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Original poster

For those with good sleepers

70 replies

Itsmeitscathyivecomehome · 19/02/2023 13:59

Is there anything you did that you would recommend?

I have a two week old and my eldest didn’t sleep through the night til 9 months old.

id be interested to hear what people did that they felt impacted their babes sleep positively.

I know obviously all babes are different and will sleep in their own time but just want to canvass ideas.

my mum keeps telling me I slept through the night at 6 weeks and it’s making me feel crazy.

OP posts:
Junibug · 23/02/2023 22:24

Probably a lot to do with luck, but we established a good routine from very early on and also have the last feed before our bedtime as a formula feed.

TheShellBeach · 23/02/2023 22:24

Ferber. It really worked.
Baby needs own cot, often room. Darkness. Being put down awake and left to fall asleep. No feeding to sleep or rocking to sleep.
Definitely no sitting with the child for hours in end, waiting for them to fall asleep

gretazoom · 23/02/2023 22:25

Introduced the bath, bottle, bed routine with both my dc as early as possible. Stuck to a good nap time routine too. I've never fed to sleep or co slept and I think that's perhaps helped them to sleep independently. There were blips with my else's and my youngest still wakes for a feed in the night but is able to get back to sleep again quickly afterwards. Long may it continue!

Bigmummaof2 · 23/02/2023 22:27

We just done bath bottle & bed from 11 weeks old. From 6 months old she could be put in the room by herself after bath & bottle and that was a good few days maybe a week of being in and out trying to settle her. Sleeps through the night since 3 months 7:00 til 5:30-6am x

Hohofortherobbers · 23/02/2023 22:29

Strict napping routine and not feeding to sleep. The last nap, 30 minutes about 4:30pm was the golden key, if that went well then bath, feed, bed, sleep would all fall into place.

ellecf21 · 23/02/2023 22:33

I think of course it's super dependent on each baby. We've been very lucky - DD 8mo has slept through since 10 weeks although it's not been a straight line. She's deffo had bad weeks but generally no more than one wake up. In terms of what we did, nothing on purpose (we are FTP so no clue). She slept in next to me till 6 months. Exclusively breastfed. She does have a dummy that I started using at night around the time she first slept through. No idea if that correlates but she has never really fed for comfort. She's been in her own room since 6 months, a process she was not bothered about at all. Just put her down in there one night and that was it haha. We have always had a rough bedtime routine (I call it more of a rhythm actually) so she knows bedtime is coming. Dinner. Bath. Milk. Bed. Don't know how helpful this is but must say she's a very chilled baby who has never needed help getting to sleep. To be fair I never tried to rock her or any of that so I don't know if the fact I never did that helped but in all honesty I think she's just a good sleeper. Poos for England though, it's been a wild pooey ride!

Abouttimemum · 23/02/2023 22:34

Routine from really young, as in bath, cuddle, songs, bed. Even if he was awake in an hour, still did the routine same time every night. At 4 months we did pick up and put down (never ever left to cry) And it worked in a couple of nights. Always put him down awake.

From then on bed was his space to sleep and he was settled all night.
On the occasion he did wake up we would stay in his room with him to settle him to sleep. He’s 3 and sleeps 7.30-7 now.

I think we were probably just lucky but it felt like it worked at the time!

Changemaname1 · 23/02/2023 22:41

Luck and just generally not needing to feed as much in the night around the time of weaning

what I will say is I never considered a wake up early hours eg say 5 am as morning time that was a night feed and back to sleep for a couple of hours until the next feed 8 am ish

Dahlia444 · 23/02/2023 22:46

Routines with regular, frequent, spaced feeding during the day - fill of food in day. Swaddling. Dark at night time.

AreBearsCatholic · 23/02/2023 22:50

After one bad sleeper and one good, I sincerely believe that they sleep how they sleep and there’s little you can really do to change it.

fellrunner85 · 23/02/2023 22:51

Formula.

DC1 (bf) never slept. I was at breaking point and up pretty much all night despite cosleeping, but persevered with bf until he was a year old.

Bottlefed DC2 slept like a dream.

Miy · 23/02/2023 23:19

I second routines are great, takes time and patience to establish but feel it works well in the long run. Also no tv or videos before bed, time to unwind and get bored and tired, relaxing bath or shower at 6-7pm before that early dinner if possible, also extra activities to get them tired after school or play at home lol although its a lot of noise.

Newmum738 · 23/02/2023 23:22

I used the Gina Ford method from about 4 months. It has definitely made my DS a good sleeper now.

Cleothecat75 · 23/02/2023 23:39

Thesearmsofmine · 19/02/2023 14:12

I got lucky, that’s about it. My first slept through from 6 weeks, my next took 3 years to sleep through, both parented the same.

Exactly this ^^ except, I’ve got 3 dc, dc1- at 2 weeks would sleep 12 hours with 1 wake up and by 6 weeks would sleep for 12 hours straight. Dc2, woke at least every 2 hours for their first year and a couple of times a night for their second year. I think by 3, they were sleeping through, but up for the day by 5. Dc 3, was sleeping through some nights by about 9 months, reliably by 1.

