When did your baby start sleeping through the night?

[nfowife]

DD1: no cosleeping, BF'd, STTN at 9 months
DS: coslept 2.5 months, BF'd, STTN at 10 months
DD2: coslept 2 months, BF'd, STTN at 8 months

By STTN I mean 11+ hours. DD1 was the most difficult one and we did do CIO with her. DS took a paci so it was just a matter of being old enough to put it back in himself. DD2 has been the easiest baby for me by far, but I am super consistent with her schedule an she has a more laid-back personality.

I feel 9 months is fine for bf babies to stop needing overnight feeds if they are growing well. Each baby is different and if night feeds and extended cosleeping work for you? Awesome!

 

[basil]

Thanks for the bump, Skippy! It was nice reading through this at this point.

My son is 2.5 months. From week 5-week 8, he slept four hour stretches. Waking up once to nurse and then quickly go back to sleep. I found that quite manageable. Then he got a slight cold and we went on vacation so our routine was all off. He started waking up every 1.5-2 hours. I figured it was because he was sick.

Now he's not sick anymore but still waking up every ~2 hours. And he's had more and more trouble going back to his bassinet by himself.

I'm in the group that I don't want to co-sleep but I don't want to CIO - at least at this age - so I don't know exactly what to do.

I also need to move him out of the bassinet because it is only approved to 3 months which is only another few weeks. So he is starting in his crib tonight and I hope to make that transition gradually. Both for him and me. I also go back to work in another week so I'm not sure how that will affect things.

 

[Puppmom]

DD didn't sleep through the night until she was 10 months old but, once she did, there was no looking back. DS, on the other hand, slept through the night from about 2.5 months until 6 months. From 6 months till now (he's almost 15 mos), it's been all over the place. We're not getting a whole lot of sleep around here...

 

[Sha]

DD started sleeping 3-4 hour stretches at 6 months - but by force (CIO). Before that she was waking every hour and a half. I was sooo bleary eyed!!

I think she started sleeping 8+ stretches at around 11 months or so.

 

[Skippy123]

Right now the boys are 6 months (4 months adjusted) and they are sleeping 5 to 8 hour stretches. I will update when they are sleeping 10 hour stretches.

PUPP mom, oh no, I am sorry. I hope he STTN soon!

 

[Skippy123]

Thanks for the bump, Skippy! It was nice reading through this at this point.

My son is 2.5 months. From week 5-week 8, he slept four hour stretches. Waking up once to nurse and then quickly go back to sleep. I found that quite manageable. Then he got a slight cold and we went on vacation so our routine was all off. He started waking up every 1.5-2 hours. I figured it was because he was sick.

Now he's not sick anymore but still waking up every ~2 hours. And he's had more and more trouble going back to his bassinet by himself.

I'm in the group that I don't want to co-sleep but I don't want to CIO - at least at this age - so I don't know exactly what to do.

I also need to move him out of the bassinet because it is only approved to 3 months which is only another few weeks. So he is starting in his crib tonight and I hope to make that transition gradually. Both for him and me. I also go back to work in another week so I'm not sure how that will affect things.

Not sure if this is good or bad advice but I have the snugabunny swing by FP. I love the swing; if I didn't have one I have no clue what I would do having twins! I know that they say they should sleep in their cribs but the swing has helped us. We turn off the swaying after one of them has fallen asleep and then take them to their bed. We have to do less and less of this. Right now our FP sleep bassinets are getting to small for them so I need to move them to their cribs. I am nervous about this because they have lots of spit ups lying down so I might have to try a tiny bit of rice cereal to keep things down at night. We aren't going to transition them to the cribs till the weekend.

How is your LO doing? hope he is sleeping longer stretches BASIL

 

[basil]

Thanks for the advice, Skippy! We have the snugabunny swing too, but it's downstairs in our house. So I use it for his naps. He still won't fall asleep in it by himself, but I think it helps him stay asleep longer during the day. He had a lot of trouble napping when we were on vacation and we didn't have the swing. I have only used it for nighttime a few times when I slept on the couch, but I tried not to make that a habit. We used to use it to keep him close during the evening when he was sleeping (i.e. 7-10 pm), but I'm trying to get him to sleep more in his crib. I have some anxiety about him being far away from me while I'm asleep so this is for me to adjust to trusting the monitor!

