When did...?

Question

your babies start sleeping through the night.... my daughter just turned one month old yesterday, and everytime I think we're close to the all nighter, the next night she's up like every hour! I just wanted an idea of when she might sleep through the night... thank you!

Answer 1

Well hopefully by the time she goes to kindergarten, LOL But seriously, my son slept through the night at about 3 months old, but then started waking up again at the onset of teething, and again when he started walking. Hang in there, they are only babies once.

Answer 2

Are you kidding me? My daughter did not start sleeping through the night until a few weeks ago, and she's 19 months old. There are a few lucky parents out there whose babies sleep through the night very quickly, but those are rare.

Good luck! Newborns won't start being on any kind of cycle or routine for at least 3 months. The first 3 months are called "the fourth trimester" and you really need to treat them as if they are still in the womb. They need to be held and swaddled and fed on demand, or every 2-3 hours.

After 3 months, you can start to institute some kind of schedule, but I still feed on demand at 19 months because my baby is really small, and I don't want to deprive her of any food.

Get the book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" and read about infants and their sleep needs and patterns, and how to get your child to sleep through the night (eventually.) Good luck!

Answer 3

Sleeping through the night means 5 hours or more. You will still need to wake up and feed the child during the night for several more months. When they start solids around 4 months, they are able to go longer durations like 6-8 hours, and eventually, hopefully, will sleep from 8am to 8pm by 8-9 months old.

Answer 4

sleep through the night when does that happen? I have a son who will be 11 months in a few days and I am damn lucky if he sleeps through the night once a week. A friend of mine had a baby 2 months after i had my son and her daughter has been sleeping through the night since the day she was born.

Answer 5

Most babies don't sleep through the night until they're at least 6 months old. Mine is 5 months and is still up twice in the night.

Answer 6

Statistically about half of all babies do not sleep through the night until they are 24 months old.


"However, even in the 12-month-old group, 50% of infants typically required parental intervention to get back to sleep after waking. Results emphasize the individual and contextual factors that effect the development of self-soothing behavior during the first year of life."
Goodlin-Jones BL, et al. Night waking, sleep-wake organization, and self-soothing in the first year of life.
J Dev Behav Pediatr 2001 Aug;22(4):226-33

"The findings confirm that night waking at the end of the first year is a common developmental phenomenon."
Scher A. Attachment and sleep: a study of night waking in 12-month-old infants.
Dev Psychobiol 2001 May;38(4):274-85.

" * There is a wide range of normal childhood sleep behavior.
* Circadian rhythm is not well established until four months of age.
* Daytime sleep becomes less regular with increasing age, the most marked reduction in length occurs around 3 months of age. However, a surprising 11% under 3 months of age don't have a daytime sleep every day.
* Frequent night waking that disturbs parents is common from 4-12 months (12.7% disturb their parents 3 or more times every night).
* Night time settling requires more parental input from 18 months.
* Nearly a third of parents have a significant problem with their child's sleep behavior.
* Sleeping through the night: 71.4% did this on at least one occasion by 3 months of age, but many of these relapse into more frequent waking in the 4 to 12 month period. It is not until after 24 months that regular night waking (requiring attention) becomes much less common."
Armstrong KL, Quinn RA & Dadds MR. The sleep patterns of normal children.
Medical Journal of Australia 1994 Aug 1;161(3):202-6.

Baby's age

% babies waking at night
3 months 46%
6 months 39%
9 months 58%
12 months 55%

Scher A. A longitudinal study of night waking in the first year.
Child Care Health Dev 1991 Sep-Oct;17(5):295-302.

Answer 7

At 2 months I started to put a really small amount of rice cereal in his bottle because he would wake up every 3 hours hungry. At first I just put it in the bottle I fed him before bed, but then slowly started putting it in his bottles during the day too. He started to sleep through then night after that. At about 2 1/2 months he slept all the way through the night. This was right for my baby though. My Dr told me it was ok to put rice cereal in his bottle because every 3 hours he would eat a 6 oz bottle. Check with your Dr to see what is right for your baby.

Good luck and don't worry, it will be soon enough :)

Answer 8

My daughter started sleeping through the night at 2 1/2 months old. She is formla fed and I never put cereal in her bottle. It just started one night and ohhh I was thrilled and doubtful that it would continue but it did. Good luck I know it's tough my son whos now 12 didn't sleep through the night til he was much older.

Answer 9

My first baby slept through the night at about 6 wks waking only once to nurse. My third started at about 8 wks. He's bottlefed. My second is 3 1/2 and still wakes up every night. We're looking at medical reasons for her though. She has huge tonsils and snores. Hang in there. It'll happen eventually.

Answer 10

At the two month mark my oldest daughter now two slept through the night. I have a one week old also and she seems to sleep the most during the day, but I hope she follows her sister on sleep patterns. Congrats and good luck.