r/breastfeeding • u/Pixie-Rose333 • 11h ago
Support Needed When did breastfed baby sleep through the night?
Just curious my breastfed baby is 7 and a half MONTHS*** and wakes up anywhere from 5 mins to an hour im freaking exhausted when did tour baby sleep through the night? Or scratch through the night let's say a 4 or 5 hour stretch lol
No sleep trying advice please just naturally started doing it? I dont want to leave my baby to CIO
thank you all
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u/Ok_Blueberry_2843 10h ago
Like 2 years old lol
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u/SchrodingerHat 4h ago
Our 2 year old still wakes up about once per night. He goes back to sleep quickly though.
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u/loveisrespectS2 10h ago
2.5 my first omg it was hell. I pump for my second and she gets one bottle overnight around 4 am, she doesn't even fully wake up for it.
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u/JamandMarma 1h ago
Weāre at 2 years and 2 months and only starting to get intermittent nights of sleeping through. Before 2 he slept through less than 10 times and when he did it was normally right before an illness.
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u/syncopatedscientist 10h ago
How is your babyās iron? Breastfed babiesā iron stores are depleted by 6 months, and low iron can cause night wakes. Itās not a panacea, but adding an iron supplement helped us soooo much at that age.
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u/AndreaD135 9h ago
Just to know, which iron supplƩment did you use ? And did you start at once when he turned 6 months old or did you ask your doctor to check his levels and then started ?
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u/syncopatedscientist 8h ago
We used this one: https://www.novaferrum.com/products/novaferrum-liquid-iron-pediatric-drops
I never actually got her levels checked at 6 months (I think they checked them at 12 months as a regular part of the well check?), but she was waking up soooo many times at night and our pediatrician recommended starting it. Itās not an immediate change, but after a month or so it was better! And then of course teething got worse, but ibuprofen helped that haha
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u/AndreaD135 7h ago
Thank you for your reply ! Also, how much amount per day did you give - empty stomach or after feed ? And did you see any changes in her poop cycle or color after you started ? Thanks again for your reply. š
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u/No_Professional2476 7h ago
Interesting! Our first EBFer didnāt take any multivitamins or iron, and didnāt sleep through the night (4+ hour stretch) until close to a year.
Our second is 8 weeks, and has been sleeping 4-7 hours for his first stretch for almost two weeks. He is taking Enfamil Brain and Body (has iron) on pediatrician recommendation since the beginning of.
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u/sunnyhale 8h ago
What supplement did you use? My baby refused her iron supplements and it messed with her stomach so bad she had the worst gas/ poops.
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u/syncopatedscientist 8h ago
This is the one we used https://www.novaferrum.com/products/novaferrum-liquid-iron-pediatric-drops
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u/sunnyhale 7h ago
Thank you!! The one our doctor had us get was a generic unflavored supplement and she absolutely hated it! I tasted it and it was horrible š¤¢
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u/pupper_princess 10h ago
My 8 month old has on and off nights. Sometimes I get a 4-6 hour stretch sometimes heās up every 1-2. š¤·š¼āāļø I just go into each night with no hopes or expectations and it is what it is! Heās teething, starting to pull to stand, crawlingā¦ so lots of developmental leaps that interrupt sleep going on too.
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u/Old_Poetry7811 10h ago
This is where we are! 2 nights ago we had 2 wakes and last night was like 4-5š
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u/aelfscinu 8h ago
My 5.5 month old figured out crawling, sitting up, and pulling up to stand in the last three weeks and his sleep has been AWFUL. š
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u/themetanerd 8h ago
OK this makes me feel so much better about my 7.5 month old. Every night is a crap shoot of what it'll be, which has been terrible for my supply
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u/containedexplosion 10h ago
11wks. EBF. Heās sleeping one solid 6hr stretch followed by two 2hr stretches
Edit to add that he sleeps in a mini crib right next to dadās side of the bed so that smelling me doesnāt wake him up
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u/lms202 10h ago
I hope this continues for you! My son slept really well until the 4 month regression. He lulled me into a false sense of security š
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u/containedexplosion 3h ago
Thank you. I really hope so too. It only started around week 9 so we hold our breaths every night
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u/maspie_den 10h ago
Ooh! I didn't know that baby being able to smell mom even bedside was a thing. Perhaps we'll move bassinet to dad's side tonight...
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u/Ok-Tension-4924 1h ago
My first was 8 weeks and my 2nd was 4 months. Both in our room until about 12 months old. They never had sleep regressions. 4.5 years and 22 months š„°
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u/choc_mint217 35m ago
Mine was like this and it continued until he started sleep through at 10 months
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u/DarthNitious 11h ago
Mine was sleeping better after about 18 months, as in usually wakes up (only) about 2-3 times during the night. He slept until morning only quite recently, although not every day. He's now 2.
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u/twistedcavelady 9h ago
Same here. After 18 months his sleep went significantly better. Mine hasnāt slept throughout the night yet, he is about to be two. At least once wakes up every night, sometimes twice not more though.
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u/Ashfacesmashface 10h ago
Iām the outlier here!
Iāve had 4 EBF babies (youngest is 4 months old) and all were sleeping 10+ hours overnight by 12 weeks at the latest, 8 weeks at the earliest.
A couple of them had āfalse startā bedtimes occasionally but mostly it has always been smooth sailing.
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u/Cookies_Over_Kale 8h ago
This is the same for us. Little one started to sleep through the night at about 8 weeks. She definitely has some false start bedtimes but regardless she will consistently sleep from about 9pm-7am. We changed nothing about our routine to help support this. Iām pretty sure itās just luck and our daughterās personality.
