Sleeping through - is it just me??

[beckieperk]

This is a light hearted moan really but....... Just wondering if many others have the same experiences as me?
Every parent I ask no matter how old their dc's are, they have remarkable sleepers. Sleeping 7-7 or similar. Is it just the company I keep? Do I need new mummy friends or do I need to stop talking about sleep.
Mummy exercise class - 13 week old and 10 week old sleeping through. The 13 week old has since day 1.
Playgroup - 3 month old and 4month old twins sleeping through.
Health visitor group - 5 babies all around 4months. All sleeping through - except my little cherub!!!
Save my sanity and say its not just me.

When did things start getting bad for you lightsong?? Would you consider some gentle sleep training??

I’m sure most of my antenatal group ladies are lying about their babies, who are mostly younger than mine! I just ignore it now, as they have babies who apparently cry all hours and mine doesn’t; I think I’d rather have a crap sleeper and quiet days!

Oh I miss a full night's sleep though. I'm already in bed now to try and compensate a little.
😴

My son didn't sleep through reliably until he was nearly 2 so no its not just you!

Interpretation of “sleeping through” definitely varies!

One mum said her 7 month old baby was sleeping through. I then discovered that he was going to bed at 9pm, having dreamfeed at 11pm (and waking for it, so not really even a dream feed!), then getting up for the day at 5am. So that’s only 8hrs overnight, and only 6hrs of solid sleep.

Another mum said hers slept through, and again I found out that her 5 month old baby didn’t go to bed until 11pm.

Well my baby was going to bed at 7pm and not getting up until 6.30-7am, so around 12 hrs sleep. He was going around 8hrs before waking for a night feed - so if he’s been going to bed as late and getting up as early as the others, he too was capable of “sleeping through”.

It was comparing apples with oranges. So unless you know the other babies are going to bed for the same amount of the night, or if the mum counts a “dreamfeed” as a night feed or not etc, don’t try to compare it.

Oh and most of the mums who bragged their babies were sleeping through are now having trouble! So it doesn’t always last either!

There was a fascinating thread on here a while ago about what people classed as "sleeping through". Interpretations were broad. Some people were claiming it if they got midnight to 5am solid; others thought a 'quick re-settle' didn't count; others thought nothing but 7-7 counted. If all people say is "sleeping through" they could still be pretty tired!

Also: things change! DD was a good sleeper. From 10 weeks she'd one to bed with us at 10ish then sleep solidly till 6-7 (I counted this as sleeping through - I got my full night!) Then at 7 months, having never missed a night, she randomly started waking up 1-3 times and didn't sleep through again till 16 months! Payback may still be coming...

It's not just you. I avoided baby groups for this very reason !!

Some great responses. Thank you. Makes me feel a little less useless.
I've found a different group now where the mums/dad's are more frazzled, so I'll stick with this one!!!!
Just up doing a feed, my goodness it's hot tonight!!! Melting.

My DS is 18 months old and has never slept through. I would guess that he’s longest stretch has been 5 hours and that’s when he’s been unwell

He only seems to be getting worse and we now cope by bringing him into our bed when he wakes so we can get back to sleep as soon as possible, especially as we both have work the next day.

I’m currently 25 weeks pregnant and having nightmares about how to cope with a toddler who insists on stroking my face while he sleeps and a newborn!!

Oh dear iknowa that's going to he tricky. Hopefully dc2 will fit in around what's happening at the time. Dc 1 may respond well to being the older one?? Fingers crossed.

There is immense natural variation in sleeping through, both when it happens and what the definition is.
Parenting is knackering, waking up every hour/2 hours for years on end is horrendously knackering, but it's also normal and an expected thing in many other cultures.
I've found that second time around, not stressing about the whole thing made it much, much easier to cope with, not just emotionally but physically too, I could fall asleep much faster if I stopped looking at the clock for example.

I think people's expectations for babies' sleep habits these days are crackers. There's endless posts on here with newborns (i.e. still under 2 months old) being classed as somehow "bad sleepers" because they want to be in arms or nurse to fall asleep, or aren't staying silent for a whole night. As others say, some will do that, but it's totally normal and biologically explainable that many others don't.

Thanks InFrance. Very true.
We do tend to beat ourselves up, my original post was meant to be asking if the "bragging mum" was a common phenomenon or just me......but the thread took a different turn, and I can see why now reading my op.
Fwiw I've stopped asking other mums ad I'm happier for it. Living in my own sleepless baby bubble. 😴