Last night we tried to put him down in his crib at 7:30, eventually he fell asleep around 9, slept til 10:30, back asleep at 11:30 then up at 3:30. Nursed and I fell asleep nursing so he was in our bed from 3:30 to 5 am when DH alarm went off. Put him in bassinet and then he woke up at 5:45. Nursed and diaper change, then took him downstairs and put in the swing to sleep from 6:45-9:30 then up for the day.

Geez, as I write that out, it sounds like I am royally screwing this up

 

[Skippy123]

No you aren't screwing up. I think it is so hard when it comes to know what to do with babies and sleep. I feel for you; I do! It does get better I have noticed. Sometimes we take steps back and steps forward. I try to put them down drowsy but when they were younger you did what you could just to get them to sleep! I know we did and still do sometimes! I wish I had a good answer. How old is H? 3 months?

 

[gardengloves]

Ahhh Dreamer, you bring up such interesting threads.. With several years perspective, I've come to the conclusion that these infancy sleeping patterns are very telling about the personalities of our children.

From early infancy my second born daughter slept long stretches.. from the earliest infancy she'd wake maybe every four hours, with small whimpers, I'd take her to bed and breast feed her, and back she went into a deep tranquil sleep. To this day, thirty years later, that girl lies on her back, falls asleep and does not stir once for the night.. I know this because she is my frequent sleepover date - she sleeps like a rock, and does not move! When she was six months you could put her to sleep at 7 p.m and not one peep or movement- no tossing or turning - you'd put her down on her back,she would wake up on her back – when I would wake up around 7:00 a.m. ,I would find her happily entertained playing with her crib toys, making small sweet little noises.

My first born son on the other hand was a handful- he would wake every two hours from infancy… until I dunno when… maybe NOW, with a full blown 3 alarm fire shrieking blast ,that would startle me out of bed, knocking into things to get to him until my legs were black and blue from stumbling around to get to him- and yes I had his crib right near me, but the urgency of his screams were startling. There was no build up, no small whimpers, gently escalating – he would simply wake and emit code red startling shrieks… even after nursing- he'd just be fussy, hard to settle back into sleep - but that is just the way he was and is. I'd read parenting books, methods, let them scream, shut the door, pick them up... I tried them all … there was no solution… he just was who he is..

Maybe I was a more relaxed, easy parent with the second.. who knows.. you just have to roll with it.

You just gotta love them- they are who they are and going to be

 

[Cupcake*Muffin]

L started sleeping through the night at 8 weeks. 10-12 hour stretches with an occasional 14 hour here and there. She used to go to bed at 9 then would be up around 8-9:30am. But now bedtime is 7 and she sleeps until 6 on the weekends and 5:30 during the weekdays since that's when I wake her to change her and get her ready to go to the nanny.

Since L was 2 weeks old, she's slept in her own crib in her room. She is on breastmilk only and at a little under 6 months has only had 34oz of formula ever (I was out of the country). So far, this schedule has held firm...fingers crossed. Only down side, she only takes one long 2 hour nap during the day an short little 20min to 1 hour nap.

 

[Skippy123]

L started sleeping through the night at 8 weeks. 10-12 hour stretches with an occasional 14 hour here and there. She used to go to bed at 9 then would be up around 8-9:30am. But now bedtime is 7 and she sleeps until 6 on the weekends and 5:30 during the weekdays since that's when I wake her to change her and get her ready to go to the nanny.

Since L was 2 weeks old, she's slept in her own crib in her room. She is on breastmilk only and at a little under 6 months has only had 34oz of formula ever (I was out of the country). So far, this schedule has held firm...fingers crossed. Only down side, she only takes one long 2 hour nap during the day an short little 20min to 1 hour nap.

wow, that is awesome!!! I hope mine do that sooner than later. Mine do a 7-8 hr stretch

 

[rosetta]

Serious question ladies: how do you function at work when you can't get a full night's sleep, weeks and months on end? I'd be a wreck!

 

[Lottie]

Our daughter took a while to sleep through the night - maybe four months with a dream feed but I didn't stop that until 6 months, I made the mistake of rocking her to sleep in my arms so if she did wake up then she needed rocking back to sleep again, she would never fall asleep in our bed (probably because as a first time mum I was too worried I would roll on her so I was really, really tense if she was in with us) - eventually at around 10 months we followed the pick up put down method which worked perfectly untill she was a year old and then we called her bluff and let her cry it out. From then on she was great but given the choice she would get up really early!

