What does "sleeping through the night" mean to you?

Piglet's Mama

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My Mummy friend and I, are always saying how fed up we are of hearing how babies of our age or younger are "sleeping through the night" already (there's been a baby boom in are area so we know loads of Mummy's). We get fed up cause we're jealous obviously. But when we dug a little bit deeper we found out that these Mummy's were classing "through the night" from the babies last feed/dream feed which is normally midnight/1.00am. But to me, this isn't sleeping through the night.

To me, sleeping through the night is putting baby down at 7-8pm and then baby sleeps uninterrupted, without a feed for 12 hours. I have been working my socks off to get Brooke down for bed between 7-8pm and I'm really lucky that for the last 2 weeks (apart from once) she is asleep before 8pm. BUT, she then either wakes herself for a feed around 11pm, or I wake her for a dream feed around 11pm, or if I don't wake her, she'll wake around 1am and 4am, but if I do wake her for a dream feed she'll sleep until 4.15am on the dot (you can set your clock by it). But I wouldn't class any of that as "sleeping through" as she is waking at least once. Hopefully if I carry on with my bedtime routine, in a few more weeks, when she's eating more etc she will eventually sleep through.

So what do you ladies think?

I'd just like to add that last night , Brooke DID SLEEP THROUGH! *Smug Mummy Moment* I think it's because she had her jabs yesterday so fully expect it to be a one off, but she slept 8.00pm - 6.30am :dance:

x
 
Sleeping through the night means to me exactly as it sounds: sleeping through the night, dream feed or not! We put poppy in her cot around 9pm and she sleeps from around then until 7.00 or 8.00 the next morning, but I do give her a dream feed at around 11.00-12.00 that she rarely wakes up for. I don't know if she would sleep so long if I didn't give her the dream feed (I doubt it!), but it's what works for us so I won't stop giving it to her just yet. xx
 
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Well done Brooke (and mummy), Charlie doesn't sleep through the night 7-8pm till morning but he does sleep from 11.30pm - 7.30am as i have to wake him up as ive got to leave for the school run. well i say he doesn't to be fair ive never let him thinking about it, he always falls asleep about 8ish but i always feed him at 11.15 to be in bed for 11.30, so i dont know how long he would sleep if i just left him! i kinda like knowing that once i go to bed at 11.30 i wont be waking up till my alarm goes off at 7.15am.. maybe i should try and leave him.

i do class going through the night like you say being put down at a reasonable time like 7-8pm and then going till the morning. my Brooke started doing this pattern 7/8pm - 7/8am when she was 12/13 weeks old. so hopefully Charlie will be the same.


Do you leave Brooke in her cot in your room and then come back downstairs?

xx
 
Great thread by the way, I understand what you mean. By what you're saying, I can't technically class poppy as sleeping through the night, but because she doesn't actually wake up whilst me & OH are sleeping, I do tend to class it as sleeping through the night! xx
 
Great thread by the way, I understand what you mean. By what you're saying, I can't technically class poppy as sleeping through the night, but because she doesn't actually wake up whilst me & OH are sleeping, I do tend to class it as sleeping through the night! xx


Like i said i do class sleeping through the night as 'Properly' going from 7-8pm - 7-8am or longer, but like you, feeding charlie at around 11.15 and then letting him sleep works for me, as im not sleeping anyway so it doesnt make any difference to me.
 
to me, sleeping through the night means not waking for a feed!!

my lo didnt actually sleep through until 8months!

he now sleeps from 7pm-8.30am ish but only naps half an hour in the day!
 
Sleeping through the night is classed as anything over 6 hours sleep without a feed. 12 hours without a feed is alot for a baby to do and even some 1 year olds can't do it so dont get disheartened. Most babies won't sttn until 6 months but people just dont like to say it so it ends up that everyone seems to only hear about the babies that sttn at about 4 weeks! Which is so uncommon.

Just keep going and even though its hard work, the ones who sleep through the night straight away are more likely to have problems with sleep later on whereas those who take longer to get used to it tend to stick with it.
 
Sleeping through the night is classed as anything over 6 hours sleep without a feed. 12 hours without a feed is alot for a baby to do and even some 1 year olds can't do it so dont get disheartened. Most babies won't sttn until 6 months but people just dont like to say it so it ends up that everyone seems to only hear about the babies that sttn at about 4 weeks! Which is so uncommon.

Just keep going and even though its hard work, the ones who sleep through the night straight away are more likely to have problems with sleep later on whereas those who take longer to get used to it tend to stick with it.


yes forgot to say this.... when my lo went for 6 hours it was heaven! like i said, he was 8months old before he stopped his night feeds! just seen your ticker and seen how little your lo is!

i got so used to waking to feed him that whn he did finally start to sleep all night i still woke up!

now he sleeps all night like an angel!
 
I've always classed sleeping through as sleeping without a feed for 12 hours.
My friend was saying how her baby slept through from afew weeks old but he was only sleeping 12-6. Yes thats 6 hours but can you survive on 6 hours?!!
Both of mine slept through from 6 months and that was 12 hours without a dream feed x x
 
I might try NOT giving poppy a dream feed tonight just out of interest to see how long she'll sleep. I'll prepare myself for a 3am wake-up call! :lol:
 
I class sleeping through the night as not waking for a feed! My LO slept through from 8-7 or 8 from 5weeks but I never gave her a dream feed once she stopped waking for her feeds I didn't give them to her and she slept through fine! Not all babies do this though and I don't imagine I will be as lucky with my next one!
 
