Calling all parents of "bad sleepers"... When did they finally sleep through?

[Nickname1980]

My LO is 8.5 months and is up every two hours at night. I think I need to hear other stories to make myself feel better... When did yours start sleeping through??

LizzieMint - really?! That is good to hear. Was that your last DC? Still not expecting miracles with this little wriggler. Expect the worst and hope for the best I think...

dd1 - 4.5yo (but still came into bed with us a couple of times a week for another year or so)
ds1 - still doesn't sleep through at 8yo (he has ASD)
dd2 - started sleeping through at 5yo & it was a bloody miracle - she has been the worst & had me on my knees with total exhaustion & desperation. She's still terrible at going to sleep though.
ds2 - a dream at getting to sleep but still wakes at least once, he's 3.5yo

12 months 1 week...or so I thought! The first and last time she's ever slept longer than 3 hours in a row (she did 9 hours!!!!), I was bragging about it all over the place how my sleepless nights were finally over. Of course the next night she went back to 2 hourly wakings. She is otherwise delightful!

13 months when I no longer wished to co-sleep. We had to do cc. It was a hard week, but she sleeps amazingly now at nearly four. DD2 slept ok (one-two wake ups) till four months and now at 5.5 months is up three-four times a night. I suspect I won't wait as long this time to sleep train her.

Eldest stared sleeping through at 2.4yrs when we dropped his nap. He's a right fine sleeper now at the age of 4yrs.

DS2 - leaps and bounds better.....Is still often up for teething etc but has been able to sleep through since he was 12-14 months or so.

My older one was rubbish at that age but started sleeping through about 11 months, just as I was going back to work. Gutted #2 didn't do the same. He'll get there. For mine it had a lot to do with how hardcore I wanted to be, which wasn't very, until I was knackered and night weaned. At 8.5 mths there is no reason to think they will be a persistent bad sleeper.

My DD was the most awful sleeper, but started to sleep a lot more at 8.5 months and now at 22 months is a pretty fab sleeper. So don't be disheartened. She was exclusively breasted until 6 months, then at 8.5 months just started refusing boob so started getting formula. Around the same time she started sleeping through. No idea whether the two are connected or not - but boy was I relieved.

My DD didn't sleep through the night until she was nearly 12 years old.

My mum and my DH both sleep poorly as adults and never sleep through either so maybe it's just they way they are made.

The good news is that they will bothering you...from about about 14 months old, I left a drink/ dummy/books/ in the cot, and a good nightlight on, plus sometimes the radio on very low, for company.

I think Libby Purves in her book says, "be available but be very boring", so I would change a nappy etc but no chit-chat, no singing. Just straight back to bed.

DD1 was three months old.

DD2 was payback and was 2.5 years old

DD3 is 5 months old next week, and I celebrate if she only wakes up twice. She is often up for the day at 5am.

ahahaha

DS is now 22 years old and is still up through the night, making himself snacks in the kitchen, having showers, etc.

Dd is 12 years, not months and I'm still waiting. The good news is that once they are a little older, they can self amuse if they do wake instead of coming to wake you up. Make a book (or when they are older, audiobook) available and make sure that there is no shame, blame or anxiety associated with the night wakings. My personal advice is that the best thing you can do is teach them to self soothe and allow themselves calming activities to eventually fall back asleep. I have never been a sound sleeper, but I didn't learn how to do this until my 30's and it was the best lesson I ever learned. Nowadays, I just pick up my kindle, read a few (or a few hundred) pages and fall back asleep. And it's a good night's sleep because there is no anger or anxiety mixed in.

Also, make sure you teach them that not everyone is a night waker, so it's important not to disturb everyone else when they are wakeful.

So realived I am not the only one with a terrible sleeper!
DS is 9mo will only sleep in his cot for maximum 3 hrs a night, will then scream the house down till he is in bed with us and settles right away, although he wiggles all night long....can't remember the last time I had some decent sleep!!!

DD - around her third birthday (last month).

My dd has never slept through the night and she is 10.
Even as a worn out tired toddler she would be awake at least twice during the night.
It isn't bad if they stay in their room and we were lucky that we had a policy of never in our bed, so it wasn't a problem.
Most do settle from what we were told, usually around 3 years old for the majority of night wakers.
I know we are an unusual case with dd, but just wanted to say that even if push comes to shove and you have one the same, it really isn't a problem as they get older.
Good luck, I'm sure your little one will settle soon.

I am actually finding this thread rather cheering. Mainly because there are lots of people on it who have two or more children with totally different sleeping experiences.

I've always wondered why I can't get mine to sleep through. They don't wake up and muck around. They just wake up and want comfort. They go back to sleep quickly - it's just that every night is broken. (And DS2 still breastfeeds like a newborn but let's ignore that for now.)

So I do find this thread a bit cheering in the face of friends who say "oh mine always slept fine in their cots from day one - you just have to be disciplined" as if I had encouraged mine to break all the rules, go out sipping whisky and partying all night. That's because clearly some children are harder to get to/keep asleep even when their parents have success with siblings.

(Small victories, folks. Small victories.)

Just over two years old and still no end in sight. She hasn't napped at all during the day from 10 months old and even that was a struggle to get her to nap before that.

I was spoilt, spoilt I tell you with ds and his sleeping through from 6months. I didn't even contemplate when pregnant that I might get a bad sleeper. Seriously have aged about ten years in the last three years as I had pregnancy insomnia too.

Oh my... I opened this thread to give me hope...I am utterly terrified!! Primary age!!?!?!??!?

DS was terrible until about 14 months, then started sleeping through about 4/5 times a week (though often with a very early waking). Now at 18 months he has been sleeping through for 11 hours for a few weeks. I didn't change anything, he just seemed to twig. Thank God.

My mum always said you get sleepers or eaters. I don't know if this is true for anyone else, but my ds who was the poor sleeper (understatement) eats anything and everything. Dd who appears to sleep for a living, also seems to exist on less than 500 calories a day and is the fussiest eater.

So, swings and roundabouts I suppose.

Ds only slept through alone from 19 ish months. At 7 months he was waking hourly and to cope I started cosleeping. He kind of slept through when we co slept but it couldn't go on forever- we tried him in a big bed at 19 months and it worked

Dd's biggest complaint about nursery was that they would try to make her do a midday nap (she gave hers up before 2). Ds' biggest complaint about kindergarten was that they wouldn't let him do a midday nap. He is 13 and still needs one.

DD finally started sleeping through after paid for intervention at 2.5yrs

She still rises at 5-5:30am though

DS on the other hand slept through 12hrs from 7months