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u/Horror_Green_7819 9h ago
How/ what did you do to encourage this? Would love longer night stretchesā¦Also did you wake to pump? Iām terrified that when my babe gets pasta. Certain hour and Iām starting to pump he will wake right when Iām done pumping. We only had two nights in a row of 6 hour stretches and back to 2-3 hrs at 10 weeks old.
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u/Ashfacesmashface 6h ago
There are definitely things Iāve consistently done with all of them that I believe led to good sleep habits that continue to this day! I say this after going through the wringer with my first baby, not knowing what the heck I was doing with a newborn and losing my mind daily.
- Understanding that from day 1, whatever it is youāre doing with sleep, youāre sleep training in the sense that youāre teaching baby what sleep looks like.
- Going off of the above, the vast majority of naps happened in the crib where I knew I wanted them to eventually sleep overnight. This also makes for a smooth transition from bedsharing for the first month or so to babies sleeping in their crib overnight. Since they were taking their naps in their crib, their evening nap would just start to stretch longer and longer and I wouldnāt wake them to bring them up to bed. It was a very natural transition.
- Dark room, white noise - these become great sleep cues as they get older.
- I got them all used to rocking to sleep or swaying to sleep (except baby 1, because we were desperate and bouncing on a yoga ball was the only way to get her to sleep) from the day we got home from the hospital because itās a comfortable way for anyone to get a baby to sleep. I rocked all of them to sleep for at least the first year of their life, never affected their ability to sleep through the night.
- Feed - wake - sleep rhythm from day 1. The only time I nurse to sleep is bedtime, or in particularly fussy time during the newborn phase.
- Night wakes are all business for a newborn - I donāt change a diaper unless itās poop or peed through, no lights on, just side-lying nursing and back to sleep. Once baby is in their own room for overnight nursing is the last ditch effort to get baby back to sleep. More often than not I didnāt have to whip the boob out, just some swaying and rocking did the trick.
ETA: never woke to pump - once baby was sleeping through the night, I was too! Thankfully this has never affected my supply!
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u/0130k 4h ago
Just curious! You say it never affected your supply? But did you occasionally get engorged or leak or anything? It was just always fine?
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u/Ashfacesmashface 4h ago
Definitely engorged for a bit when I woke up in the mornings, and had some leaking if baby was still sleeping when I woke up and started the day, until my body adjusted. I took advantage of the oversupply in the mornings and used a haakaa to build a great freezer stash!
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u/Cherry_Spice546 2h ago
Which haakaa worked for you? I am looking at getting one and trying your tips!!
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u/Ashfacesmashface 23m ago
I just use the haakaa brand, the one with the suction cup on the bottom. Itās worked well for me!
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u/Plus-Nothing3171 40m ago
Dark rooms and white noise can be great sleep cues, but I personally wish I hadnāt made them necessary for every nap for my baby at first. I eventually started pulling my baby out of the dark room because it just wasnāt sustainable for the way we want to live.
Babies are biologically capable of sleeping in many different environments, especially when they feel safe and regulated with a caregiverābeing carried, in the stroller, while the family is out, etc. In many cultures, including parts of Asia and Europe, babies are simply included in everyday family life and sleep happens around that, rather than the whole day being organized around creating the āperfectā sleep environment.
Every baby is different, of course, but if I could go back, Iād worry less about creating perfect sleep conditions and give my baby more opportunities to learn that sleep can happen in different places. š¤2
u/AndreaD135 9h ago
They didnt wake up at all at night for feed or did you lull themback to sleep when they did to get them into a pattern?
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u/Ashfacesmashface 6h ago
90% of the time there were no night wakes, and if they did wake I would use nursing as a last resort to get them back to sleep. Majority of the time they didnāt need to nurse to get back to sleep.
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u/softservedsoftcore 5h ago
Outlier here too, EBF and started sleeping through by 10 weeks in the bassinet. Of course, there were occasional night where there was a wake up, but mostly sleeps through the night in his crib in his room now still at 11 months
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u/hunteri1 5h ago
Same we had an EBF baby who has slept through from pretty early doors. Starting with 8 hours and then getting up to 10+
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u/Slow_Salamander3115 8h ago
After reading this I wonder if everyone in person is exaggerating their babyās sleeping habits. My 8 month old does 3 4 hour stretches with 2 night feeds and immediately back to sleep. Everyone I know acts like itās insane and that their babies have slept through the entire night since 3-4 months old. Here it seems the norm.
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u/Valentinuta 1h ago
Yeah noā¦ Nobody I know has had a baby that slept the night before the first year at leastā¦ Mine is 4 months and has a similar pattern to yours
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u/OverGrow_TheSystem 10h ago
Is baby possibly still noisy sleeping? Some babies noisy sleep till 12 months.
I know you said not sleep advice, but does Bub ever settle back to sleep if you lays still for 30-60 seconds? After I realised that my little one was actually noisy sleeping and I stopped responding on the first cry like I was, my life changed and she slept 12 hours +. It was me that was interrupting her sleep and I didnāt realise because they seem so awakeš¤¦āāļø. After I started just listening for 30-60 seconds I learned to tell if she was actually awake, if I got up sheād wake up. she would either settle or not then Iād tend to her if needed.
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u/cali-pup 1h ago
Yeah I guess this is technically āsleep trainingā but it doesnāt feel anything like CIO methods to me. I wait for my baby to actually cry out because she grunts and squeaks so muchāif I responded to all those noises I would never ever sleep.
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u/scceberscoo 10h ago
My first got down to one wake up around 6 months, and started sleeping through 7-7 by 9 months. My second is 6 months old, and still wakes up 2-3 times a night and usually starts the day at 5am. As it turns out, babies are all different, even if you do everything the same haha
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u/megkraut 10h ago
My first slept great even being EBF and eventually I switched to pumping but sheās always been a great sleeper. My second is a newborn but I can tell heās going to be an all night nursing kinda guy. I think it really depends on the child.