Our son came home from the hospital and went straight to sleep, I rang the ward after five hours because I was worried and they told me to go back to bed. He has continued in this vein, at 16 months old he is the biggest lazybones I know and would usually sleep from 6pm until 8am. When the clocks went forward this week he woke up early so I put him in bed with us (no fears anymore!) and he lay there for a full hour looking up at the ceiling, sucking his dummy and stroking his Giraffe - he didn't move once!

I think its got a lot do with weight as well.

Rosetta, I can only speak for myself but when both of my children were small babies I completely lost that middle phase of sleep where you are drifting off or in light sleep - I was awake or completely unconcious, nothing in between. I think that was my body's way of getting the most sleep as possible.

 

[rosetta]

Very interesting Lottie, thanks for replying!

 

[Jennifer W]

Rosetta, you're in the UK, right? It won't be as bad, we can take a year of maternity leave. I stretched mine out to 14 months with annual leave (which you continue to accrue while on maternity leave, btw) and some flexi time that I had from the insane amount of work I was doing before I finished up.

By the time your baby is a year or so, you're out of the bone weary tiredness that waking every few hours round the clock gives you. It really isn't too bad (plus, you're getting used to it a bit by then, I think mothers just need less sleep...)

You will take a bit of a financial hit on the maternity leave, depending on your employer's policy. You're NHS, right? They have a fairly generous mat leave policy, you'd be ok if you decided to go for it. NHS Scotland gives you the option of up to 20 'in touch' days during your maternity leave, so you can go to CPD events, or attend for department meetings if you want to (or not, if you don't). I presume it will be much the same in Englandshire.

I did fall asleep at an 'in touch' day. In my defence, it was a seminar about the Freedom of Information Act, and my baby was only 5 months old, so I was still feeding through the night. I wouldn't have been able to work a full-on day at that stage, but everyone is different.

 

[Bliss]

Heehee, my colleagues at work tell me I am soooo screwed because we co-sleep! We just couldn't stomach CIO after M threw up violently twice the first night. She was shaking, her heart was racing and she was in clear distress. It just broke our hearts and we put an end to it, unfortunately. We have a very stubborn puppy! So after trying twice, we determined that it wasn't for us and she is sleeping in our bed!

So far, so good. But we are waiting until she is about 2 or so to transition her into her own crib/bed. Hopefully (and this is where my colleagues tell me we're so screwed) when she can reason, we can make transitioning to her own bed a special and happy event? Oh geez, am I just delusional? Part of me loves co-sleeping but I also don't want to do it forever! She is such a snuggler. It is just the cutest thing and she melts my heart. But gosh, ideally she would sleep in her own bed by age 2... *PRAYING*

I should ask Pandora how it works! Maybe we are a co-sleeping family? I never thought it would come to this, but we have one of those babies - the ones who just refuse to sleep in their own cribs.

 

[Dreamer_D]

Serious question ladies: how do you function at work when you can't get a full night's sleep, weeks and months on end? I'd be a wreck!

I am honestly amazed how well I funtion for months on end on little sleep. Lottie's answer may be why. Hormones from BFing help. I am fortunate not to need to work right now, though, since I am in Canada and have maternity leave. But when I have done some work... not I am not up to my usual level of attentiveness I can handle getting up once or twice a night without too much problem. When my son(s) woke more than twice, that is when I started going bat-$hit crazy.

 

[Skippy123]

Serious question ladies: how do you function at work when you can't get a full night's sleep, weeks and months on end? I'd be a wreck!

I am not working but I can say the first couple of months IS tough; I won't lie. I think it varies for people though depending on the baby, the amount of sleep the momma is use to, etc. I have twins so that also I am sure makes a big difference but I did get a taste of what it is like to only have 1 baby (the other was in the hospital a month longer). I can say the nights are hard in the beginning but IT DOES GET EASIER!

 

[ChinaCat]

Honestly, I barely functioned. I was like a zombie. Depends on your job, of course; unfortunately mine requires precise thinking skills and logic and that went out the window. I just did the bare minimum as much as I could, and hoped people would understand. This is one reason I think US needs longer mat leave. Not only for the benefit of mother/child, etc., but honestly, for the company's benefit as well. They didn't get much out of me, and it would have been much better for them to have me come back refreshed and ready to go. Even 6 months would be a huge improvement. Going back 3 months PP is a no-win for everyone.