I've always classed it as sleeping for 6 hours solid! I was very, very lucky that both mine slept thru from 6 weeks, at that stage I think they were sleeping 8-6ish, might have been earlier, I can't remember! I've never done dream feeding either, ive always just waited for them to want a feed! 12 hours is a very, very long time for a little one to wait for a feed, unless they're ready for it of course!
 
And aswell, don't worry about them not sleeping thru, m friends little boy still doesn't at 2 1/2 and my doctor said at Es 6 week check that his daughter didn't til 4 :shock: but they all do it eventually!
 
Jasper slept for around 5 hours a night in one lump from pretty early on. He has only just started sleeping from 7-7 but he is 14 months old! I wake up for a wee/drink/cuddle in the night so i am not going to get all upset about him doing the same thing. I think its rarer than we think for adults to sleep through the night, let alone babies!


I always attend to his needs in the night, wether its a cuddle, glass of water, nappy change, whatever

to me, the most important thing is him having a positive association with sleep - i.e not lying in a cot on his own in the dark terrified that no one has come to him when he has cried - so he is comfortable sleeping throughout his whole life. So he sleeps well as an older child, a teenager and an adult, so that he is not afraid of the dark or feels lonely at night and like no one is there

its a psychological thing, and a very important one.
 
to me, the most important thing is him having a positive association with sleep - i.e not lying in a cot on his own in the dark terrified that no one has come to him when he has cried - so he is comfortable sleeping throughout his whole life. So he sleeps well as an older child, a teenager and an adult, so that he is not afraid of the dark or feels lonely at night and like no one is there

its a psychological thing, and a very important one.

100% agree with that. I would never leave Poppy crying - my 'older' relatives tend to say "Crying is good for their lungs it doesn't do them any harm!" but, she's a BABY - babies cry when they need something, be it a feed, nappy change or just a cuddle. It breaks my heart to hear her cry. If she was to wake up in the middle of the night, I would never just ignore her. x
 
Paige will still wake up for a cuddle accasionally. I dont mind tbh :) She doesn't have night lights or anything so the only thing there to comfort her at 2am when she's upset is me so a cuddles always nice.

When they're older and your not so sleep deprived I actually like giving her a cuddle at night because its the only time she'll proper cuddle me and not be distracted by something else! :love:
 
I just think how i would feel, memory not complete enough to understand that mama and dadda are in the next room, crying my little lungs out in the dark with no idea why no one is coming (or if anyone will come again)

i also wonder how i would feel, being made to go a full 12 hours at night without being allowed a glass of water!

I would hate both those things, and i want my children to behave like nice people so i treat them like nice people (in a nutshell)

and yes Jasper is very squishy and cuddly when he wakes up (which is very, very rare) so I enjoy going to him

I will leave him to have a bit of a grumble when he is really tired and wont go to sleep though, i think thats different to leaving them in the middle of the night. I think seeing to their needs and then putting them back down to go to sleep is fine... mind you i only did this with Jasper from a year + before that i allowed him to gently go to sleep with us rocking him or whatever, just because i dont think a baby under 1 has the capacity to self-soothe without it being quite traumatic for them

We co-slept with Jasper til 8 months and kept him in the same room as us until 1yr for this reason x
 
My Lo sleeps from midnight till 8 or 9, but she doesn't get a dream feed, we just keep her awake as both OH and i are usually up anyway, she sleep during the day a bit, but is awake from tea time onwards..

I'd class 12 till 8 as through the night cause its 8 hours uninterrupted x


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Hi all,

Hope no one thinks I was having a go, I know sttn is a bit of a contentious issue anyway, but it was just what I thought hence why asking the question, what does sttn mean to you?

I never leave Brooke to cry in her cot (I never really leave her to cry period), tbh she never cries in her cot, she settle herself really well if she wakes and in the morning she's happy to lie in there chatting to her toys on the mobile! 12 hours does seem like a big stretch when they are very young, and I fully expect Brooke to wake at her normal 4.15am tomorrow morning, which I have no problem with at all; she's only 8 weeks and I'm chuffed she goes as long as she does. But whether she wakes or not, she and the majority of babies need 12-hours sleep, broken or not. I can't do a thing with her if she gets over-tired so it works for us and more importantly it works for her, doing it the way we are.

Kel - Yeah I normally settle her in the cot, come downstairs for an hour (I have a sensor mat and baby monitor so hear if there's any noise, there rarely is) then as our big TV is in our bedroom, we go up a little while later and put the telly on or a film on quietly & she's none the wiser! x
 
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I'd class it as baby sleeping for as long as i'm sleeping. In the first few weeks I wouldn't be too bothered if baby didn't sleep til 12ish as i'm always awake til then anyway.

Can anyone tell me what a dream feed is & how to do it - i've never heard of it before.

My wee girl was sleeping through from around 9 til 6/7am from about 6 weeks old, she did wake for a feed at 2am but i didn't mind as it would be a shame to not give her one, and she'd always go straight back to sleep.

I am in the middle with the whole leaving babies to cry thing - if its very bad screams where you can tell they're very upset, I would attend to them straight away, if its just a wee grumble i'd leave her. My MIL is a social worker & she said when they get a bit older (a few mnths old) they can learn how to manipulate & its important that they dont think they can cry to get what they want. Also, if they are crying & we're not able to comfort them (ie nothing works), I dont see the harm in putting them in their cot to cry & checking them on & off, alot of the time babies do cry for no reason, it shouldn't be associated with the same crying adults do, as it can be alot different.

:)
 

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