Is 7.3 kilos the secret to sleeping through the night?

[TheBeesKnee]

16 week old baby weighs 6.5kg.

He went through a brief, glorious period of sleeping from 11pm-6am but is now up 3 times each night and in particular loves a 3am feed. I am exhausted. I've started dabbling in unsafe sleep habits (although he wears the Owlet sock each night) and it's helped a little bit but not much.

The house is falling to pieces. I had 3 weeks of laundry piling up and in that time he outgrew a bunch of sleepsuits that I really loved and it's stupid but I'm devastated. I could have got more wear out of them if I wasn't too tired to keep on top of the washing.

I'm reading a baby book which says that babies can sleep 8 hours without getting hungry when they reach a weight of 7.3kg.

Has anyone found this to be true?

Or does anyone have any advice?

My Nan used to say either 12lbs or 12 weeks, whichever comes first. Sleep did improve but was by no means perfect and wasn’t a full 8 hours. With dd we found quite early on that she needed to be warm, she wouldn’t sleep at all if she was cold, so we always added extra layers than the official recommendations. Not saying you should do this and the guidelines are obviously important, it was just our experience.

That's interesting about the warmth because I do think it's odd that we're sleeping under a duvet and a baby is supposed to be okay under a folded cellular blanket.

I do have some sleep sacks I bought in the sales for when he's older and it's winter, I wonder if it's worth giving them a go.

No. Ds1 was 12lb 12oz at his 6 week check and gained weight like mad so would have been 7.3 kg not long after. He only started sleeping through at about 14mo and not consistently until well over 2yo. I don't think weight has much to do with it I'm afraid.

I can’t imagine that’s true at all I’m afraid. Babies will sleep when they’re ready to and it will be different for each baby. My eldest didn’t sleep for longer than two hours until he was 11 months old.

We’re in the trenches again at the moment with my second, he’s 17 weeks so really similar to you. Like you the house is falling to pieces (my other half had the cheek to moan about the state of the bathroom earlier), I’m just too exhausted to enjoy anything, and I’m started to get fixated on sleep which I promised myself I wouldn’t this time around. But I think the difference I’m finding second time is that I know at some point it will pass, the house will be clean again and this will be a distant memory. I know it doesn’t feel like it now but it will be over before you know it.

Oh and don’t believe anyone who says if you start solids early they’ll sleep! That’s my MIL’s favourite thing to suggest and it’s just not true.

My first baby started sleeping better when she went into a sleep sack. She’s been a pretty good sleeper ever since on the whole. My second is almost one and still not great.

it sounds like you might have hit the dreaded 4 month sleep regression. It was a killer for me both times, unfortunately there’s not much you can do about it.

Try not to beat yourself up about the washing. Maybe you could get a memory bear/blanket made with them so that you still have the ones you love the most?

That’s oddly specific! Surely a lot depends on how much they feed during the day though? And even if they don’t want a night feed, it only equals more sleep if they know how to link sleep cycles and self soothe.

One of mine slept 10 hours from 4 weeks old. One of mine woke 4 times a night until they were 18 months. I think trying to work out why/when will drive you crazy. In hindsight I wish I’d sleeptrained earlier. It’s torture.

It’s not the weight, it’s because you’re in the dreaded four month sleep regression. Every single baby I know – including mine – went through this. In a few weeks baby will ride it out again. Hang in there! Absolutely everyone’s house is a tip, everyone is eating food over the sink, every mum is having a bath and crying a bit. And anyone is lying if they say different.
One day, even any night feed will be a thing of the past. Also the word regression is really horrible, it actually means he’s learning to connect his sleep cycles which is a good developmental thing.

Dd1 didn't sleep for any length of time irrespective of weight. DD2 hit 10lbs and then suddenly started doing 6-7 hrs straight from a dream feed from around 11-12pm. Which was a lifesaver.

I think you definitely get more consistent sleep once they hit a certain weight. Boys do eat more in my experience and if you can keep them filled up you're good,

Be kind to yourself. It's always a bit of a car crash especially with your first. Keep the unused sleepsuits for number 2 if that's what you're planning. Nice to have something new for a child who will have lots of hand me downs.
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My dc are thirties and we were told if baby weighed 12lb you should expect them to sleep through the night. Tbf mine did from six weeks but they probably weighed 13 to 14lb by then.

Mine were toddlers before they slept for 8 hours, and even then it was only on a semi-regular basis.

As other posters have mentioned it sounds like you've hit the dreaded 4 month sleep regression! It's a very normal, and temporary, disruption in your baby's sleep. It's made extra hard because you've had a lovely bit of time where your baby has slept well. I'm pretty sure they do that deliberately to mess with you!
It will pass but I'm not sure that there's any magic weight or party trick that will make an instant difference.
It's a good time to introduce a good bedtime routine, bath, milk, stories etc. Definitely try a sleeping bag if you're worried that he's cold.
You could try introducing a white noise machine.
Try and keep the room dark during sleeping hours.
It's all about creating lots of positive sleep associations and soon he'll be able to connect his sleep cycles again.
In the meantime is there someone who can take him for a few hours during the day so you can get some rest? We were lucky enough to be able to hire a post natal doula for a couple of hours, two days a week when my son hit 4 months. She just had him in a sling and would cook and tidy while I slept. She was the best money I've ever spent!