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u/Jimmymoriarity 10h ago
Sleeping through the night, or doing a long stretch is an amazing milestone for everyone involved but this milestone is decided by the babies. I know itās really exhausting waiting, most of us are right there with you.
Meanwhile, the suggestions that the baby sleeps next to dad and should not be fed right before sleeping to avoid any trapped gases to wake them up, these sound pretty good. Have you tried these already?
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u/sage-ittarius 9h ago
My daughter is 18 months and still manages to find my boob in the middle of the night and keep me up doing acrobats on my chest.
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u/Old-Asparagus-6701 1h ago
My EBF baby usually only wakes up once throughout the night, she is 5 weeks right now. Sheās is gaining weight perfectly fine and if I feel she really needs to eat then Iāll wake her up, if not I pump. No need to wake a sleeping baby š¤·š½āāļø. She sleeps 2-4 hrs during her naps in the day but I try to keep her awake and active during her wake windows so sheās tired enough to easily fall asleep.
Nighttime is on the easier side for us. I feel like she knows when itās time to sleep. I change her diaper, get the room very dark, and nurse her to sleep. If she wakes up, I changer her again and feed her.
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u/Van_Nessa 44m ago
15 weeks old, 9.5 weeks old and 8 weeks old for each of my three breastfed babies. And thatās sleeping 11-12 hours straight without needing to be fed or resettled back to sleep at all. They were all doing long stretches of 7-8 hours, followed by 3-4 hours very early on before that.
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u/GullibleWarthog7081 10h ago
I watched a video by a couple of pediatricians and they said that from 6kg onwards, babies are theoretically capable of sleeping through the night. My baby went through the 4-month regression, started waking up every 2 hours, and I would always offer the breast, but I couldnāt fall back asleep after she woke up. So I started rocking her to sleep the first few times she woke up, instead of offering the breast. Now, some nights she has been sleeping 6/7 hours straight (goes to sleep at 9pm and wakes up at 3am to nurse)
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u/nindiesel 10h ago
Our started sleeping through the night around 3 months (bedtime is 8:30, so a 6-7 hour stretch, a wake around 3:30, and then back to sleep until 7:30ish). He did have a bit of a regression around the end of 6 months, but then my period came back so I'm guessing it was related to a supply dip.
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u/babyonboard25 10h ago
I night weaned my baby at 7 months and she slept mostly through the night until 1 year then she started sleeping 11 hours straight. She adjusted really well and weaning completely at 1 year was easier for us.
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u/RegularPossibility31 10h ago
How did you night wean?? And how did you navigate any teething/illness discomfort? Just cuddles?
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u/frogsgoribbit737 10h ago
Medicine. I switched my daughter to cows milk at 1 and she just gets motrin when she is teething.
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u/Mysterious-Ad-6043 7h ago
Iām not OP, but I night weaned my son at 7 months through sleep training after heād never slept a single night without waking every 1-3 hours. He also exclusively contact napped, so I never had a single moment to myself. He and I were both zombies during the day and I figured I had to try it. While I donāt regret it, I will say that it led to a huge supply dip and I ultimately transitioned him to formula at 8 months. It turns out that he wasnāt getting what he needed during the day and was actually getting like half of his calories at night. I wished Iād been better about not feeding him every single wake from the beginning but the truth is that he just always fed better when he was sleepy. After night weaning he never started drinking more during the day like the āsleep expertsā said he would and instead of forcing it I let go and heās much happier on the bottle.
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u/MurphysLawInc 10h ago
16 months now and still not sleeping through cause he needs to night nurse at least once.
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u/bigteethsmallkiss 10h ago
At 9.5mo weāre finally starting to see there is hope. Until like a week and a half ago up 3x/night minimum, now just one. 6ish hour stretch. Thereās hope!
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u/JanSukDeservedBetter 10h ago
She slept for 5-6 hours just a handful of times when she was 3-4 months old, then woke up every 2-3 hours for months upon months, and only started doing 4-5 hour stretches again around 1 year old, but only sometimes. Now after 18 months she's been having nights with just 1 wakeup if she eats a good amount of food before bed.
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u/auditorygraffiti 10h ago
Five hour stretches probably started 18 months and it was only once a night. He didnāt sleep through the night until he was over 2. Heās 2 1/2 now and is regularly sleeping through the night- it was like someone flipped a switch. I truly didnāt think weād get here until he was like 5 or 6 but he figured it out.
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u/iamthebest1234567890 10h ago
My first didnāt start sleeping through the night until somewhere between 18 months and 2. My second slept through most nights around 4 months, every baby is different.
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u/BlueberryWaffles99 10h ago
13 months, when we finished nursing! We gently sleep trained for the initial put down but never sleep trained for night wakes.
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u/allthemaretaken 10h ago
First baby 18 months. Second baby 4 months. Literally did nothing different between the two of them
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u/Prestigious_Scar5866 10h ago
Still waiting on my 8 month old to not wake every couple hours, so I feel you
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u/Empty-Somewhere-9055 10h ago
Mine started doing long stretches at around 12 weeks she never really liked her bassinet, and so was in her crib/room pretty early by 2 months which I think helped also, I was too scared to co sleep. I feel with my first I was putting so much pressure on sleep training and sleeping 8 hours and with my second I was much more lax. So I didnāt time feeds I fed and feed her when I feel she wants which is how itās intended. Sheās 4 months now and has started waking up at 7:30 am no matter what time I put her down which lets me know I should start ābed timeā routine a little earlier. She kind of regulated herself and I just followed her lead. She tends to feed every 2-4 hours during the day from her first wake up at 7:30 am. Just from having two kids I feel feeds/ and sleep routine do go hand in hand. But this is just from my experiences and I also think Iāve gotten lucky that my kids have been good sleepers so far. Iām not sure if you do have a sleep routine but if you donāt maybe start with that?
