 6.30. Then down for a bit longer or not. Except last night when she was up from 4-6 after squirting poo across her nursery . My DS was going 7 hours straight by 11 weeks but then by 15 weeks he was up every two hours. I don't think it's worth stressing too much yet as it can all change very quickly.

DD will be 6 weeks tomorrow.

She sleeps for a good 12 hours at night, but wakes for feeds every 2 hours. You're not alone!

DS is 4 weeks

Feed at 10pm then we all go to bed. Feeds at

1am
4am
7am then usually will doze until about 8-9am and then wants to feed again and be up for the day

All 4 of mine only had 1 feed per night (99% of the time) between 7ish and 7ish from a few days old. Eldest was bottle fed rest breast fed.

Eldest was average birth weight the others were monsters. I did priroritise ensuring they got lots of feed during the day. I made a point of not letting them feed to sleep on the bottle/boob too.

Apart from that I was just fortunate IMHO.

Certainly amongst bottle feeders I think only 1 night feed at 6 weeks is fairly "normal" because it's just easier to regulate their daytime intake.

travellingtoad does your 4wo stay awake much of the day?

My 3wo has been napping on and off since 2 with very little awake time. This is with me handling her, lights in, radio on, talking to her etc. she has always been quite sleepy but it seems wrong to totally wake her if she is not naturally waking up.

We probably have an 11pm, 2, 5 and 7 feeds at night.

Sounds totally normal - DS (12 week) goes down at 7pm (you literally can't keep him awake) then wakes at 11/12, 3/4 and 6 ish. Think DD only woke once at about 10weeks onwards (after feed at 11pm).

Totally normal. I was told by my neighbours with a 13 year old dd, that she slept through from 3 weeks. Rose tinted specs much?

My dd did two feeds by 12 weeks, then sleep regression hit until week 21. It's now once a night.

It is hellish, but normal and it will get better.

thisisfreaking no he sleeps most of the day. He's started the last few days being awake 9am-11am but then the rest of the day he sleeps....wakes for a feed and then sleeps. Some days I don't think I see his eyeballs! :) it's very normal. This is DC2 and our son was the same. They slowly wake up as the weeks go on.

Sounds completely normal to me.
Please be aware people like to embellish the truth slightly and when people say babies are sleeping through the night it may not be by the same definition as yours.
Also by six week my ds would generally settle quite quickly after he had woken for a feed. As I bf dh didn't really wake and would quite often think he'd slept all night when in fact I'd been up two or three time.
My ds was poor sleeper for ages but is brilliant now, others it know who had sleepy babies have very up sleepy toddlers.

Thank you for all the replies!

Think I'm just in need of a reality check, plus to stop that horrible feeling that I/we're doing it all wrong, as ridiculous as that sounds.

We're putting him down around 8 or 9pm but he doesn't stay asleep for long, then the OH tends to keep him in the lounge with him for a late feed around midnight, then I'm up for about 2am & every couple of hours.

We're feeling knackered, I think in this situation it's so very easy to lose all perspective..thank god for Mumsnet!

By 8 weeks DS was sleeping 6 hours, but at the beginning of the night - so bed at 8/9pm, waking for feeds at 2/3am, 4/5am, up at 7am.