Inconsistent nights (12 week old) - is it normal??

[Hana1988]

Hello, I'm a first time mum with a beautiful baby girl who's just turned 3 months old. I have a question about nighttime sleep patterns because everything I've read seems to suggest that once baby learns to 'sleep through the night', that's it until the odd sleep regression, but with my dd she seems to bounce between sleeping well and sleeping terribly every couple of nights...

On a good night she'll do 5 or 5 and a half hours on the first stretch, and then she'll only wake up once more until morning. On a bad night she'll only do a 2 or 3 hour stretch, and then she's up every hour for the rest of the night. I've tracked her routine through the day and we're not doing anything differently on the days leading up to the 'bad' nights. Her naps are between 1 and 3 hours in the day, and she's lovely and happy most of the time now. I just want to know whether anyone else's babies were really inconsistent with 'sleeping through the night' at the start, and whether this will naturally level out, or whether we're doing something wrong??

Thanks!

I've read seems to suggest that once baby learns to 'sleep through the night', that's it until the odd sleep regression,

Yeah this is not how it works! Inconsistency is totally normal. Baby sleep is not linear.

Yes this sounds like very normal baby behaviour. My 3 month old is the same, as was my eldest at this point. Everything always changes, good and bad, in my experience!

Ahh thank you! That's good to know. Hopefully she'll start having more good night sleeps in time :)

She sounds like an amazing sleeper. We never had a 5 hour stint and even now at 8 months that would be brilliant. We had wake ups every half hour when he was teething 😳

Sometimes you think you're in a pattern but the next week it changes. Just do what you can to instil a routine but take it as it comes is my advice

Thanks doadeer! I need to keep reminding myself how lucky we are when she does sleep well. I hope your little one starts sleeping much better soon! :)

I agree that she is on the good sleeper end of the spectrum and that babies are inconsistent. Leave her to it as she is getting there really well.

My 6 month old is still like this! Last night slept for a solid 10 hours, but this week we also had a night where we saw every hour! Don’t think teething is helping but his sleep patterns are still very inconsistent.

Your bad night is a normal night for my 2.5 year old. You have nothing to worry about

Thanks everyone! Just wanted to make sure there wasn't something we were missing. Omg 10 hours Sunflower160 - that's the dream!! Hopefully more where that came from :)

DD2 is 3 months and currently (by which I mean 'the last two weeks') she either wakes up three times or once. Never twice. Haven't had two wake-ups for ages ('ages' in the context of thirteen weeks, being about four weeks). Sometimes the one wake up is at 3/4/5 in the morning, so I get a HUGE chunk at the beginning. Sometimes it's around midnight, foxing me into thinking there'll be another couple but actually she randomly lasts till 6/7am. Sometimes she won't wake till 1/2am, but will then wake-up every 90 minutes/two hours till morning. Sometimes it's a neat 11pm, then 2am, then 5am pattern. The daytime nap schedule (which is currently best described as 'whatever the fuck') and bedtime (anywhere between 8 and 9.30, depending on her grouchiness and my tiredness) have no discernible correlation to what happens at night. Every one is a surprise! I'm looking on it as a free lottery where the prizes are measured in sleep. Every night's a nail-biter!