How heavy was your baby when he/she first slept for 8hours straight?

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My DD is 4.5months old but was 2 months early and small for dates so still only weighs around 10lbs.

She sleeps well but her limit is about 6hours at night. I suspect this is size related. Books and other posts generally talk about ages which is hard to interpret in my case.

How heavy were yours when they could go for a whole night?

Thanks for the help

This is what the NHS says

'Water

Fully breastfed babies don’t need any water until they’ve started eating solid food. Bottle-fed babies may need some extra water in hot weather. For babies under six months, use water from the mains tap in the kitchen that's been boiled then cooled. Water for babies over six months doesn’t need to be boiled.'

I'm not going to argue the point any longer. Giving an otherwise sated baby a drink of cooled boiled water in the night never harmed anyone and it is outrageous to suggest otherwise.

The comment about no mammal ever being able to cope, at night, without food for eight-odd hours is just stupid. Lots and lots of babies sleep through the night (or for long stretches) from some pretty early ages. Non of them suffer from malnutrition but all of them enjoy quality sleep.

OK, fair enough, i've never had a formula fed baby. BUT, that guideline says they MAY need some water, "in hot weather".

you initially were saying that babies should be given water at night if they wake up at a time that you deem incorrect for feeding. that you should somehow force feed in some extra during the day, then only give water at night. regardless of the temperature.

and that's DEFINITELY not covered in that guideline. nor is it a safe practice.

lol "quality sleep"... there is no data about baby sleep and what constitutes "quality sleep" for a baby... there is even a theory that they need more REM cycles to build neural pathways, so they sleep lightly by necessity and those who sleep early through are an anomaly.

Greedy, good luck giving out bad information to new mothers! hopefully they'll have the sense to ask a doctor or someone with correct info...

www.isisonline.org.uk/how_babies_sleep/normal_sleep_development/

have a look here greedy. Its accessible actual research.

Please don't put words in my mouth. I said that, once genuine hunger has been eliminated as the reason for waking, we can assume the baby is waking out of habit and expecting milk as a settler (especially if it's the breast as BF-ing mums tend to feed their babies to sleep). Under these circumstances, if baby has fed well at the late feed (11pm) you could offer cooled boiled water. No-one is suggesting you torture a starving baby!

Routines are notoriously difficult to implement when breastfeeding. I honestly think Gina Ford would be more respected if she came out and said what I suspect she really believes: Breastfed babies are very difficult to tank up for a splendidly long stretch of sleep

please... i'll say it again... regardless of how much you want to sleep (and i really understand how hard it is to go without sleep)... a breastfed baby MUST NOT be offered water.

you cannot "eliminate hunger" as a reason for a bf baby crying. there is no way of measuring how much milk the child has had. the last feed could have been 15ml and then lots of sucking, and may they need more fluids even though it's only two hours later.

it doesn't matter if you fed them at 11pm. if they're under 6 months old (at the very least), for the love of God, breastfeed on demand.

anyone reading here, if your baby is breastfed (and, unless it is very hot, formula-fed), and is not eating solids reliably, PLEASE DO NOT GIVE HIM OR HER WATER. it is dangerous and no sane hcp would tell you to offer it in anything but exceptional circumstances.

Beatrice, I prefer to read Weissbleuth's Sleep Training Method. The man is a genius and my baby slept through from 7pm - 7am with a late feed at 11pm from eight weeks old.

Stamp, the OP came here for advice, not to her GP. As far as I am aware, I don't need Dr in front of my name to offer advice on mumsnet.

no you don't need to be a dr.

but you do need to at least try not to give advice that directly and explicitly contradicts very basic official guidelines designed to prevent infant hospitalization and death.

Why are you ranting? Didn't I quote from the NHS which said a breastfed baby should not need water? Didn't the article go on to advise regarding bottle-fed babies? I only BF-ed for a short time and so my 'success' with my baby was won through formula feeding. However, there are lots and lots of women (many of whom have commented here) whose breastfed babies are managing eight/nine/ten hours of sleep. Perhaps they tank them up at a late feed with expressed milk; perhaps they add in a bottle of formula. Who knows? But they've succeeded where you are claiming it is impossible.

I didn't think it was anything to do with weight! That's the first I've heard of it- I thought it was all to do with the baby as an individual, bf/ bf - lots of factors.