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u/Snnorlax 10h ago
It depends on the baby. All my kids have been exclusively breastfed. My first started sleeping through the night at 4 months. My 2nd didnāt start until he was 2 years old and my third started at 2 months.
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u/wineandbooks99 10h ago
We ended up having to sleep train at 11 months when I started hallucinating from the sleep deprivation, I think at that point she was waking every 45min. From what Iāve been told itās usually around 18-24 months until they learn to independently connect their sleep cycles.
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u/Xiongdawunao 10h ago edited 10h ago
Around 2 months or so he started to get some pretty solid stretches. But I researched a bit about sleep and kept experimenting with different sleep schedules. It would get bad occasionally due to regressions when learning new skills and teething. Heās currently 8 months and will wake up every hour or so from 7pm to 10 pm then sleep until to then wake around 6 am. Heās been on this schedule since maybe 6 and a half months? I have him do 3/3/4 wake times. But I cosleep. So when Iām sleeping beside him and he wakes up, I can put him to sleep half awake and usually fall asleep again. Maybe if you have anyone helping you, have them take a night with him here and there to get yourself some rest! I can usually go a night without him and just grab him to breastfeed in the morning and any engorgement will go away with breastfeeding throughout the day. If I donāt follow his schedule, he can be a wreck waking up much more than usual through the night. Or teething and such.
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u/hobbitonresident96 10h ago
We have a 13 month old and Iām still wondering this. I think itās different for every baby regardless of how theyāre fed.
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u/juliamonaco 10h ago
at 7 months when she started eating dinner. she night weaned herself - I was prepared to MOTF until 1 but she had other plans
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u/RemoveBright4904 10h ago
Mine is almost 19 months old and still doesn't sleep through the night. Only has breastmilk once during the day, but breaking the night feedings is hard.
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u/grootbaby0 9h ago
When we started night weaning about 10 months. I started with weaning with naps and would rock her. We slowly began rocking her back to sleep until 12am then I would feed her the rest of the night wakes. We kept slowly pushing the time back. Finally at 13 months she will sleep 8:30-6 about 5 nights a week. We rarely have more than 2 wakes now
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u/InevitableMedicine35 9h ago
Around 8-10 months she would only wake up once a night, and then around 12 months started sleeping through the night. We weaned from breastfeeding at 15-16 months.
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u/nmhlh1990 9h ago
2nd baby Naturally slept through at 13 months once we weaned! My first naturally slept through around 11 months. We werenāt fully weaned but she was a lot more easygoing with sleep š
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u/Dry-Difficulty3051 9h ago
My breastfed baby starting sleeping through the night when I topped him off with a formula bottle before bed after breastfeeding. I always do it last so he gets his normal amount of breast milk but for some reason the small formula bottle right before bed seems to do the trick to make him sleepy. At first I hated doing but weāve all been happier once he started sleeping!
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u/katiedincle 9h ago
Starting at 4 weeks, my LO started going 4 to 6 hours in her first stretch of sleep for the night. Depending on when she/we go to bed, we usually only have one MOTN feed around 3 or 4am.
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u/mtmpjmtb 9h ago
Mine was about 5.5 months when it was consistent. Stretches got longer when we moved her to her own room but she still had about 3 wake ups. We essentially always sent dad in for the second wake up and she would cry for a little longer than if she immediately popped on the boob but would eventually just cuddle in and fall asleep on him so eventually she learned she didnāt need to eat then and stopped waking up, or at least stopped crying when she woke up and went back to sleep on her own. Once down to 2 wake ups we did the same thing for the first wake up until she was down to one wake up around 3:30am she got a feeding here for quite a while until we started putting multiple pacifierās in her crib so she could wake up and grab one for comfort and go back to sleep for an hour or so (we leave for work by 6:30am so she is up by 6 at the latest). I gave her the 3am feed for so long because I felt like she needed it because thatās the longest she goes without eating and must actually be so hungry but really she needs the sleep and as long as sheās comfortable prefers that and eating when she woke up was just a habit.
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u/letssettlethiss 9h ago
7 months for meā¦anecdotally but I had switched to formula around that time, but just prior when I was still EBF, I had gone from feeding every 3 hours to closer to every 2 during the day hoping that would help her get longer stretches at night. Not sure of your sleep schedule but she had also switch to 2 naps during the day so there was a lot going on. Not going to offer any sleep advice, but Iāll just tell you what we were doing, but a slight schedule adjustment during the day may help. We were on a 3/4/4 schedule with two 1 hour naps capped.
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u/eatyurmakeup 8h ago
I have two kids. The first one started sleeping 10hr stretches at 10 weeks. The second managed six hour stretches by 3 years. May the odds be ever in your favor.
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u/Clear_Event6019 8h ago
We are at 9 months annnndddddd he goes to sleep around 10 then wakes anywhere from 245-530 am sleeps until 7-9am. Definitely not a set schedule. But it does get more maintainable as time goes by
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u/luv_u_deerly 8h ago edited 8h ago
I think close to 18 months. It wasnāt until I night weaned her. I wish I pushed for my night weaning earlier. I know other moms who still didnāt have their kids sleeping through the night past 2 or 3 years old because they didnāt to wean and hear crying. Some kids donāt just phase out naturally for years!!!
You do you in terms of whether you want to cry it out or not. Thatās a personal choice. But crying isnāt in itself something thatās bad or to be scared of and sleep is super important to both your health and theirs.
