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Sleep

Join our Sleep forum for tips on creating a sleep routine for your baby or toddler. Need more advice on your childs development? Sign up to our Ages and Stages newsletter here.

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Original poster

Babies who sleep well :)

36 replies

heron22 · 22/12/2009 17:04

Both my DS are good sleepers. I really feel sorry for mums of babies who dont.

I would like to hear from mums whose babies sleep well. What did you do or not do?

Lets share our stories!

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

BeckyBendyLegs · 22/12/2009 17:13

How did you get yours to sleep well? Did you do anything special or was it just luck?

My DS1 slept okish at night (slept through at 14 weeks), rubbish in the daytime and I spent hours and hours doing baby whisperer techniques with him, sitting next to him for naps, shushing and patting, etc. He had 45 min naps and there was nothing I could do to change that as he'd wake up screaming, except drive him around the Oxford ring road for hours if really desperate! DS2 was a dream sleeper, totally wonderful. Slept through at 8 weeks - it felt like magic. All I did with him at night is give him a few minutes to wake up before feeding to see if he would settle himself back off, which he often did. His naps were a dream too - I did the baby whisperer thing with him too and it worked well - he would just settle with a little fussing, not even crying. He had good 1-1/2 hour naps. DS3 - too early to say as he is just 6 weeks!

Original poster

heron22 · 22/12/2009 17:20

hi becky we did routine from the word go. and it took around 8-10 weeks before the routine was in place.

with DS1, he would wake up from his naps cranky and screaming and i would sing to him or play soothing music. with DS2, he would wake up happy!

both nap well and (touch wood) sleep well at night too. both would settle with little fussing.

i think it is luck of the draw really. obviously the routine helped.

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Original poster

heron22 · 22/12/2009 17:21

i breastfed both of them but not at night.

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BeckyBendyLegs · 22/12/2009 17:26

Actually I'm big on routine as well: following the baby's routine though not imposing a strict routine on the baby. DS1 didn't have a routine for a few months as I was new to the baby game and didn't realise routine was so important then (hence my problems with him perhaps?). By DS2's turn, I knew that babies like routine, and it worked a treat! DS3 has had to follow a school-run routine. I've had no choice with him - so far so good!

Original poster

heron22 · 22/12/2009 17:29

how old is ur DS3? wow, what is it like to have 3?

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truoddsox · 22/12/2009 17:50

Ds sleeps really well for me, has slept 12 hours through since he was 8 weeks. 22 months and still sleeping through 12 hours, plus a 2 hour nap midday! He vene takes himslef upstairs, puts his own nightlight and monitor on; all we have to do is put him in the cot and tuck him in!
We've done routine from the day after we came home (midwives don't approve in hospital!). We woke him from his naps for feeds, but never woke him at night. Also, I weaned onto baby rice from 12 weeks , but obviously never told the HV!
I feel for people whose dcs don't sleep well for ages - dgc of my mum's friend was still waking in the night for a feed at 2.5yo! I'd never cope with that!

5inthesleighbed · 22/12/2009 18:14

My first two were dream sleepers, slept through from 8 weeks. DS3 (13 mo) on the other hand, still doesn't sleep through every night, and only stopped waking twice a feed when he was 10 months old, solids had no affect on him.

I used to think parents whos children didn't sleep thorugh were too soft on them. Oh how I laughed when I realised I was wrong.

BeckyBendyLegs · 22/12/2009 18:25

DS3 is nearly six week and sitting on my knee as I type smelling all lovely of baby! It is chaos with three but wonderful too - getting them all to school in the am is a nightmare so now we are on school hols it is great. He wakes twice a night at mo. for feeds. I don't think he'll match the 8-week record of his middle brother but I hope he does me proud and sleeps through soonish rather than later. We'll see how it goes.

Original poster

heron22 · 22/12/2009 19:04

trudwow ur DS is super! our early routine involved waking him up for feed etc and never woke him at night except for feeds. the 11pm feed was really important that he was awake so he ate properly and would take him through till around 3am. gradually it became 4am, then 5am. then now it is 8am.

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Original poster

heron22 · 22/12/2009 19:05

becky ah bless, 6 weeks old Congratulations! twice feeds at his age is perfect!

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bluebump · 22/12/2009 19:23

My DS has slept through since he was 10 weeks - it was a week before we took him abroad and we were thinking it would never last and what bad timing for a change of scenery but it did! He has one short nap in the morning and one longer 1 1/2- 2 hours in the afternoon. We do co sleep now and have done since he outgrew his moses basket at 6 months. He is 16 months now so we are trying to get him used to his bed now, he likes sitting in it, climbing up into it but not sleeping in it!

MrsMattie · 22/12/2009 19:26

I have a fabulous sleeper. She slept five hours at a time from her forst night on the planet (the midwife kept telling me to 'wake her to feed'. I wasn't a first timer so I just nodded and smiled and ignored). She never woke more than once a night for a feed and by six weeks she was sleeping 12-13 hours a night. Now 13 months and still goes out like a light at 6.30-7pm and sleeps for 12 hours at least.

