when should my babe sleep through the night?

[hildysmom]

hi there, am new to this so forgive me if my questions are very common...
i read somewhere that a baby should be able to sleep through the night at 12 weeks and should only be waking once in the night from about 6 weeks.. is this so? or am i expecting the impossible?

every baby is different!

My first didnt sleep through until 15 months, my second slept through at 6 weeks!

Hmmm, the book that said that may need to be binned! There is no 'should' with regard to babies' sleep habits (unfortunately!). My DD slept through at about 6 weeks and my ds (almost 6 months) does not sleep though yet and was waking up to 3 yimes a night until a couple of weeks ago (this weeks its usually just once - thankfully). If I KNOW hes not hungry (eg, just fed him 1 hour ago) I generally rock him, burp him, pat him etc, but otherwise I feed.

After 6 months you can start trying to pat them back to sleep / rock/control crying (if thats your bent), but before then I say just take the path of least resistance, feed them and then everyone can get some more sleep!

How often is yours waking hildysmom? Its hard isn't it?

hildy wakes twice in the night and then wakes to feed at 5, 6, and 7 am. anyone else know that?

H, that sounds exhausting but i'm guessing lo is still very little....so utterly normal. There is a big difference between being (technically) developmentally able to sleep through the night, and actually doing it.

DS slept 6 hours from about 4 months, gradually inching towards 8 - 8 (ish) by @ 18 months. But I was the most sleep deprived of my antenatal mates.

hildysmom - anuthing goes and books shouldnt really state such silly facts. your baby could be fab unti l7mtha and then go nuts at night with teeth, or have a growth spurt and be out of their kilter. rememeber a babys tummy is tiny and only so much can go in so to expect them to go from 8-8 at 12weeks might be a wee bit high.
far better to settle at 8pm if thats bed time and feed again at 11/12 for a good 6/7 hrs sleep then.
its not impossible but dont expect it forever!

how old is she?

DS1 slept through the night at 6 weeks. At 12m he woke up every night and wanted milk until he was about 2 and a half.
DS2 fed in the night every night until he was a year. Now he just wonders around at night (he's 3)!
So, in answer to your question, how long is a piece of string?!

As a breastfeeder,I was happy to feed at night (not all the time obviously) until aobut 9-10 months,then I told them the evening bar was closed.

Happily,they listened.

Hildysmum - have also read and heard similar things but was disappointed, ds now 13/14 weeks old and still wakes at least 2 times a night for food, am suffering as you are but just really trying to go with it although very tired, do get dh to do 10.30 pm feed so can go to bed early- not sure what else to do, but do think it is due to hunger as most often 3-3.5 hours apart, sometimes as much as 4.5 hours! If you find out any good advice do let me know, have tried this thread before and only 2 responses but most telling me there is no hard and fast rule!!
Good Luck!

Most things I have read say you can 'expect' at least one night feed until the age of 6 months. With my dd I was giving her till 6 months and then if she woke at night after that she would not get fed. Luckily she slept through from 8pm till 6am from around 5 1/2 months so didnt have to get tough with her!!

At 6 weeks she fed every 3 hours night and day - cant remember what she was like at 12 weeks (all seems so long ago now - shes now 2.9 years )

thanks for your messages
hildy is 6 weeks old tomorrow (friday). my health visitor told me to feed her as much as poss at her 10.30 feed so that she will sleep longer. the last 2 nights we have done that - hubby giving her a bottle of expressed- and she has woken up only twice each night. i've tried to get her to take lots of milk at the second night feed as well to try and prevent the 5, 6 and 7 o'clock wakings. i can cope with waking twice a night, but not with the up all morning from 5 thing..
will keep going on this track and let you know if it was a fluke or not.

Personally I think 18 months is a good time for MOST babies to be sleeping through the night

Hildysmom, I think she sounds pretty normal for a 6 week old. I'm presuming you do the 5am feed in the dark with no stimulation, if not then I would try that, also black out blinds and curtains may help. TBH I think most babies would love for us all to get up at that time, but just gradually learn that they need to get up when we do.
Our DS went from waking min 3 times per night to overnight sleeping through 7- 7 with dream feed at 11.00 ish from about 8 weeks when he got his first injections, but i think we were lucky.

hey rookiemum,
yup, i do both night feeds in the dark. she's ok at night times but am praying for an overnight transformation to sleeping 7-7 like yours though..

DD1 slept through the night at 6 weeks

DD2 still doesn't at 7 months

Both BF the exact same way etc they are just different, DD2 is much bigger and I reckon just needs more milk, solids have made no difference at all, some nights she wakes 3 to 4 times and only a boob will sooth her back to sleep. With a 2 yo around this can be hard work. I'm utterly shattered most of the time but keep telling myself it's not forever.

ds was sleeping through with just 1 feed at 6 weeks, and sleeping all the way through from about 4 and half months (although I continued a dream feed when we went to bed until he was about 6 months)

DS1 7 months
DD 9 weeks
DS2 3 months

(I mean from 7pm -6am).
You see, it varies! There is no norm on this. I would say that feeding 5/6/7am is a bit of a pain. Is DD getting a good feed at 5am? If so I would expect a longer sleep than an hour.

If she's only 6wks tho this may even be a bit of a growth spurt.

Sounds like you are doing all the right things. I am sure it will get better soon

she doesn't get a big feed at 5 because she falls asleep after only a few minutes on the boob! should i try to get her to wake up more at this feed? if so - how!!?

last night we went out and she hadn't had much sleep in the day, she went down at 9, woke at 11 for a good feed, went down till 4.30, then woke at 7. bliss. may try delaying her late feed till later tonight as well..

hildysmom, yes, a more awake babe at 5am would mean you could then both go down for a good 2-3 hours more which would be better (better still will be when she sleeps through that to 7am, but it would be a good start).
How about just trying to wake her every time she drops iff on that feed - tickle her toes, tap the soles of her feet, offer her the other side - just to get a bit more down her and make sure you get that last chance of early morning snooze (oh I remember this stage so well).

It will get better, I promise. Good call on the less sleep in day = more sleep at night btw.

DD slept through from 12 weeks. Only ever took one bottle feed at night ( 2am ish) from birth. Never dream fed her. I was lucky I suppose. Sleeps like a log now at 18 months - 6:30pm to 7:30am. Most of my friends' babies didn't go through this early though.

DS slept through from 13 weeks, from 6-8 weeks onwards we were on a routine of 6pm bedtime, wake up at 10/11pm for a late feed and keeping him awake for up to an hour.

Then he usually slept til 3amish. Milk feed and back to bed until 6/7am.

Once he started sleeping until closer to 4 or 5am I moved his late feed to 11.30pm. DH would stop up and do that feed and I went ot bed at 9pm, it took a week or so but we got him sleeping 12-6, then moved that late feed back from 11.30 o 11, then 10pm. We had 11pm-7am until he turned 8 motnhs when it all went pete tong again!

We're now back on track (17 mo) sleeping 7.30pm - 6am (ish)