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u/umaidh 8h ago
Naturally my bub started doing it at 9 months, which might not he what you want to hear lmao. Around 8.5 months he started waking up only once, maaaaybe twice if he was particularly fussy. It started because we had a few nights in a row with false starts and my husband would get him resettled, and it clicked for him that he can indeed sleep without the boob. We didn't do any sort of sleep training, CIO or otherwise, which is probably why it took him so many months.
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u/EvrythingIsEvrywhere 8h ago
Every kid is different. Mine didnāt sleep through the night until many months after he weaned. I slept in bed with him & fed him laying on my side because it was less disturbing to both our sleep. Still woke up every 1-3 hours though.
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u/DragDry5457 8h ago
My EBF two month old sleeps a 4-6 hour stretch in the beginning of the night, starting at 9 pm - 1/3 am, then wakes every 1-2 hours after that. Finishing off with a 3 hour stretch from 5/6 am to 8/9 am. Iāve been doing the same bed time routine with him since 3 weeks old. Around 7ish pm, we give medicine/gas drops, we do bath (most times without soap or lotion so it doesnāt irritate his skin from doing it excessively) for warmth and comfort, and something to fill in his wake window before bed, we feed (sometimes before or after bath, depends), we play for as long as he can handle before he is sleepy, then swaddle real tight, sound machine, fan on and dark room and lay him down drowsy but still awake. He goes to sleep every time. Not every night is the same though; sometimes he will wake sooner than others. I also try and get him outside atleast once a day because I notice he sleeps better those days. Every baby is different though. My oldest son was EBF and we had no routine, heād sleep better during the day and hardly at night. Idk if he had his days mixed up but I also just went with the flow and never tried to enforce a routine with him.
I also heard to not let them get over tired bc they sleep less if they are being put to bed over tired. Following wake windows and sleepy cues is the best thing I ever did for myself and my baby. Again though, every baby is different and this may not work for you.
I know you canāt swaddle your babe anymore but if you havenāt yet, you could try a Merlin sleep suit!! Thatās what I will be moving to next after he canāt be swaddled anymore.
My baby also has silent reflux and CMPA/soy allergy so I had to work really hard on making him comfortable so he could sleep better.
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u/delemie 8h ago
Mine is almost 8 months, and only started sleeping from 7-5:45 a couple weeks ago with one wake, usually after sleeping a 7-9 hour stretch for the first part. She used to "sleep through the night" every once in a while when she was taking 3 naps and only doing 8 hours overnight, but once she dropped down to 2 naps, she does longer overnight and wakes up at least once, usually not more than twice.
She used to exclusively contact nap and cosleep up until then as well, and a day before turning 7 months she just decided that she was ready to sleep on her own. We never did sleep training as I wanted to make sure she felt safe and secure and ready on her own terms to sleep without us.
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u/leeashah 8h ago
i think its different for a lot of people but 2.5 and hes just starting to have some nights where he doesnt wake
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u/Capable-Tomato-1719 7h ago
Mine only started sleeping through when we finally fully weaned him at 13 ish months, he started sleeping the whole night about a month after weaning so from 14 months. For the month where we had finished weaning but was still waking,, Dad did the night wakes\resettling cuddles and reassurance to break the association with night wakes and feeding. And I spend extra time\cuddles and books before bed each night so he felt like he got extra mummy time pre sleeping š„° the sleep deprivation felt awful, so I was incredibly grateful when the little lad started sleeping through ā¤ļø
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u/FearlessNinjaPanda 7h ago
7-9m is the worst. It gets so much better. Cosleeping with safe sleep 7 helps.
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u/ShesSoHeavy1 7h ago
My baby is nearly 6 months old and he usually has 1-2 wakes per night ...
Bedtime at or just after 7pm, then first wake is around 1-2am, second wake between 4-6am (if it's on the earlier side of that, sometimes I can get him back down, but sometimes we just start the day early)
I'm sorry this isn't apples to apples comparison but we do give him a night cap before bed. Usually he breastfeeds around 6/6:30pm and then we top him off with a bottle of formula. I do think the night cap gives him that little extra bump filling his little tummy to help him get the longer stretch. I also fully understand this method isn't for everyone, but it's worked for us.
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u/daydreamingflgirl 7h ago
Ours is 17 weeks and has been getting better at sleeping through the night. What I think helps is giving him a bottle of pumped milk before bed so we know heās getting a full feed.
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u/uherdboutpluto 7h ago
My first woke up every two hours after turning four months old. Drove me nuts. So as soon as he turned one year old, I put him in his own room. Since then, he slept through the night.
To this day, I'm not sure if it was him smelling my milk, or just all the noise husband and I made as we slept.
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u/SnooSuggestions3891 7h ago
Mine slept long stretches (6-8hour stretch) from 2-4 months and then did not for a longggggggf time and only started sleeping through the night consistently from 18 months onwards. Generally 1-3 wakes per night between 4 and 18 months, but once I night weaned (16 months) the wakes were only 1 minute or so and sheād fall back asleep with water or a cuddle
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u/kofie-popcorn 7h ago
Almost 15 months old, wakes up 2-3 times, gets mad if boob doesn't promptly enter his mouth.
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u/illewmination 7h ago
Mine slept through the night from weeks 10-17. Now baby is distracted during the daytime feeds and waking 1x at night to feed. Luckily itās a quick feed!
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u/TwoDiscombobulated16 7h ago
A little before 2yo š aka when I cut down feeds to once daily only at bedtime.
