Sleeping from 7pm to 7am

[HeWontSleep]

Hi everyone. My DS is 4 months old and bf. I've been following my own version of a mix GF/BW routine during the day for a couple of months. In the evening I put him down for the night around 7pm. He then wakes up between 2 and 4 times before 7am. I bf him and he usually goes right back to sleep. Im hoping with time night wakenings will reduce and one day he just wont wake up between 7pm and 7am. My mum tells me however that babies dont sleep for 12 hours at night and this time will never come! Do you agree? Any tips to encourage him not to wake? Thanks!

my lo's never really did the 7pm-7am thing, it was more like 7.30pm-6am. DD slept through from 5 1/2 months but ds didnt do a proper sleep through till he was 8 months. DD sometimes sleeps for 12 hours now but she is almost 6!!

Depends what age you include as a baby I guess. My older 2 both slept through at about 8 mnths, but before that went from 11-5 ish.

If he's having a decent feed when he wakes then my guess is he needs the food. I think that BF babies are less inclined to sleep through until they are weaned.

My DD2 also 4 mnths, sleeps 7-11 pm (just waiting foor her to wake now), then 11-4, then 4-7. I'm pretty ok with this, is much more reasonable than either of my other 2 at that age!

He will get there, I think if he's genuinely hungry when waking there is little you can do to get him to sleep longer. The time will come, and oh how we will appreciate our sleep when it does .

Honestly? DD was 12m before she slept consistantly 7-7. However things improved gradually from 6m. Keep it up - this too shall pass

p.s DD is now 3 and is a great sleeper - other Mums are jealous of us now - she was a really bad sleeper when little

hewontsleep dd1 was bottlefed and slept from 7pm-7am from 6 weeks (1st night we put her in her own room) dd2 is now 7 weeks and is breast fed, she wakes anything between 2 and 6 times in the night, its agony some nights so i sympathise with you

sorry not much advise there

DD was 7 (years, not months)

Neither of mine did 7 to 7 until they were well over 12 months. dd was about 18 months though had been doing 7 to 6 for a while before that. ds was closer to 2. I would think 7 to 7 at 4 months isn't the norm, though clearly some babies can.

Mine never slept 7-7. They never slept 12 hours at a time - ever...
Oh I lie - my DD does this sometimes. She is nearly 12 (years), goes to bed at 10pm and does the weekend teenage thing of not getting up til about 10am...

DD is 9 months and sleeps 6.45pm to 6am. Sometimes she'll sleep until 6.30am. Sometimes she'll wake at 5.30am! But there and thereabouts she's sleeping at least 11 hours at night consistently and has been doing so since 6 months.

At your stage I had previously just been feeding on demand, doing some co-sleeping etc, but then we worked towards a routine and put her in her own room at 19 weeks as we were all disturbing each other at night. As soon as she was in her own room she woke up less often. Of course the guidelines say keep baby with you for 6 months so you need to make your own decision about that, but for us it helped.

I also introduced a dream feed too, at 10.30pm, and then didn't feed again until 2.30am, then again until 6.30am. If she woke in between, I settled her back with 'pick up put down'. After two nights of this she only woke once at 3am for a feed, after her dreamfeed. Gradually her night feed became later and later and by 5 months she slept from 11pm to 7am. At 6 months I stopped doing the dreamfeed as she didn't seem that interested anymore. She then slept through, although her morning wake up time went from 7am to closer to 6, but I think that's fairly normal.

both of mine did 7-7
ds1 at 14 weeks
ds2 at 7 months

both exc bf

I did nothing different treated them both the same.. I think that babies sleep and eat when they need to and our expectations are irrelevant.

Both my DS's slept through 7pm-7am with a dream feed at 10pm from around 10 weeks. At this stage both were exclusively breastfed.

However I'm still doing a dream feed with DS2 now and he's six months. I can't remember when I stopped with DS1 but it must have been around this time.

Once I stopped the dream feed, DS1 did 7pm-6am so only 11 hours. We moved his bedtime to 8pm and most mornings he would go until 7am.

DS just did 8pm-6am for the first time ever - 15 months. DH and I couldn't believe it and had to go check at 4am to make sure he was still alive!

It's possible, your mum is wrong. Some babies do sleep long stretches (not necessarily 7-7, but close enough). But I think for a bf baby 4 months is a bit early; even at 6 months bf babies may wake several times in the night genuinely hungry. I think if you stick to what you're doing, gradually it'll become better. Around 6 months (a bit after weaning) you should see a difference.

DD is nearly 3 and never slept 7-7. Just do the best you can for your lo. Over 3 hours solid sleep is bliss, no??!

DD ebf till 4.5months, then mix fed, has been sleeping 7-7 since weaning at 25 weeks (6 weeks ago) most nights. I have a few friends whose babies have been like this. (Although I do think we're really lucky!). Around 4 months it started to be possible to settle her without feeding if she woke more than twice (so I would feed around 11 and 3 but not in between if she woke) Have you tried a cuddle and pick-up/put down to work towards fewer feeds in the night? I haven't fed dd at night since about 5.5 months (but would have done if I'd felt she needed it). I do agree, though, that it depends on the baby, and you can't force it if they're not ready.

Thank you all for your messages. Cross our fingers it will happen with weaning as some have said and not when DS will be a teenager (cant even imagine that!!!).

Like CountryLover my baby did 7-7 with a feed at 10.30pm from 12 weeks. But as soon as we stopped waking her for a 10.30pm feed (at 7 months) she started sleeping 7-6.30 (or 6.15 or 6 at worst) so we lost a little time. But her sleep became deeper.