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Sleep

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Original poster

How do YOU define 'sleeping through'

30 replies

Haylstones · 03/01/2009 12:04

I am interested in how others define sleeping through. To me, it's babies/ children going to bed 7-7 (ish) and either not waking at all or waking briefly and settling them selves back to sleep. By my definition my 10 mo isn't sleeping through as he wakes for a feed about 5am but IMO he sleeps pretty well!

Other definitions I've heard include:
Not feeding during the night but waking several times for dummy/ cuddles
Sleeping in blocks of more than 4/5/ 6 hours

I just wonder if some mums have high expectations of babies' sleeping patterns because they hear other people saying their LOs are sleeping through when in fact they are doing the same as their own LOs but define it differently iyswim.

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Original poster

Haylstones · 03/01/2009 13:12

go on, spill!

OP posts:

BroccoliSpears · 03/01/2009 13:14

If mine go from 11pm to 5am that would be sleeping through to me. Happened once in the last 8 months.

MrsHappy · 03/01/2009 13:17

I considered my DD to be sleeping through when she went from her dreamfeed (for which I was waking her at 10pm) to 7am or so.

Prior to that she had been waking at 2:30 for a feed. She never really woke for cuddles/dummies etc.

daftpunk · 03/01/2009 13:18

i would say sleeping for around 7 hours.

MissisBoot · 03/01/2009 13:18

I defined sleeping through as from bed til when was reasonable for me to start the day.

Normally this was 7-7 although sometimes dd woke earlier for a little feed at 6am and then went back for a little snooze.

Original poster

Haylstones · 03/01/2009 13:28

I ask partly because when dd was a baby she was a terrible sleeper (sounds like yours broccoli) and I had a friend who said her ds was sleeping through- it later turned out that although he wasn't feeding in the night she was still settling him regularly and was probably awake more than me when I gave dd a quick bf then straight back to sleep (albeit lots of times!)
I recently met a mum with dc the same age as my 10 mo and when I said he'd had a bad night she said she never had any problems but then I heard her telling someone else that they still fed twice in the night. I'm not saying they were lying/bragging, just that their definitions and expectations were different to mine. I won many mums feel like they have the only child who doesn't sleep ( I know I did 1st time)

OP posts:

BigusBumus · 03/01/2009 13:37

I consider sleeping through for a newborn to be from bed at 7pm (with a dreamfeed at 10pm) and then sleeping till 5-6am for a small feed and then up at 7am. For me, this meant i got at least 7 hours uninterupted sleep!

But at 10 months, i would say that sleeping through would be sleeping from 7-7, uninterupted.

At least thats what all my 3 have done from the age of 3 months. Never had any sleep problems, but that could be because [whispers] mine were all Gina Ford babies....

artichokes · 03/01/2009 13:47

my newborn would be said to have slept through is she went from her 10.30pm feed to 6.30am or later without needing me to feed her or pick her up.

My 2 year old is said to sleep through if she goes from 7pm to 6.30am or later without needing me to go to her.

katylou25 · 03/01/2009 14:14

For littlies I would call slleping through to be from feed at my bedtime 10ish through to gone 6 - from 6months ish I wuld say from bedtiem till gone 6 without waking us...

Both of mine did from 7.30/8 - 6 from 8 weeks (ds1) and 12 weeks (ds2) and they WERENT Gina Ford just big feeders!

IdrisTheDragon · 03/01/2009 14:15

I call it when they don't wake up during times when I want to be asleep.

MarlaSinger · 03/01/2009 14:19

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

chloemegjess · 03/01/2009 14:22

I say sleeping through when you put them to bed at 7-8pm and don't see/hear them till 7am onwards the next day. I can understand people saying that they sleep through if they just feed them at about 10.30pm or somthing, before the adult goes to bed, but can not at all understand if the baby is waking at 5am - this is not sleeping through IMO.

I am lucky with my DD NOW (awful sleeper when younger) that she now goes to bed at 7pm ish and usually doesn't wake up till 8am onwards, sometimes later. But she does sometimes wake up in the evening and has some milk, but this is always before we go to bed so I don't mind at all. BUt I always tell people this when I says she sleeps through

Hopefully · 03/01/2009 15:33

In my world sleeping through is putting DS (15 weeks) down after his 10:30pm feed and not hearing from him again until 7am. this has happened about 10 times, but he has recently decided that 3am is a good time for a feed, and 6am is a good time to start the day. I am trying to explain to him how wrong he is...

meandjoe · 03/01/2009 20:40

before 3 months i'd call sleeping through from 11pm- 6am ish, for older babies i'd say from 7pm- 5ish. it all depends on your perception though. my ds slept from 7pm-7am from 10 weeks but had a dreamfeed at 10:30 until he was about 9 months old, i'd still say that was sleeping through, it was fabulous!!! now at 17 months he sleeps from 7pm- 6am ish, still sleeping through in my opinon.

CarGirl · 03/01/2009 20:43

I'd say sleeping 10-12 hours in one block without needing anything from the parents.

danielle1973 · 03/01/2009 22:10

i always seem to need to change a nappy between 7pm and 7am - as its so wet it wakes my 10 month old up - do any of you have that problem?

my baby goes to bed at 7pm, then has a feed at 11 and wakes up between 6.30 and 7.30 (if i am v lucky...)

ByThePowerOfGreyskull · 03/01/2009 22:13

It felt like DS1 was sleeping through the night at 6 weeks because he started sleeping through the part of the night that I was trying to sleep

it wasn't until 11 or 12 weeks that he started sleeping 12 hours and I realised that THAT was sleeping through.

DS2 started sleeping 11-5 at 8 weeks but didnt "sleep through" until 7 months I think alot of people count the 11-5/6 as sleeping through.

LuckySalem · 03/01/2009 22:15

I feel that sleeping through is when DD started sleeping from about 10pm till 5am. That was fine. we've now managed to stretch it from 8pm till about 6am. That's even better.

thatsnotmymonster · 03/01/2009 22:22

For a newborn/very young baby from their late evening feed to morning so 10/11pm to 6/7am

But for all other babies/children 7-7 and not hearing or seeing them in between.

I have also heard friend's say their baby is sleeping through and I was very jealous but they actually meant going from 11pm-5.30am or similar- that is not sleeping through for me!

snickersnack · 03/01/2009 22:22

Depends on the age - I'd say a 4 month old going from 10pm-4am was sleeping through. For a 2 year old, 7-7.

SniffyHock · 03/01/2009 22:29

my DC were 12 and 9 weeks respectively when they slept from 7pm until 7am with no waking in between - I call that sleeping through.

castille · 03/01/2009 22:35

At the very least it means not being woken from my bedtime to my alarm going off.

chloemegjess · 03/01/2009 23:12

"Depends on the age - I'd say a 4 month old going from 10pm-4am was sleeping through. For a 2 year old, 7-7. "

See I don't understand this at all. How can waking up at 4am be sleeping through the night? I understand that they might be a good sleeper but still wake at 4am, but not sleeping through. It doesn't make sence. That is like saying you are a vegetarian but eat meat once a day.

Danielle - what nappies do you use? My DD goes 7-7 in the same nappy and we have no issues at all.

treedelivery · 03/01/2009 23:15

Not waking between 12 and 5 to 6 depending on age. Don't care what they do rest of time but those are the dark hours when none but the tiny should be up.

Maria2007 · 04/01/2009 07:57

To me sleeping through would mean sleeping a good chunk between 7-10/11. And then an even better chunk of sleep between 10/11-7 in the morning. This has never happened in our home by the way, our boy is 5 months old. We're waiting for the day!

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