All 3 parented with the same ideas on parenting, fed the same, same cot/lighting/mobile/black out blinds/etc etc.

sleep wise, I lucked out with dc1! I will confess that at the time, I thought it was all down to my fantastic parenting, Dc2 taught me how wrong I was!

TheShellBeach · 23/02/2023 23:43

fellrunner85 · 23/02/2023 22:51

Formula.

DC1 (bf) never slept. I was at breaking point and up pretty much all night despite cosleeping, but persevered with bf until he was a year old.

Bottlefed DC2 slept like a dream.

All mine were exclusively breastfed.

pleaseandthankyou45 · 23/02/2023 23:44

6 weeks?! She just got lucky. Don't worry OP, just do your best

TheShellBeach · 23/02/2023 23:49

pleaseandthankyou45 · 23/02/2023 23:44

6 weeks?! She just got lucky. Don't worry OP, just do your best

One of mine slept through from six weeks. She was breastfed and only wanted milk every four hours. It was amazing.

converseandjeans · 23/02/2023 23:51

It's really unpopular on here but we did Gina Ford with both & it worked.

Ignore people who say babies won't sleep until they're 2.

Don't assume that Gina Ford routine means you leave them crying. If anything they rarely cry - because of the routine they're rarely hungry or over tired.

I like a routine though so it suited me as I knew what time I would be able to relax and when to expect to be busy.

I'll run and hide now as I'm sure someone will tell you I'm talking rubbish...

ringofrosies · 23/02/2023 23:57

I suppose I got lucky with both of mine. Both slept a good 6 hours at night from about 5-6 weeks, which to me was sleeping through. Had to have reassurance from the HV that this was ok lol. I’d just go to bed at the same time as them after their last feed. I tried to stick to bath, bottle and bed as much as possible and they would sleep in their prams during the day and Moses basket/ cot at night
to try help with sleep associations. My little granny would say plenty of cuddles for baby but try and put them down for their sleep awake. Who knows how much any of that actually worked though or was it just good luck. There were the odd blips with teething etc.

converseandjeans · 23/02/2023 23:57

@Snugglemonkey

But it all sounds terribly sad. And is entirely against current thinking on feeding.

I think it's sad how many new Mums struggle because they're told the baby must be with them 24:7 for 6 months, they have to preserve with breastfeeding & they should just accept sleepless nights as a fait accompli. It must be exhausting getting up & down all night & never knowing if they will sleep. I think a rested Mum is probably more able to cope. We need to start thinking about how much we expect of new Mums.

TheShellBeach · 23/02/2023 23:58

converseandjeans · 23/02/2023 23:51

It's really unpopular on here but we did Gina Ford with both & it worked.

Ignore people who say babies won't sleep until they're 2.

Don't assume that Gina Ford routine means you leave them crying. If anything they rarely cry - because of the routine they're rarely hungry or over tired.

I like a routine though so it suited me as I knew what time I would be able to relax and when to expect to be busy.

I'll run and hide now as I'm sure someone will tell you I'm talking rubbish...

You're not talking rubbish at all.
Babies do need a routine.
There are threads on here every day about babies who wake six times a night, and their mothers are wringing their hands about it.
God forbid anybody mentions sleep training though.

Dahlia444 · 24/02/2023 00:00

converseandjeans · 23/02/2023 23:51

It's really unpopular on here but we did Gina Ford with both & it worked.

Ignore people who say babies won't sleep until they're 2.

Don't assume that Gina Ford routine means you leave them crying. If anything they rarely cry - because of the routine they're rarely hungry or over tired.

I like a routine though so it suited me as I knew what time I would be able to relax and when to expect to be busy.

I'll run and hide now as I'm sure someone will tell you I'm talking rubbish...

I'll hide with you! Completely agree particularly with the seldom hearing them cry as needs were anticipated. We used GF for dc 2-4 including twins and heartily recommend. DC1 was much more unsettled. Could of course be coincidence. All EBF. Routine also suited me.

Wedontneednoeducation1 · 24/02/2023 00:15

Comforter- I slept with it so it got my smell. Then from age 4 mths all naps( not at night as I couldn’t see them) I placed the comforter with them. Then from 6 mths at night too. Even years on now they rub the comforters on their faces when they wake up and go back to sleep.
ans routine, routine, routine

Wedontneednoeducation1 · 24/02/2023 00:17

** and

someone once said to me that babies can’t tell the time. So they need cues to cue them into things…hence the routine. They start to make associations.

Coffeeandcrocs · 24/02/2023 03:24

I also think ita luck/down to the personality of the baby.

I have 3, all very different sleepers. DC1 slept through from 3 weeks old ( ebf ). DC2 still doesn't sleep through now at 3 ( ebf ) and DC 3 is bang in the middle, sleeps through moat nights a week but then has periods of waking at age 1.