Do some babies never sleep through?

[Eminybob]

DS is nearly 7 months old and although he's not a bad sleeper, he has not yet slept through the night.

He wakes up once or twice. There was a point where it looked hopeful, he was waking around 3-4 am when he was about 3 months so I thought he'd get later and later until he didn't wake at all but he's gone back to waking at 1-2am and then later at 4-5am.

Then he's usually up for the day around 6.

I know this is not half as bad as some have it, but I just need a full, unbroken nights sleep. DS was EBF until a couple of weeks ago, I started giving him a bottle of formula before bed to see if that helped, it did for a couple of nights now he's back to before. I do bf him when he wakes as thats the quickest way to get him back to sleep.

Do I just have one of those babies who will never sleep through, do you think it will come with time, or is there anything I can do to help? Not prepared to do cc or cio as it is only a 10 min job to feed him back to sleep.

It's normal I'm afraid. Some sleep and some don't.

Try reading No Cry Sleep solution by someone Pantry, Gill I think.

You can create better sleep habits and take away the crutch.

I would also read Dr Jay Gordon's night weaning blog. Not to night wean, but his intro will reassure you how normal it is for babies to wake.

It's horrible being sleep deprived it really is. It isn't forever. Dd got worse up to 13 months when we took the decision to night wean which made tons of difference. I wouldn't recommend that under 12 months though.

Your choice, but it the formula is doing naff all, I would go back to breast milk. It has sleepy hormones it, hence why you say it's easier to feed and sleep. This was exactly the same with dd, it wasn't like she was screaming in the night - just woke, wanted milk, dropped back off.

Yeah I've been thinking about ditching the formula. Not really worth it. Although I have just read on another thread about hip goodnight milk. I've never heard if it before but I guess if actually was any good everyone would be using it!

One by one all my postnatal group babies are starting to sleep through and I'm so

The worst part is I'm a terrible sleeper and struggle to get back off after DS has woken. Sometimes I don't get back off at all between feeds which is what is really killing me.

Mine started sleeping through at 3.5 - years.
Some just don't.
Wait it out.

If he wakes at a certain time of night every or most nights, then try the Wake To Sleep method. My Dd woke every night until I found this method; she was 19 months and I was half dead!! HERE read the full thread if you can, it's inspiring and explains a lot.

Ignore your postnatal friends. When it comes to babies sleep, people lie!

Thanks solo I'll have read in the morning.

Back up again, this time I fear he's going to struggle to get back off. He's suckling with eyes wide open! Oh dear.

It's really more normal than people like to let on. I had a non sleeping one, he slept through reliably (or at least could get himself in to my bed without disturbing me!) from about 18 months - stopped bfing at 16mo.

Mind you don't stress yourself more trying to find a solution. Some babies just don't sleep through and there's very little you can do about it.

I am not planning to continue with bf for that much longer, so how on earth do I get him back to sleep once I stop?
I always said I'd stop bf once he starts sleeping through as I thought he would be by now but that obviously isn't going to happen any time soon. I also said I'd stop when he gets teeth but that didn't happen!

My friend's DS is 5 and still doesn't.

That is a cheerful thought cheerfulYank !

He is definitely the only kid I know who does that, I hasten to add :)

I thought my DD would never sleep through but she did, around a year. Now she's a good sleeper.

Mine started to sleep through reliably at around 10 months. I always said I'd sleep train if required (I have no qualms about it) but DS only woke up once a night and always seemed hungry so I didn't bother. It is frustrating when you feel like all your friends kids of the same age are sleeping 12 hours a night though so I totally sympathise and it's entirely up to you if you want to phase out one of those wake ups.

None of them really managed it when the dratted books said they should. DD3 in particular didn't sleep through until she was 2.5. My solution was to get rid of all the books and drink a lot of coffee. I was a heavy sleeper until DD1 was born but have slept lightly ever since -- I found co-sleeping helped to stay in a sort of haze whereas getting up and sitting somewhere to feed and then trying to get back to sleep was impossible.

I agree with pp, try reading no cry sleep solution as might help create some good sleep associations but very gently. I assume you've reasonably recently started weaning, I found it was quite a disruptive time and it took until he was eating better to settle down, around 9m, but there are things you could try now, the lady who writes no cry sleep book, Elizabeth pantley explains a technique where you gently pop then off towards the end of a feed so they start to get used to going to sleep without something in their mouths. I found that helped a lot. Everyone will say put them down sleepy but awake, this lady gives you far more detail on what and how to do this !

