Is my daughter a bad sleeper? Perspective needed!

[Desperatelyseekingsleep12]

Hi all,

DD is 12 months old and still doesn’t sleep through the night with any regularity. She can do it, as she does do it every so often (maybe once every three weeks) but she mostly wakes up once or twice a night and needs re-settling before getting up for the day at some time between 5:15 and 6:30. Sometimes we have much worse nights when she is awake for two hours in the middle of the night (this has happened after she has been at nursery). She has pretty much been ill for the last three months with colds, tonsillitis and a tummy bug. She also started nursery five weeks ago and hasn’t yet settled well so my parents are picking her up early and she is only doing half days until she settles properly. So there have been plenty of things to disrupt her sleep, but I keep hearing about other people’s babies who sleep for 12 hours straight and I’m wondering when/if that’ll happen for us. Is this normal at her age? Should I be doing anything differently? Thanks.

Sounds pretty normal to me. She'll get there eventually.

Mine is 7 and yet to sleep through the night
Sorry not helpful

My 12mo is much more wakeful than that. I don’t expect sleeping for 12 hours straight but I won’t deny some longer chunks of sleep would be welcome! If he slept like your daughter I would see it as a significant improvement, which may not help you. However, he has also recently started nursery and has settled really well, much to my surprise, so it goes to show how different they all are.

It's tough, I'm right behind you at 11 months with a v similar situation but I've reluctantly accepted it as I think sleep training is deeply problematic. I can't remember the stats but at least 25 % of babies don't sleep through the night and if the facebook forum I'm on is anything to go by, far more. I asked people on Gentle Parenting UK (fb group) when their pups slept through the night and the overwhelming majority said somewhere between 2 - 2.5 yo. And you've highlighted all the issues that are disrupting. I'm gradually trying to night wean from a single bottle he has in the small hours. Would love to wean him off co-sleeping the second part of the night as neither of us sleeps well, but he is just so upset when I try. So for now I'm just accepting the tiredness and enjoying the intimacy, however knackering it is! Don't stress mama - the majority who say their babe sleeps through have sleep trained and they don't sleep through, they've just learned no one comes when they call out. Urgh makes my heart sad.

Both of mine first slept through at around 2 and have been great sleepers since then

My DD was 6 before she regularly slept through the night.....then we had a 4 month regression at 8 now back to sleeping through again.

Should a 3 month old have a bedtime routine? My baby boy is 3 months old and is not anywhere near sleeping through the night. He still wakes every 2 hours for a feed and will only fall asleep after being fed or after being held to sleep. When people talk about their babies bed times do they mean the time baby falls asleep or do they put them in the cot and leave them even if awake? I cannot see my baby being able to fall asleep on his own if awake! Am I doing something wrong?

Is a formula feed at bedtime supposed to fill babies up? My baby is breast fed but have tried a bottle at night to keep him fuller for longer as he is not a great sleeper. However so far it has not made any difference! He also seems to struggle to take the full 6oz - he is 11 weeks and 14lb so I was surprised that he struggles to take 6oz as he is a big boy!