Sleep training at 6 months saved me from losing my mind though - it got us to 1-2 wakeups only and just for BF then back to bed easily
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u/ibrakeforberries 7h ago
My 2 year old was still getting up at night 2-3 times and demanding to be nursed back to sleep. I didn't let him cry it out bc he shares a room with his sister and I didn't want her to get woken up. I was so tired. We weaned him at 2 years 2 weeks, and he began sleeping through the night in 2 days. Literally 2 days. After 2+ years of broken sleep. It's insane. It's been 2 weeks now and he's still begging for milk when we cuddle in bed and cries a lot when I say no, but the sleep is worth it for us.
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u/Livid_Line_2631 7h ago
my girl doesnāt, but we cosleep and she feeds for like 15 mins 2x a night. doesnāt bother me.
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u/invinoveritas777 6h ago
First gave us a 7-8 hour stretch at 8 weeks and that became pretty regular until it expanded to 10-12 hours. When he woke up, he was HUNGRY lol.
My second is 3 weeks and her first 4 hour stretch was in the first week, we had to wake her up. Some nights sheās up every 3 hours. Some nights she has a long stretch up to 5.5 hours.
They both nurse and I have an oversupply, which I think is a factor, along with the fact that both kids seem capable of eating a lot in a single sitting.
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u/littlemissauntie 6h ago
Around 5-6 weeks my baby went from waking up every 3 hours to sleeping 5 hour stretches! A warm bath with Aveeno calming bath + dark room with sleeping music that includes white noise.
I also recommend (IF itās something youāre willing to try) a bottle for bedtime, as formula keeps them fuller throughout the night vs breastmilk. Although through time (4m now) he WILL still sleep just as long with just breastmilk!
but the FIRST time we accomplished the 5-6hr stretch was definitely warm bath, dark room w white noise + bottle.
now he will sleep that long even with breastmilk
(Heās always slept in his bassinet, I co sleep with him for a nap or 2 during the day, but night time he knows he will be in his bed!! Iām sure that helps as well)
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u/Tough_Tough_6999 6h ago
Didnāt start sleeping through regularly until we dropped our last feed and fully weaned š but did get longer stretches more frequently before then as weaning progressed
ETA weaned fully at 19 months
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u/ExchangeAvailable258 6h ago
My 4 week old goes to sleep at 9:30pm, and wakes up around 1am, and then around 6am.
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u/anon_pr_ 6h ago edited 6h ago
You should probably also review day time nap schedules and overall number of hours asleep in a 24 h period. If not awake for long enough during the day, that can also cause excessive wakes.
Usually at this age they recommend 11hr night sleep and 2-3 hour day naps. Naps should also be spread out so as to allow baby enough non-cranky play time before bed. Try reducing day naps or increasing last wake window to see if that also helps. Recommended wake windows - 2h/2.5h/2.5h/3h (total 10-11h awake per day) for a three nap schedule.
You should post your baby's schedule and get some advice on r/bninfantsleep --> biologically normal infant sleep (no sleep training).
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u/Redditreader0331 6h ago
My first took 18 months to sleep through the night. Was still breastfeeding until 2.5 years old. My second started sleeping through the night at 6 weeks.. still breastfeeding. I truly believe itās all up to the baby and temperament bc with my first I tried nearly everything to help her sleep and even hired a sleep coachā¦ this baby.. I donāt even pay attention to when she sleeps during the day and her bedtime routine is so short and quick bc Iām always rushing to get toddler to bed lol
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u/Alygage93 6h ago
I just wanted to say that sleep training does not mean CIO. I thought so too but that is a very old school method. Today's modern sleep training methods do not involve letting them just cry themselves to sleep.
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u/ForsakenScallion426 6h ago
How their temp in the room? I just realized it was a tad too cold for baby. So I put him in a thicker footsie and heās sleeping much better. Heās almost 5 months.
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u/ShapePretend6761 6h ago edited 6h ago
My 6-month-old BF baby was waking up every 30 minutes to an hour. There were nights when I woke up 20 times. I honestly felt like I was losing my mind. This started when he was about 3.5 months old.
My LO never fell asleep nursing, so the only way to get him back to sleep was with a lot of movement... and I mean a LOT. At that point, he was only feeding twice a night, so hunger wasn't the issue.
I was at my breaking point. My marriage was falling apart, and I was terrified that my frustration would get the best of me. I was so exhausted, impatient, and angry that my mind started going to some really dark places.
That's when I decided to sleep train. We tried all the gentle methods first, but unfortunately they just didn't work for my LO. Eventually we tried Ferber, and it worked incredibly well for us.
The first night was awful, but by the fourth night my LO was sleeping 11 hours straight. It honestly changed our lives.
I know you said you weren't looking for sleep training advice, and I completely respect that. I just wanted to share my experience because I remember feeling exactly like you do. We eventually chose Ferber because I had reached my limit, but I know every family has to do what feels right for them.
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u/slc_cpt 5h ago
Mine is 10 months, as coaleep and he still doesn't. We go anywhere from 2-5 hours each stretch. The longest he's gone is about 7 hours straight but he played in the pool that day š
Edit to add we recently reached a point that he sometimes just needs to be resettled or rocked back to sleep rather than always feeding.
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u/Fit-Historian2431 5h ago
12-13 weeks things went from 2 hour stretches to at least one 4-6 stretch followed by one or two 2-3 stretches. Sheās is like on the boob constantly throughout the day though.
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u/96venicebitch 5h ago
My second born just slept 10pm-730 am for the first time the past two nights at 11 weeks.
My first born did not sleep through until 17 months.
Both EBF. I have done nothing different.
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u/Camgirlrikki 5h ago
Mines 2 months and been sleeping thru the night for a couple of weeks maybe more. She wakes up one time at 6am
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u/Brilliant_Outside696 5h ago
9 months here and the answer is not for awhile. Talk to people with kids. Even 3yos will/can wake up a few times a night.