DISCLAIMER: My first child didn't sleep through the night until he was 2.5 yrs old.
I was like an extra from Attack of the Zombies for most of that time.

Nothing I did or didn't do. They were made that way.

5inthesleighbed · 22/12/2009 19:31

She sounds great MrsM. Does she nap during the day as well? DS3 has a two hour nap in the morning, and a little one in the afternoon, same age as yours

Igglybuff · 22/12/2009 20:22

Sorry to hijack your thread as I dont have a dream sleeping baby! I just wondered what nap time and bedtime routines anyone used to get their babies used to the idea that they should sleep? My 11 week DS has a rough routine in the day as he cannot stay awake for more than 60-90 mins. But he doesn't settle very easily - naps require the sling or rocking. We're trying a bedtime routine but a bath gets him too overstimulated and by the time he's dressed for bed, he's cranky!! But we can't give a bath any earlier as he's feeding......

CloudDragon · 22/12/2009 20:33

all of mine have (though they have had blips)

I basically:

am really boring from 7-7. No talking. No lights. No eye contact

Only feed if they really want to

Had a bedtime routine from 5 weeks then never changed

Never ever got them out the bedroom after 7pm

With one of them they got in a habit of waking every half hour (for about 3 weeks when they were 7 months) so I let him cry it out for about 20 mins abd he then slept throuhg.

Obviously when they are poorly things differ tough I still am boring but cuddly!

CloudDragon · 22/12/2009 20:34

ps great believer in letting them fall asleep on there own as often as possible from as young as poss. (even if it means eyes open for all of 2 secs after a feed)

Igglybuff · 22/12/2009 20:42

Thanks CloudDragon. We've had some improvement since we've stopped taking DS out of the bedroom once he's been put to bed. We also try and keep things as boring as possible but quite difficult as havent found a good enough night light yet (they're either too dim or too bright and DS can see things which get him excited!)

Original poster

heron22 · 22/12/2009 20:50

i agree with cloud i let my babies fall asleep on their own. i did not want to be a prop!
iggly i have the same problem with night lights. i am usually stumbling in the dark!
how about skip the bath? does he have his bottle/breast at 5pm?

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Original poster

heron22 · 22/12/2009 20:52

my LO was the same at that age. he kept falling asleep. and so he would usually take his feed while asleep! he cluster feeds between 5-8pm.

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Igglybuff · 22/12/2009 21:02

How do you get them to sleep on their own? DS gets so overtired in a matter of minutes and cannot settle...

heron22 - he has breast at 5.30pm/6pm then we have a bath a bit after to let his food go down. However, after half an hour after feeding (so into bathtime), he's already tired or overtired so it's a struggle to get him to calm down and sleep..........! His next feed is then at 8pm and if he's not have a growth spurt or isn't overtired, he can sleep through til 12/1am.

Igglybuff · 22/12/2009 21:04

We've tried skipping the bath but sometimes he wakes after his 8pm feed and has no interest in sleeping, then gets overtired again...... Then cannot settle him until midnight sometimes

So we wanted to keep the bath so that he has some inkling that he should be going to be soon......

mowcop · 22/12/2009 21:09

I am a huge believer in routine, all 3 of mine slept through from 9 at night until 7 in the morning ish at 10, 8 and 9 weeks respectively. We then gradually bought bed time forward and dropped the late feed. I'm not sure how much you can put to routine and how much is pure luck, but it has worked for us. They are now 2,4 and 6 and all go upto bed at 6.20 and I have a brew in my hand by half past. My youngest gets up at 7.30-8 ish, and has 2 1/2 hours in the afternoon. Middle man wakes at 6.30-7 and the eldest around 7.30. I consider myself very lucky and am sure if I had another baby they would never sleep just to spite me!

Igglybuff · 22/12/2009 21:11

I think that a routine would really help our little boy and want to try starting now so he gets used to it when he's old enough to understand such things. It's just finding the right one!

mowcop · 23/12/2009 06:45

ha. Had the law of sod thrust upon me last night. Was up and watching The Snowman at 12.30 with DD age 2. I do have an excuse though,she was poorly. I now need to get the smell of sick out of her matress, quilt, carpet.....lovely. Poor lamb. Had eldest up wit it on Friday and middle one on Saturday, but they will use a bucket. tmi. Starting to remember what sleep deprivation feels like.

BeckyBendyLegs · 23/12/2009 09:10

I agree letting them fall asleep on their own from early on really helps if you can manage it. It takes a while to get them used to this (lots of sitting next to them, reassuring, shushhing, etc until they go to sleep). There will be times when you can't, eg this morning at 5.45am DS3 was sick all over himself and me after a feed and would not settle at all after the trauma so I cuddled him, put him down, cuddled, put him down, until I gave up at 7.15am and got him up! He then conked out after his next feed!

We started a bathtime, feed, bedtime routine from 2 weeks. Seemed so daft in a way as they are so young but this has totally worked with DS2 and DS3 (DS1 from about 5 weeks). They all went down at night with just a few grizzles every night. I think babies like predictability (bath = end of day = milk = bed and sleep). I don't know how a two week old can possibly make this connection but they seem to, in my experience anyway.

mowcop poor you!

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