DD didn't sleep through until shortly after her 3rd birthday. She was FF from 3 weeks old. We tried cc and cio to get her to go to sleep, which took a while to work. The trouble was not so much getting her to sleep, but keeping her asleep. Couldn't do cio/cc in the night, as ds (3 years older) needs sleep too.

Neither of mine slept through more than once in a blue moon until 12+m I'm afraid and both still wake up several times a week now. They are school age.

Once or twice a night is normal at this age unfortunately, but I found that the bf one would go back to sleep for DH if I wasn't in the house some of the time. Can you go for a sleep over at a friends or families house and leave some milk for OH to give, just for a kip?

Please don't think that you're doing anything right/wrong in trying to affect this. I have twins. They're non identical. They ate the same, had the same length naps, had the same milk, exercise , everything. One slept through, one didn't. She does now, unless she's teething or ill, but it look to about 16 months.

OP, my dd is the same at 6.5 months. I'm so fed up with it that I just bring her into the bed and we both sleep while she's latched on. Probably making a massive rod for my back, but I need to sleep. I find standing over her crib waiting for her to fall back to sleep way too depressing

It is true that some don't but yours sounds moderate with one or two wakings as opposed to hourly. I do realised this is little consolation when it is months since you have had an unbroken night, however!

I hired a sleep consultant and sorted out day naps and getting off to bed. Never did crack the night sleeps but it turns out he has sensory processing disorder which explains a lot.

I would recommend a sleep consultant if you can stretch to it because it can be so hard to see which way is up when you are exhausted. Sometimes a professional with perspective can help a lot.

Sleeping through means different things to different people. DS is nearly 6 months and has done 8 hours a couple of times (teasing me!) but is generally two feeds between 8-7. I feel that he couldn't go 11-12 hours without a feed for some time as he really wants those feeds, takes a lot of milk. I haven't set any age in my head when he will do that as I don't want to go to bed every night wanting something I can't control. I keep thinking a year or so isn't terribly long time in the grand scheme of things even though I'm bloody tired and I have times (like last nights 12am, 3am and 6.30am feeds then up for the day!) when I feel like it's quite tough, but honestly I tend to just focus on the positives, he's a very quick night feeder, he sleeps well in his cot in between feeds and he goes down in minutes after his bedtime routine. So when people ask if he's a good sleeper, I genuinly think for his age he is! A lot of people seem to think very young babies can sleep for longer but it seems not all can.

DC2 is nearly 20 months, she's slept through less than 10 times in her life so far. We are on night 2 of sleep training, I'm broken. (we are doing going in, quick cuddle, but putting her back down in her own bed still awake but settled, letting her cry 2 minutes max beore going in again, quick cuddle, back in her bed, not coming into ours to climb all over me or cuddling to sleep - then being surprised when she wakes up not in my arms and gets stroppy!)

Sleep experts call 'sleeping through' doing 6 hours in a stretch, that might well be 7pm - 1am.

If you pay for a sleep trainer, they most do crying it out and ditching milk in the night. Few will work without that. they tend to work, but then at between £300 - £500, I figured I'll have a go at doing it myself...

oh and DC1 slept through from 8 weeks - although at the time I felt terribly hard done by because while he'd go down at 7pm, day started at 6am. Now I feel terribly guilty how much a whinged about this early start!

Redling your DS sounds exactly like mine. He does in the main go down really quickly after a feed (although it seems to take longer closer to morning it is )

I have always said he's a good sleeper to anyone who's asked, which is why I suppose I thought he may be starting to sleep through by now.
If I'm honest, I've not had a full nights sleep for years anyway. I suffered from insomnia related to work stress for a long time, which got 100x worse when I was pregnant. I actually slept best when DS was tiny and waking every couple of hours because I would fall back to sleep instantly after a feed.
Now it's taking me hours to get back off. I'd like a bit of a respite before I'm back at work and the stress induced insomnia starts again!

I have come back to bed while DS is having his morning nap (he's been down for an hour and a half which is bloody good for him!) but I've not been able to sleep. Hence the mumsnetting

Pretty normal I'm afraid. DD slept through at 15mo, when I started affording water instead of boob, but I wouldn't have done this much earlier than that. DS is 9mo and looks like he'll be similar, although I must say I've found it all so much easier with him because he sleeps in bed with me and I notice the wakings far less and get much more sleep.

Some babies sleep through early and their parents get all smug and boasty about it and then keep quiet when the baby goes back to waking 3 times a night like everyone else's!

Dd1 was 8 weeks til she slept 7-7
Dd2 was 21 months.....