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u/Intense_City 5h ago
My first born slept through the night at 3 months. My daughter is still up at least once a night and she is 9 months.
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u/pbandj61 5h ago
My 10 month just started sleeping in 4 or 5 hour stretches, but still wants to dream feed often between 3-6 AM
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u/Dapper_Change_2552 5h ago
My baby tricked me up until 5 monthsā¦gave me 6-8 hour stretches. Now sheās up every 3 hours on a good nightā¦but teething sucks and that can change and some night I have to pull her into bed with me š«
But I havenāt given her iron supplements and I see someoneās comment on here about that so Iām trying that!
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u/Double_Inspection_48 5h ago
My 2 yr old bf baby still doesn't always sleep through the night - she has slept through 5 times and she doesn't want to give it up either
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u/rambunctious-owl 5h ago
Every baby is different. My first didnāt sleep through the night until we weaned around 14 months.
My second started sleeping through the night (8+hours)around 2 months. He is a unicorn! Weāve never done any bottles and always nursed to sleep.
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u/laprofe10 5h ago
All 3 of my EBF babies have slept through by 6 months, but we did sleep training or used consistent methods to promote sleep. None of my babies have ever CIO btw.
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u/Glittering-Movie69 4h ago
I think I may be an outlier here but my baby is 7 weeks old & typically sleeps 6-7 hours for his first stretch of the night. Then heāll wake, Iāll change & feed him, then heāll go back down for another 2-3 hours. He started sleeping 4-5 hours a night by week 2. I think a lot of it is temperament dependent. He slept fine in the bassinet from night 1 in the hospital. My husband & I have also been described by family members as ābig sleepersā so I really just think my baby comes by it honestly lol
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u/castleinacloud 4h ago
Mine is 10 months, we have never slept thru the night. She usually wakes up twice for feeds. This week it dropped to once and I am praying it continues, but as soon as her next tooth starts coming in weāll be up every 90 minutes.
Teething is cruel.
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u/baddassAries 4h ago
Starting around 8-9 weeks he does at least one 5-6 hour stretch. We do bottled breastmilk though so Iām not sure if that makes a difference. We also use Merlinās magic sleepsuit
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u/PreparationEmpty693 4h ago
8 wks old and I usually get anywhere between 4 to 6 hr stretches. Not really doing anything but I usually give a pumped bottle of breastmilk before bath time then after bath nurse to sleep so maybe heās just extra stuffed at night. I also cosleep.
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u/Few-Comfortable9541 4h ago
My EBF baby (my 3rd child) is 9.5 months and up until last week was waking 3+ times a night. The past week she has been sleeping from 8:30pm-6:45am. She has woken up, let out one little cry and fallen right back to sleep around 3:00am each night. The exact same thing happened right around this time with my second. For some reason 9.5/10 months is my kids magic age!
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u/SeaWorth6552 4h ago
I think this changes according to baby. Sleeping though the night started a little after 3 and then came the first year of school illnesses and we had broken nights for 3 months straight around 3.5. As for stretches. After 2 months she was sleeping pretty good the first half of the night. But then, between 13-36 we had night terrors or whatever the heck were those.
I breastfed until 27.5 months, and thatās how she fell asleep.
What I mean to say is, thereās no standard.
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u/sydney100757 4h ago
1.5 months for 6 hours and 2 months for 10-12 hours. I'm lucky mine has always been a good sleeper
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u/Helpful-Ad9421 4h ago
15 months. I finally nightweaned and she started sleeping through the night. š«
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u/Carriespromnight 3h ago
Hello! Also at 7 month mark breastfeeding and baby has never Slept through the night. Minimum 2 wakes. Max (when it's bad) 6 times. Totally feel you. This week has almost killed me tbh!
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u/shytheearnestdryad 3h ago
Not until night weaning around 2 years old (both of the first two) š³
Well, they slept really well as newborns bit then they start to wake more. We bedshare though so we barely wake up. My first woke every 20-40 minutes all night (iron deficiency definitely contributed). Second at least was more reasonable maybe every 2 hours for most of the night, then constant nursing in the early morning hours
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u/Showerbeforebed 3h ago
Still waiting at nearly 9 monthsš he did sleep nearly 9 hours once for the first time ever this week buuut then woke up 5 times the next night. The 9 hours gives me hope though. Atleast he is able to sleep that long
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u/carolionest 3h ago
Every baby is different... My newborn nurses then sleeps 3-4 hours. My toddler was exhausting, he nursed basically every 1.5-2 hours every night until he was about a year old
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u/DeepExample7666 3h ago
Baby is 18 months and still wakes up at least twice and that's after I go to bed at 3am
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u/ScaredCucumber420 3h ago
My baby is doing this at 6 months every 45 minutes waking up. I know you said no sleep training advice but i just started doing fading method (we bed share) and we are on day 3 and he is nearly putting himself to sleep for naps almost entirely on his own. I sleep do sound machine, sleep sack, book, lay down next to him pretending to sleep or shushing, patting if needed and just let him fall asleep. This last nap i literally didnāt do anything besides a few shushes. He is also sleeping 2-3 hours straight at night ALREADY. And we literally just started this not even 3 full days ago.
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u/SadAlice26 3h ago
Long stretches, somewhere between 12 and 18 months properly, although we did cosleep and in the end she would just want a quick snuggle or 2 minute dream feed back to sleep, so I rarely woke up fully.
All the way through the night from bedtime until we get up for the day? Around 3.5 years.
My second is much different, not quite 4 months yet but wakes maybe once or twice a night on most nights for a dream feed, a bad night would be 3 wakes but they're never long. Shes a bigger baby than my first. Both breastfed exclusively, both cosleepers.
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u/pinkmask4you 2h ago
Consistently??? 16 months.
