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Original poster

Those of you who had babies not great at sleeping - when did it get better?

101 replies

tinierclanger · 14/12/2008 14:32

Just looking for a bit of encouragement and something to look forward to. When did DC start sleeping for longer stretches at night, and get easier to put down for naps?

OP posts:
MrsMattie · 16/12/2009 16:49

2.5 years old. Sorry to have to say. He was waking once or twice a night until that age, then miraculously started sleeping for 12 hours at night uninterupted. No idea why.

mamasmissionimpossible · 17/12/2009 21:48

wishing I hadn't opened this thread! My dd is 23 months and still not sleeping through. I wish I hadn't had such high expectations, as ds was sleeping through by 6 months ish. Just off to bed to endure another round of crap sleep

Herecomesthesciencebint · 17/12/2009 22:24

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

stillenacht · 17/12/2009 22:26

10 months for DS1

9 months for DS2

alypaly · 19/12/2009 23:37

DS1 didnt sleep through til his first day at prekindergarten when he was 3 sorry!!!!!!!!

ihatetinselbob · 19/12/2009 23:52

not till ds1 was 3years and even then still not brilliant, he's now four and sleep through most nights now

Hayla · 18/01/2010 13:46

My little one only started to sleep well when he was well established on solids ie 7 months old and also started crawling (tires him out!). Up until then was waking 2-3 times a night. I'm told though that it changes all the time as they move through different phases so I'm enjoying having a decent night's sleep while it lasts (wakes at 5.30am though!)

psychoworrier · 28/01/2010 22:57

I am beginning to go nuts too right now!
DD1 was a fantastic sleeper from about 12 weeks, and except for a number of nights since DD2 arrived and she crept downstairs after being put to bed for a month, she has never really ever been unwell and generally sleeps for 11 hours most nights. She is just 3 now.
DD2! Another story.
Always has a cold and has only slept through for about a week in total and she is now 14 months old. Seems to lull me into false sense of security and then wham! New teeth or something hits and she wakes up screaming, or banging her head and feet so hard against her cot that she wakes herself up and I can't let her cry for ever when she is on her hind legs and about to launch herself out of bed.
Have tried loads and think that right now, will go with the flow. She started walking today so hope she will get more tired and sleep better at night. By the way, always wakes in the early evening, goes to bed just after 7pm and usually awake again anytime after this and by midnight. 2 children cannot be more different. I need a full nights sleep!

Charlielouis · 23/02/2010 08:09

My bg is 12 months now. She has been co-sleeping and breast feeding in the night the whole way through! Sometimes she only wakes me up 3 times. Other times, like last night, it was on the hour, demanding to suck to fall asleep. I go to sleep with her at 8pm so I still function rather well but it can't be good that she doesn't sleep? All the other mothers I met at the NCT have babies sleeping through! I have booked a "problem solver" night nanny when we get back from our holiday. Has anyone tried them, with good results? They are pretty dear.

GuntherMcKilocodie · 28/02/2010 13:34

DD1 was 3. She was utterly appalling. Waking every 40 mins all night at one point. I was literally on my knees. We just went with it. She's now a fab sleeper. 11-12 hours a night. We did CC at 6-7 months for naps, so she did at least go down on her own.
I now have DD2 who is nearly 5 months and she is a nightmare too. At least this time, I have low expectations!

Tobermory · 28/02/2010 13:42

DD was just 2 when seriously good sleeping happened continually, this coincided with us making her cot into a cot-bed.

Up till then we had many wobbly patches. Sleeping through at 15 weeks but lots ( most) of disturbed nights with her waking every couple of hours and unable to settle herself. Also had at least 18 months of waking before 6 every morning. This is much improved, thank god.... she sleeps 11-12 hours most nights and soundly, though am still waiting for her to realise that a lie-in can mean after 7.30!!

I am pregnant with DC2 due in early June. I have ordered a really good sleeper this time!!!!

FreakoidOrganisoid · 28/02/2010 13:56

Both of mine slept though most nights from soon after 2 years. But aside from that they have been completely different- dd always went down easily and napped for 2 hours or more and had a fairly regular pattern at night too, ds has always been all over the place and is still cuddled to sleep (2.2)

mumtothemountain · 09/04/2010 23:12

There's a brilliant website www.babysleepanswers.co.uk
It will change your life!

hairymelons · 12/04/2010 23:21

21mo DS still not reliable at naps (sometimes nada, sometimes 2-3 hours) but brill at nighttime now- loves bedtime and has been sleeping through on and off since about 15 months but pretty much regularly for about a month now. As long as he isn't teething or ill, that is...

babyphat · 15/04/2010 21:46

19mo DD has just started sleeping from bedtime (late-ish, somewhere between half 8 and half 9) till 6 or 7am, since I night weaned her over easter. it only took 2 nights to get through the no feeding and then a week or so till she stopped waking at all. i still can't quite believe it!

as a baby she would only nap feeding on my lap, or in the sling. she woke 45 minutes after going to sleep, like clockwork, and was waking for a feed through the night every 1.5-2 hours (we co-sleep, prob would have gone a bit longer if not right next to me). i spent every evening going back and forth to resettle her every 45 minutes (until i gave up on bedtimes!). she woke in the middle of the night crying fairly frequently (maybe twice a week every few weeks) between 8 and 12 months or so and would be awake for 2-3 hours and was only settled by me walking up and down rocking her. other times she would wake and want to play, again staying awake for a couple of hours each time.

got gradually better from 12 months but only seen a big difference in the last few weeks

BlueChampagne · 16/04/2010 14:05

DS1 slept through reasonably reliably from 9 months. I think being able to roll over and sleep in his front helped.