AND my kid was a good sleeper. STTN at about 2 months. He did reverse cycle and start getting up 1-2x to nurse when I went back to work for about a month and a half, then went back to STTN (except for a few teething nights). And I was STILL a zombie.

I don't understand the co-sleeping thing, only because my monkey would NEVER sleep and/or lie still in our bed. I tried to bring him into my bed once or twice out of sheer desperation, and he thought it was play time.

 

[Dreamer_D]

Well Ryder has been pretty consistent for the last month in sleeping from 8pm to 8am with one wake up to nurse around 3am. He is 5 months old now and weight 20lbs, exclusively breastfed. I am pretty happy with this!

 

[Puppmom]

DS has been falling asleep in his own crib but pretty consistently wakes around 1am and is with us the rest of the night. I have a love/hate relationship with the co-sleeping. I love cuddling him but hate that he wakes at night crying, hate getting kicked in the stomach and bonked in the head, and hate that hubby and I have to work our morning schedule to make sure N is safe in the bed. My back has been killing me lately and I'm pretty sure that's it's because I've been sleeping awkwardly. Even when I'm sleeping, I feel like I'm totally aware of his presence and sleep in a position that suits him not me.

Anyway, we're thinking about taking a week (hopefully not longer!) and just being persistent about getting him back in the crib when he wakes in the night. I'm just not sure *how* exactly we'll do that. I don't think I can stomach CIO and I totally envision N doing exactly what Bliss described. My irrational mommy thought is that we created this and he shouldn't have to suffer so we can fix it. But I'm pretty sure this isn't going to happen without some crying.

 

[Loves Vintage]

Dreamer - That's great that he's sleeping so well at 5 months. We didn't get there until just recently. And, I think we're gonna need to see a pic of this 20 pound 5 month old!

Puppmom - What would happen if you put N back in his crib a half hour or so after he falls asleep in your bed? S falls asleep in our bed. She requires cuddling to fall asleep , so when we go to sleep, we move her to her crib and she doesn't wake (the crib is still right next to the bed, but I don't think she'd really wake even if we took her to the next room.) Maybe if he wakes up and finds that he's in his crib in the morning, then he'll stop waking up in MOTN? Maybe? (I will admit that S will still sometimes wake at 3-4, and she'll sleep with us then. She does move around A LOT, and we both get kicked! We prefer for her to sleep in the crib at this point! So, I know what you mean about the logistics of co-sleeping at this age!)

 

[Puppmom]

LV, the strange thing is N will pass out as soon as he's in bed with us and the SECOND we try to put him back in the crib he starts screaming. This only happens in the MOTN. Naptime and bedtime are fine. I've thought about moving the crib into our room to see if just knowing we're there makes a difference but have been too lazy.

 

[Skippy123]

My Twins go to bed at 6:30 pm after eating and then wake One time at approx 3 am and then sleep some more till 6:30 am. I am hoping by Christmas they STTN but that is just me asking Santa. lol

Dreamer that is great!!! Sounds like a healthy guy!

PUPP, oh no to the kicking and not sleeping well. I hope he will sleep in his crib for you. Our problem is they sleep in their Fisher Price Sleep and Rock but Miles has Reflux so I am scared to move him to his crib because whenever he is playing on the floor too long milk starts coming back up!!! bleh! I know they can't be in the sleep and rock forever! I am dreading our transition! My husband said to me the other day he wasn't sure why we even got cribs! lol He also said our cribs are taking up space! eta: I hope moving the crib into your room works!! Maybe he just needs to know you are close?

LV, when S wakes at 3 or 4 does she want to eat or just sleep in your bed?

 

[Dreamer_D]

PUPP Ryder started sleeping on my chest (up to 2 weeks old), then transitioned to sleeping on his side beside me (up to 4-5 weeks old), then transitioned to sleeping on his tummy in his co-sleeper for half the night and with us the second half (up to 10 weeks old), then transitioned to sleeping on his back swaddled in his co-sleeper beside us half the night and with us half the night (up to 12-14 weeks I think?) then transitioned to all night in his own little bed swaddled (up to 16 weeks) then transitioned to his crib in another room swaddled (up to 18 weeks) and now sleeping in his own room unswaddled.

