Sleeping Through The Night

[Aliantha]

Max is just on the verge of sleeping through the night. He did it for a whole week two weeks ago, but then last week he started waking up during the night again, so last night I decided not to respond to his 'noises' unless they got a bit desperate sounding. He ended up semi waking off and on for about three hours during the night, but he never got anywhere close to crying. He did make what I recognise as his calling noise, but when he got no response to it, he seemed to more or less settle himself back to sleep again. I'm hoping that over the next few days we'll get him all sorted and he'll more or less sleep through most nights from there on.

He's nearly 4 months old now, so I don't think it's being harsh on him. Both of my other boys started sleeping through from about 2 months. Aden was only 6 weeks. I guess all babies are different. I'm definitely learning that this time around.

At what age did your baby start sleeping through the night? Did it just happen (as it did with my first two) or did you go through a similar process to what I'm trying out now?

[Clodfobble]

With the oldest, he did it on his own from about 6 weeks through 3-4 months, and then started waking up again. It continued to get worse until he was waking up every single hour, and we finally had to go hardcore on him at 9 months, being in the room to reassure him, but letting him cry. It still took another 6 weeks after that before he would really sleep through the night again.

With the younger one, it suddenly happened on its own as soon as she moved into her own room at 6 months. Apparently her Daddy's snoring was not helping matters one bit.

[Juniper]

Gosh, I can't remember. I know both did sleep all night for a while at 4 months - that seems a magical age (wow, has it really been 4 months, Ali?) but then when they started teething they went back to being wakeful.

But then, I am a very pro-attachment-parenting mom and I never let them fuss for long. Tried that with my daughter (my 1st) and she cried so hard (on more than one occasion) she puked. Obviously when they puke, you have to go in to them. Manipulative little thing, hm? Well, so what. I got up and did what needed doing. My 2nd, my son, was breastfed and slept in bed with us most nights.

So I guess I could say, with some certainty, that they started sleeping through the night predictably by the time they were three. But no guarantees on where they slept, or where we slept -- my theory was, as long as everyone sleeps, it doesn't matter where.

[glatt]

I can't remember the specific age numbers, but I do remember that it would change. There would be stretches of time where they slept beautifully, and times that they wouldn't at all. And then when they got older, probably around 9 months to a year, we had to do the letting them cry thing so they could learn to settle down on their own.

My youngest is now 7 years old, and he still is a little afraid to be going to bed alone, or going upstairs alone, or going into the basement alone. He's a little clingy that way. No idea if our treatment of him as a baby had anything to do with it, because we treated his sister pretty much the same way, and she loves being alone.

[dar512]

We had a great pediatrician in Seattle (Issaquah actually), who had a bunch of kids of his own and was willing to give practical advice.

The main thing, he said, was to comfort them and let them know that crying would get our attention but to not make them dependent.

He recommended not picking the baby up. Pat them on the back for a minute or so and speak comfortingly, then leave. If they start crying again, wait five minutes before going back. Pat them on the back etc. The next time wait ten minutes before going back. Then fifteen. I think you weren't supposed to go back after fifteen, but we never ran into that situation.

It worked very well for us and both girls pretty much slept through the night after two months.

One of the reasons I think my girls and I are close is that I did most of the midnight comforting - light sleeper.

Actually that's an example of how becoming a parent changes you. I used to be a heavy sleeper and it took a major event to wake me - until we had kids. Even now that the girls are older, I still wake easily and I'm the one they come to if they get sick in the night.

[kerosene]

My son started at about 6 weeks. He has always been a good sleeper since then.

[smoothmoniker]

both slept through the night by 2 months, the relapsed at 18 months for about a month.

[TheMercenary]

I have a 17 year old at home and a 19 year old home from the summer. I still rarely sleep through the night.

[Mookamoo]

My 8 year old has just stopped sleeping through the night - it never ends...

[Aliantha]

Gee, you lot just like to take the fun out of things don't you? lol

Max is sleeping through more or less most nights now. He's waking up a bit earlier than I'd like, but it's not so bad. It'll be better when winter is over.

[ZenGum]

Ha! Why don't you tell them what winter in southern coastal Queensland is like, Ali? Hmmm? haggis.

Oh mookamoo!

[Aliantha]

Well of course it's pretty mild compared to lots of places, but we have gotten down to single digit temps a few days lately. That's pretty cold, and the problem is, we're just not prepared for those sorts of temps! My poor warm blood just doesn't cope well.

[Pooka]

Neither of our kiddos slept through the night till they were over a year old... and thats only most nights... still they wake up before the sun

[Pensive Monkey]

Wow, when was he born? My youngest, Julian, was born March 27. Sounds like they're pretty close in age.

He's my third as well. My first started sleeping through the night on her own at 6 weeks. I contribute this to the fact that I stopped nursing around that time due to thrush and going back to work. My second started sleeping through the night at around 8 weeks, when I decided to "sleep train" him. It was very easy to soothe him without picking him up. I thought I'd have the same experience this time, but it hasn't been the case. We're nearing 4 months now, and Julian is still waking up AT LEAST once a night. I'm exhausted. I have tried to do what I did with my middle child and just soothe him without feeding him, but it doesn't work. He seems genuinely hungry, and I'm not going to starve him...

[Aliantha]

Geez you sound like you're the same person as me living in an alternate universe or something. lol My first two were so easy, and like yours, were both sleeping through by 9 weeks. My first at 6 weeks, and second about half way through his 8th week. This third boy though. Wow, he loves his night time feeds. He does sleep through about half the time now, but if he does that he's usually up by 6am. Otherwise he sometimes wakes at either 1am or about 4am which were the times he used to have his 'night' feeds when he was a newborn.

Max was born on the 15th of March, so less than two weeks apart.