Sleeping through...

[Ushas]

I know I'm jumping the gun slightly with this but I thought I'd ask anyway...

What exactly do you do to encourage your little one to sleep through the night? Is there some 'technique' we should be trying to get them to sleep for longer periods of time at night?

It's just I hear people say their littlies sleep through the night and it seems like some magical thing occurred where one day they just didn't get woken.

[Nanay]

My DS1 still doesnt sleep through the night and he is 2.5 years old!!! I hear people say that they do a dream feed (if bfing) that is while still asleep pop bub on the breast to feed and put them back down in their bed afterward that way they do not wake up for a feed in the middle of the night.. i personally have not done/tried this method though.

[MoOaNdLiTtLePoPpEt]

DS who is 2.5 sleeps thru the night and by this i mean i do not have to get up to him at all....Of course he would stir and at times i have heard him stir, but we have awake times thru the night where we toss or turn or need a drink...BUT i don't literally get up to him and haven't had to for some time now! Which is great.

DDS who is almost 7 weeks...has been waking once for a feed...usually around 2am...but the past 2 mornings it has been 3am and this morning 4am...she sleeps from around 8pm at night to 6/8am in the morning, but she wakes once...

Possibly try a dream feed...? i never did this with DS or DD...if DD is asleep and she is due for a feed at say 8pm, i will pop her on the boob and give her a feed otherwise i would probably just get to sleep and she would wake for a feed...so i have done this a cupla times...

i honestly think each child is an individual...and with DD if she wakes at 2am for a feed she generally needs a change of nappy, so this wakes her a little, but she goes back to sleep within 30 minutes!

i don't have much advice really...sorry, i think they are all individual! :)

[Herchy]

Sleeping through the night for a newbie is a 5 hour stint... so not the 'through the night' people seem to think.
I don't know how to make a child sleep through, I think it's all dependent on the child.
DD sleeps through... we are getting up to 7.5 hours at a time from her overnight. DS was a HORROR sleeper though. He would wake every 1-2 hours for a feed all day every day for the first few months. It was shocking and nothing I did would help him sleep.
Now,however, he will sleep 12-14 hours overnight and 3 - 4 hours during the day at nearly 2 years of age. It took until he was 12 months old before he slept 5 hours straight.

You could try the whole routine thing, which I tried with DS and never worked.
All the best! I know how hard it is with a terrible sleeper.... I guess I've been blessed this time and rewarded for my patience with DS. hehe

[Ushas]

I can't really complain about Kian's sleeping routine. He has a feed about 11pm then wakes at 3ish. I don't put any lights on or interact with him in any way other than to change nappy and give him a bottle. He's back in bed within half an hour and asleep generally. Then he wakes at about 6.30/7am.

I just wondered I guess (this being my first) if it was something people did or if it was some magical thing they acheived on their own!

[Herchy]

Wow Ushas! I think you have a super sleeper there!! I'd be pretty thrilled with that kind of sleep... That is about what DD does now with the odd longer stint here and there.

[bella77]

I think it just happened for us! DS only woke once between 8pm and 5am/6am-ish for feeds from 3 weeks (occasionally twice) and then from 7 weeks has been sleeping through (9+ hours of uninterrupted sleep). BUT, he's a catnapper during the day and only has 2 - 3 hours max over 3 or 4 sleeps.

At 7 weeks, he was having day feeds every 2 hours so don't know if that helped - now it's every 2 1/2 - 3 hours and he's still powering through at night! I'm sure it will all change when he gets to the magic 12 week mark (I'm told this is what happens!) so we'll see... :)

[Ushas]

Thanks Herchy. I think he's an awesome sleeper generally. He tends to be quite active and alert in the mornings after his 6/7 am feed, but has been sleeping for a good 2.5/3 hours in between feeds otherwise during the day.

Sounds like you've got a good one there Bella!

[Sheer Bliss]

Part of it is just luck IMO. DD was 'sleeping through) 10pm-5am) in and off from 5weeks, whereas DS was waking 3times a night until he was 9months - both were b/f on demand.

We tried dreamfeeds, and they just made DD cranky.

Pretty much, the main things we did with our older kids (and will do with the twins) is keep night feeds boring, no lights on, no talking, only changed nappy if it was really wet or pooed etc. And day feeds talkative, playful and more fun. We also didn't make the bedroom pitch black in the daytime, so they could tell from the darkness iif t was day or night. It worked with one, and not the other, so I still dunno if it was a fluke or not. :D

[Ushas]

Thanks Charlis Mum - We're doing similar things here. He tends to be up and have a cuddle and play with mummy and/or daddy during the day, whereas night feeds we don't even speak to him. It's up (no lights on) bottle in, burp and settle. Ditto with the nappy change. Hubby has been leaving his blinds open during the day so it is lighter during the day and pitch black, with a night light on, at night.

It's good to know we're heading in the right direction anyway.

[HelenHasTwins]

Thanks for posting this Ushas, because I was wondering the same thing, I am going to try what charlis mum said, I never thought to do that during the day, we close the blinds during the day and put the lights on etc at night:laughing: silly me now I will do the opposite....although I really have nothing to complain about, the twins are doing pretty good at settling, they just wake every 3 hours with the maybe one 4 hour a day....I have started to play and keep them awake a bit more after the day feeds but.

[Ushas]

Yeah it's good to hear what other people do to encourage it.

Well I'm impressed with my little man... He had a feed at 11pm and slept through till 4am!!!! 5 hours between feeds! I am so chuffed.
Then he woke about 6.30, but I think that was just wind as he didn't want his bottle immediately. Ended up having it at 7.30 and then going straight back to sleep and to bed!

Today he is going to have a nice bath, put on one of his new outfits and we're catching a bus to go shopping... on our own!!! A first for us! Yey!

[HeidiLee]

We are up to 5-6 hours between feeds at night now. Only having to get up once is bliss!!

[MoOaNdLiTtLePoPpEt]

DD sleeps from 8am until between 2am and 4 am! so am lucky!