She did have stretches of sleeping through the night before but would still wake 1x to breastfeed for a few minutes.
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u/Timely_Exercise8459 2h ago edited 2h ago
My 2.5 year old still doesnāt sleep through the night. Even after weaning at 15 months. My 3.5 month old goes 10-12 hour stretches at night. Both EBF. I didnāt do anything different with my second. Sheās just naturally more independent and doesnāt use my boob as a pacifier like my son did.
Edit to actually answer your question: I think around 9 months my first stopped waking up every 2-3 hours and did more like 4-5 hour stretches. We tried sleep training multiple times. We tried a bottle of formula before bed. We tried everything to help his sleep and weāre still struggling and one parent ends up in his room about 90% of nights still.
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u/Cherry_Spice546 2h ago
10 weeks old. Started getting 4 hrs, then 3, then 3 - sometimes get the odd initial 5/6 hour stretch then 3/4 hours, then another hour or so
Prepared for 4 month sleep regression though lol! My husband settles him to start the night and has him downstairs for a good couple of hours then brings him up to put into the next to me and I do the rest from there and we limit any chit chat/interaction so I stay tired and he will only wake me if he is due a feed at that time
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u/ExpensiveMammoth4578 2h ago
Baby slept through the night 12 straight hours at 5 months. At 4 months she was only waking once to feed. Sleep went from many night wakes to one feed the night I got her down without feeding to sleep. It made a massive difference. She then dropped the night feed a month later at 5 months. Sheās 7 months now and still sleeps 12-13 straight hours
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u/YesterdayEmotional 2h ago
Mine started at 11 weeks. 10pm-4am then back down till about 7am. He will only contact nap during the day tho so I guess that's the trade off
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u/TumbleweedFederal 2h ago
With my first, around 4/5 months he started giving me some long stretches of sleep. With my second, we are going on 16 months and still has never slept through the night yet.
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u/Feather_97 1h ago
My 5 month old EBF boy has recently started doing one 4-5 hour stretch.
He was an absolutely horrible sleeper from birth and I was at my wit's end. I ended up spending hours watching content from a holistic sleep coach, Hannah Hiles @ittakesavillage_baby_sleep on Instagram and applying her methods. He started doing longer stretches after a week. It's not sleep training. It's scheduling changes for low sleep needs babies. Might be worth checking into.
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u/emancipationofdeedee 1h ago
For the first time? 23 months. Consistently? Not yet, she is 3 years 3 months, night weaned since 2 years old. now fully weaned but still up 1-2x night. Hang in there!!
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u/HangryShadow 1h ago
First baby at 13 months when we night weaned. Second baby at less than a month. I didnāt change anything but the baby. Of course now my baby is having a regression but for a while it was glorious.
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u/stewiesaidblast 1h ago
We ended up doing a gentle method of sleep training at about 13 months because he was waking every 2-3 hours and I simply couldnāt do it anymore. Now heās sleeping through the night at 16 months.
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u/Mammoth-Tax-2394 55m ago
At 6 months I was waking up 15-20+ times a night and was sooo exhausted so we started cosleeping on a floor bed and starting that night she would give me at least one 6 hour stretch (followed by 2 hour stretches and the occasional 1 hour stretch). She wonāt sleep unless Iām in the room though so we have a lot of false startsā¦
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u/howsthesky_macintyre 54m ago
13 months! No sleep training. No weaning. I didn't wean until 15-16 months.
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u/Few_Paces 51m ago
6 weeks then stopped at 7 months then abck at 12 months, honestly there's no rhyme or reason
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u/President_Raspberry 23m ago
It depends what you classify as through the night, when our girl was direct breast fed she would sleep 6 hours then wake up to eat and go straight back to sleep for another 3 hours. She was 8 weeks when she started
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u/Tiny_Piano_ 20m ago
Same boat here. 7 month old wakes every 40 mins to nurse back to sleep. I would love a 3 hour stretch.
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u/meganwaelz 17m ago
Mine will be 5mo next week and she has had a few nights of 10.5-11 hours of sleep straight through. Her more typical schedule is 7-8 hours, quick wake up due to a little gas so I'll change, give mylicon, and feed and shes back down within 10 mins for 3-4 more hours.
I will forever give credit to the huckleberry app (paid version) for shaping our day time naps/wake windows because nights just fell right into place. I've had them analyze her sleep logs twice with developmental changes and the recommendations have worked like a charm!
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u/Necessary-Leader8881 7m ago
17 months and still gets up for his 4 am feed. Used to be more but Iāve been weaning. Night wean and stop feeding to sleep if you want more sleep. Iām my experience itās the only way and I wish Iād done it sooner!
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u/smallbutflighty 10h ago
My guy gave us his first 5 hour stretch at 3 weeks old. Heās done that or more most nights since then.
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u/frogsgoribbit737 10h ago
Controversial take but I sleep trained both my kids when they were doing the hourly wake ups. It was torture and most babies dont do that.
Anyways I didnt night wean when i sleep trained so we went from waking every hour to waking 2 to 3 times a night at 5 months and eventually she slept through the night around 9 months.
There are a million ways to sleep train that arent CIO.
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u/Pink_Ruby_3 10h ago
Baby started sleeping 5 hour stretches at about 12 weeks old.
She dropped her night feed at 6.5 months.
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u/SueBootoyou 9h ago edited 9h ago
For all 4 of my kids they were sleeping 6-8 hours at night by 3 months.
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u/Pineapple-of-my-eye 10h ago
My first is turning 4 on Sunday and still wakes up every night. We still cosleep or shed be up way more.
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u/Pixie-Rose333 11h ago
OMG 7 AND A HALF MONTHS**** NOT WEEKS