Ds1 was 5 kg at birth and bf - he woke every 4 hrs and fed, then slept, but even now at 7 he doesn't sleep much. He also didn't like his Moses basket, as when I put him in the cot I had he slept much better- mattress issues:)

One family I knew had terrible problems until they took away the mobile over the baby's cot. She didn't like it- but could only scream her displeasure.

My dd1 was 3.3 kg and bf and slept all night without problems. But she co slept as well.

I found Penelope leach, " your child from 0-5" very helpful.

My hv advice for a newborn was put him in cot at 7pm and leave til 7am. Ignore hysterical screaming. Teach him who's boss. Big smile and ignore. Common sense should prevail really.

May I suggest you are a sensationalist, stamp, and are grasping at the teeny tiny amounts of babies who have been poisoned by water? Are you this zealous in the face of women who co-sleep with tiny babies despite the very clear guidelines? I wouldn't dream of telling those mums they are imperilling the lives of their infants. Would you?

i'm not ranting at all. i just get quite nervous when people are so insistent that their advice is sane when it really, really isn't.

yes, the article did say "formula fed babies can have water in hot weather" but you're not saying that. you're saying ALL babies, and especially formula fed ones, can be given water if they wake after a dream feed. which is patently not good advice.

"once genuine hunger has been eliminated [ as i said, this is not possible to do for a bf baby ] as the reason for waking, we can assume the baby is waking out of habit [ this is not supported by research; it is normal for a baby to be wakeful ] and expecting milk as a settler (especially if it's the breast as BF-ing mums tend to feed their babies to sleep). Under these circumstances, if baby has fed well at the late feed (11pm) you could offer cooled boiled water."

Co-sleeping is an area of controversy where different medical authorities, internationally, do not agree.

Water intoxication is something easily avoided, and is not controversial at all.

It is definitely the case that babies waking at night is physiologically normal.

It is not clear why FF babies are more likely to asleep longer, possibly due to the milk taking longer to digest.

Making babies sleep longer is solely for the parent's benefit. Unless there is some sort of an extreme case of not sleeping, there's no evidence that sleeping through its particularly beneficial to the baby. Much more convenient and restful though, I agree!

If a bf baby has taken a bottle of expressed milk at the late/dream feed - and has fed well during the day - and wakes again at 2am you can pretty much bet he is not seeking milk. How you get him back to sleep is your business, but for me, a small amount of cool boiled water does the trick. Mind you, I've begun weaning my baby daughter just this week when she turned five months. I'm proper evil like that, me.

2.9, 15 kg, still waiting....

DS, who was FF, didn't go more than four hours without waking until he was weaned, then only went to six hours until he started pre school. Even now,at seven years old, it isn't unusual for him to survive on eight hours if we have been late home from a party. He is an early riser regardless of how late he goes to bed.

As for feeding, DS is and always has been on the 9th percentile for weight even though he took a full bottle at 11pm and another half a bottle or more at 3 or 4am when he was a baby.

Greedy it sounds like you've swallowed Gina hook line and sinker. Glad its working for you but please don't beat yourself up about it if you find things dont all go according to plan inthe future.

For now rest in the smugness that you have a sleeping baby all through your own hard work (or something ;))

THe ISIS website is a result of DUrham university sleep studies and research. Although some babies will sleep through by 6 months its not uncommon to still be waking at a year. If you look at their website you will see proper research, not just one book and a bit of anecdotal evidence.

How can you bet that greedy?

Based on what?

What you think babies "should" do?

I can base it on my own experiences with my baby, velvet, and the experiences of the other 49 mumsnetters who shared the antenatal thread (and now we have had our babies, fb).

Beatrice, books can change your life; they have mine

50 mothers on a random website went against documented medical advice and peer-reviewed research, and their babies are still alive, so those reading here might want to do the same. is that the argument?

my mother fed me on rice cereal dissolved in sugar water instead of formula, and i'm still alive; shall we all do that too?

Well, I'm basing my opinion on 21 years of parenting over 4 different children and meeting many other parents during that time.

Greedy, you have been lucky. Not al babies can be forced into strict schedules like that, but you probably won't believe that until you have a baby that shows you otherwise.