Did you baby just decide to sleep one day?

[BananaHammock23]

DS is 8 months and he's never slept for longer than 5 hours. We're lucky if we get 3 hours on a good night. He's EBF, it that makes any difference.

Anyway, I'm just wondering if there's any hope. Has anyone had a non-sleeper that just 'got it' one night and started sleeping?

We don't want to do any sleep training or CIO (no judgement, just not for us), so I'm aware we're probably not making it easy for ourselves!

Yes! DD woke hourly until she was around one – EBF and fed on demand and at wake-ups. Then she started to sleep in longer chunks for a few months. Then a regression (molars). Then randomly one night at 18 months she slept through, even though the night before she’d woken hourly and been fed every time. I remain convinced she did it to troll me and her emerging personality at age 3 supports this theory.

My dd did not sleep through the night until the week she turned 2 years. After that she slept 10-12 hours every night with just occasional wake ups. She was not a baby that slept for long periods, during the day she never slept for longer than 30 mins except in extremely rare occasions.
It’s certainly not unusual and the best advice I can give you is to go with it and get sleep when you can.

Dd1 started sleeping through at 9m (was always a good sleeper though), DD2 started sleeping through around 20 months, about 6 weeks after I night weaned her. Both EBF. I've never done any kind of sleep training, still breastfeed dd2 and 3 to sleep or lie with them.

Mine did! He was 3.5 years old by that point though, and I was just about to give birth to his little sister who woke me up every night for the following 2.5 years (and still counting).
I never did CIO and honestly I don't regret that every time either of my children has woken in the night I've fed or cuddled them back to sleep.

My terrible sleeper slept through the first night we moved her to her own room at 7 months. She'd been up every two hours the night before. She was pretty good from there on and has been bullet proof since she finished teething at 2.

My brilliant sleeper is now 1.5 and trying to kill me via sleep deprivation.

There is no rhyme or reason as far as I can see.

I've always fed to sleep, coslept and fed on demand overnight and have done no sleep training.
Gradually things improved on their own, with occasional blips for illness and teething. By 15 months we'd started getting 8 to 2, then feeds at 4ish, 6ish and then up about half 7. The night feeds became less frequent and now at nearly two he typically sleeps until 5, feeds then back until 7.

Yes, age 6. Sorry!

Is he feeding at night still? The biggest difference for me in terms of quantity of sleep was night weaning which I did at 7 months (she had taken to solid food well and was eating a good amount by then). I'm not sure if you would consider that sleep training? It was very gentle and no crying involved- I did let her sleep in my bed though which might not work for you. Co-slept from early in or I would have got no sleep at all!

I picked the first feed she woke up for (usually about 1/1.30 and reduced the feed by 1 minute per night. When I got down to a one minute feed, the next night I didn't feed her at all, just gave her a cuddle and put her in bed with me. The next night, I just put her straight in with me at that time. Then I did the same process for the next time she woke up for a feed. It only took a couple of weeks until I didn't feed her at night at all. She always went to bed in her cot. Whenever she woke (usually between 1 and 2), she came into my bed and slept until about 5/6ish when I would give her a feed and she would go back to sleep until 7. By about 12 months she slept until 7 without any feed.

The coming into bed with me when she woke lasted until she was 6, but she just woke up once, I would bring her in with me and she would then sleep through until morning. So far from perfect but at least I was only disturbed once. I never let her cry at night because I didn't want her to wake my older DC.

One day age 6 she just slept through and has mostly continued to do that.

I sleep trained and night weaned both mine at 8/9 months. Before that I fed to sleep when they woke as it worked. Big believer in if it ain't broke don't fix it. When feeding to sleep stopped working, we did the training.

Best thing I ever did. They got better sleep and so did we.

3 year old still wakes occasionally now but usually her cover has fallen off or she's had a nightmare and neither of those happen often.

Don't totally discount sleep training. Good sleep is important for everyone.

That said 5 hour chunks isn't bad really.

Yes, but I won't tell you what age

It was like flipping a switch, they both started sleeping beautifully after having been awful sleepers to that point.

My son was bf and never took a bottle. But after he started on solids at six months old I would not describe him as “EBF” which I understood is short for “exclusively” breast fed. I say this because my ds slept through at 10mo when we started feeding him loads of porridge at bedtime. For us it was definitely linked to having a big heavy stomach full before bed.

Mine did at 20 months after gentle night weaning

No. Strict bedtime routine from first day home and it clicked in after a couple months. And I never let baby cry.
First baby seemed to get it easier second had reflux and she was difficult to put down first few weeks but once down ok, and at three months she seemed to get over it (and discovered her thumb). Was I lucky? Maybe. But anyone who followed a routine from very early on seemed to have an easier time of it for sure. We all breastfed, mine started on solids at four- five months though I also bf my daughter for a year.

No. I had to sleep train.

No, had to sleep train at a year for both as was back to work and they were feeding nearly hourly to be fed. I don't believe for a second that throughout history women had the luxury of being able to function after being woken hourly (doing hard physical work all day or whatever) - I think some degree of sleep training must have gone on.

Yes, when he started school, secondary school. He has a baby boy of his own now and he isn't a good sleeper, I just laugh

Mine did, woke every 3/4 hours or 3 times a night until 18 months and then switch was flipped and he slept like a dream. He was night weaned at 8 months so it wasn't for milk that he woke up. Not sure I've ever really recovered from 18 months of no sleep though - sending you cucumber slices to ease your weary eyes

DS1 was 2.5 but wakes around 1-2 times per night. Massive improvement!

DS2 is 5 months and it's a royal shit show of him getting up every half hour or so to shout or look for his toes.

Kinda, I had to night wean because of pregnancy and then adding magnesium to her baths helped a lot. She was 2.5

@Thisbastardcomputer

Yes, when he started school, secondary school. He has a baby boy of his own now and he isn't a good sleeper, I just laugh

If DD has a baby like herself I was cackle so hard

Dc1 started sleeping through at 19 months, Dc2 at 22 months. No sleep training with either.

Both stopped BF at 15 months ish and night weaned around the 18 month mark (earlier attempts to night wean failed with both!).

Yes, but wasn't a baby. Got better after nightweaning at 21 mo (very very gentle) and gradually woke less, settled easier etc.

It's been 'good' since DS was 3ish.