Since he is our second kid I took a much more relaxed and gradual approach to these transitions. I would try it and if it did not work, just go back to the status quo and try again the nexy night. But we also let him CIO I started the CIO at nap time when it was less disruptive. Not for long periods. We set a 20 minute limit. But my expeirence is that IF they are going to sooth to sleep it happens within 10 minutes. And you will hear the cries change form full out wailing to a more rythmic cry with long pauses. I also find their eyes are firmly closed during this "mantra cry" stage. It is not really a distress cry but rather a cry to help them fall asleep. If it looked to me like he was not calming I would nurse him again and then try again. But I was very motivated to get him out of our bed for all the reasons you state. I just did not sleep well.

At first he would also cry out in the middle of the night when I tried to put him down, but what I would do is make myself get out of bed to nurse him in a chair (not bring him in bed) and then I would just nurse him until he was in a coma and put him to bed. Usually this took about 30 - 60 minutes. I would just fall asleep. But once he was in a coma I could put him down in his own bed. Gradually, he just got used to being in his bed and I could nurse him the usual 20 minutes and then put him down. I routinely still fall asleep nursing him in my comfy chair though.

How old is your baby? We introduced swaddling to help him sleep on his own in his co-sleeper and swaddled until he was 4.5 months! We also let him sleep on his tummy at one point.

ETA: I see he is 15 months! The transition could be harder. If I were in your shoes I would try the nurse until coma, and then just use CIO, he is old enough.

 

[Dreamer_D]

Heehee, my colleagues at work tell me I am soooo screwed because we co-sleep! We just couldn't stomach CIO after M threw up violently twice the first night. She was shaking, her heart was racing and she was in clear distress. It just broke our hearts and we put an end to it, unfortunately. We have a very stubborn puppy! So after trying twice, we determined that it wasn't for us and she is sleeping in our bed!

So far, so good. But we are waiting until she is about 2 or so to transition her into her own crib/bed. Hopefully (and this is where my colleagues tell me we're so screwed) when she can reason, we can make transitioning to her own bed a special and happy event? Oh geez, am I just delusional? Part of me loves co-sleeping but I also don't want to do it forever! She is such a snuggler. It is just the cutest thing and she melts my heart. But gosh, ideally she would sleep in her own bed by age 2... *PRAYING*

I should ask Pandora how it works! Maybe we are a co-sleeping family? I never thought it would come to this, but we have one of those babies - the ones who just refuse to sleep in their own cribs.

They can't reason at 2, I am sorry to say. I dont' think you are screwed, that is silly. No matter when you transition there are challenges. If you wait until she is older, you will just have to put her to bed, and then when she gets up, put her back in bad. About 50 - 100 times the first night should do the trick

I think if you want her in her own bed there are ways to do it more gradually than CIO, especially since she is still young. See what I wrote to PUPP about how we did it with Ryder. Peristence is the key, and gradual steps. Does she nap in her own bed?

 

[Dreamer_D]

Skippy both my boys are big spit up kings. Is he unhappy when he spits up from being on the floor too long? I just let them spit up and move their head to another area of the crib when I see them I put an extra absorbant change pad under the sheet where their head is too. No harm no foul, they usually sleep right through it.

 

[Loves Vintage]

LV, when S wakes at 3 or 4 does she want to eat or just sleep in your bed?

She used to wake to eat, then I finally broke down and offered her water when she woke, and that did the trick! After a few nights, she was STTN. A few weeks later, she started to wake again. Instead of feeding her, we just snuggle her back to sleep, and it works. I don't put her back in her crib only because I fall asleep too!

 

[Dreamer_D]

LV here is my 20 lb, 27 inch, five-month old sleeping, as suits this thread.

 

[Skippy123]

awww, so sweet and angelic!!!

eta:: Dreamer, it is pretty gross, he gurgles when it starts coming up and freezes and then screams! I guess I just don't want to deal with that at night; I never know when it is going to happen. I can feed him and hold him upright for an hour and then I put him on the ground to play and he rolls and then sometimes when he is on his back that happens. His spit ups got so bad that they were coming up his nose never having been on the ground so the doctor upped his zantac and that seems to help. I guess I am just nervous and hope that his reflux goes away as I hear lots of babies have reflux that is just takes time.

LV, I have heard that water works!! aww, she wants to snuggle w/you. so sweet!!!