IngridFletcher · 16/04/2010 14:09

15 months for my last one. DD (middle one was about 18 months) and first one was a decent sleeper from quite early.

My third one was such a bad sleeper that I think I lost a year of my life in a complete blur.

MomofMax · 28/04/2010 06:59

Does anyone think introducing formula with EBM in late night feed will help?

DS is 3.5 months (and uber active) and wakes c. 11pm, 2:30am, 4:30am, 6:30am. I am desperate(ly tired) and surrounded by mums that sleeping through "just happened" for. I also tired shh-pat etc but the boy seems to be a lean meaning metabolization machine (feeding 8x through day too).

KarenHL · 13/06/2010 21:09

DC only slept for max 10 min burst during the day and initially needed feeds every 3-4 hours (growth spurts were awful, I felt like a milking cow, with DC constantly feeding).

After a while, when she went longer between feeds, we woke DC up when we went to bed (apx 10-11pm) for a feed, which meant she would then sleep through until just before DH needed to get up for work. On the rare night or two we did not wake her up, we would be woken around 2-3am for a feed - DC would go straight back to sleep and we'd be there awake for ages unable to relax!

You really have my sympathy. In the early months DH resorted to sleeping in laybys during his lunch hour (he has to drive a lot for work and I worry a lot if he hasn't slept) in order to survive the day. I am lucky as at one point he asked to me to express before I went to bed so that he could get up and feed the baby in the early am so I could sleep (that wasn't every day, but enough to make a difference!).

DC is now 4 and no matter what time she goes to bed, she is up bright and early. DH and I try (not v.successfully) to make sure we each get one lie-in during the weekend. Lie-ins in this context meaning until about 8.30am. We could help ourselves by getting to bed earlier.

weezepeeps · 06/07/2010 16:01

With my first child I was getting exhausted after 20 weeks and my dad came to visit. He saw how tired I was and suggested controlled crying. I didn't want to because I thought it was old fashioned and found it hard to ignore my little one but my dad persuaded my husband to get tough on me. After a couple of bad days of clock watching and pacing the floor my son learnt to settle and has been great ever since (nearly 3 now). I was reluctant at the time but I am so glad my dad took control of the situation as an outsider looking at the situation without all the emotion of a first time mum.

wloo · 02/10/2010 21:40

In my experience, babies either learn to sleep on their own, or they don't. If they don't by about 6 months, I would consider intervening in some way. My daughter is 11 months old and always woke up between 2 and 5 times a night until she was about 8 months old. We used a website called Babysleepanswers.co.uk. The lady who runs it has basically amalgamated all the main sleep methods and also provides a forum for you to ask questions for real life situations that don't match the books! After buying the book for £10 you can post questions on their forum and a sleep mentor will reply with some suggestions. We paid £25 for a specialist consultation and 3 days of support and it solved our problem within a week or two. Worth every penny. We even went on to use it again to solve early wake-ups. Quite a luxury when you have got used to being up several times a night!
we now have a good night's sleep without fail every night.

NonnoMum · 02/10/2010 21:44

When they start moving around...

StealthPolarBear · 02/10/2010 21:49

DS was fed to sleep until I got pg with DD, so about 19/20 months. He then started going to sleep without a feed, mainly because I'd be feeding then need the toilet and by the time I got back, he was asleep. He was so good!
Obviously things went back a bit when DD was born but he's 3y5m now and I can't remember the last time we've had a really bad night with him - I can reason with him now. He sometimes wakes because of a dream or whatever, but nightlight on or a cuddle and he's fine. I don't have to tiptoe round him any more.

gingertwins · 11/10/2010 12:54

I am really struggling too. I have 5 month old twin boys who sleep for no more than 3 hours during the day and are breastfed every 3/4 hours. I am also weaning them so they have additional baby rice in the evening around 6pm. They are always in bed and asleep around 7pm but can wake just 1/2-an hour after falling asleep. They are then waking around 10pm, 1am and 4am so the same intervals as during the day and showing no signs of sleeping though!! Can anyone please offer me any tips\advice to save my sanity?!!!

Joseyannis · 02/11/2010 12:46

feel terrible for saying it, but reading all these posts makes me feel loads better! I too keep meeting loads of people whose babies sleep all night! Mine is 17weeks, never slept through but now only wakes up once round3/4am after we feed her at 11pm and then she wakes up round7am, so feelin pretty lucky! bit worried bout going back to work at 6 months though