I'm not trying to brag, just curious. E has been sleeping six-hour stretches pretty regularly since early last week (at three weeks old, or one month gestational age). He's at least done five hours every night since then. I believe this technically qualifies as STTN... I know, though, that things can change at any moment, and his sleep patterns could regress (right?). So my question: several people here mention that their 12m+ kids have "never" slept through the night, or never sleep longer than 3-4 hour stretches. When you say that, do you really mean they never have, or just that it never happened regularly or hasn't happened since they were newborns? I'm trying to get a feel for what we might be in for.
DS's sleep peaked at 3 months old, when he would wake once or twice. Personally, STTN doesn't mean shit if he sleeps 5-6 hours starting at 7:30 pm. Yes, he often sleeps from 7:30 - 2, but who cares? What good does that do me if he's up at 2, 4, and 5? And his general pattern is to wake every 2-4 hours.
Personally, STTN means I get to not leave my bed between when I go to sleep and a reasonable hour like 6 am.
Right now E's a really good sleeper. He generally takes three or four 1-3 hour naps throughout the day, and is awake 45-90 minutes between them, assuming he's not being overstimulated by visitors. He pretty much is always asleep from about 7-8:30 PM, and then we start the bedtime routine for all of us around 9:00... and he and I are both asleep by 10. So for now, it totally works because I'm sleeping those same hours. But yeah, in a month or two we'll need to shift to an earlier bedtime for him and I know it won't feel like STTN anymore!
My son went thru sttn peaks. By 2/3 months, he was consistently sleeping six hours a night. Then, 5/6 months hit and he woke 2-3 times a night. He didn't start sleeping thru again until he was almost a year.
My son went through spurts of sleeping longer stretches and then went through awful periods like the 4MW. Some kids are just better sleepers than others, and unfortunately I don't think that at 3 weeks you can really predict how good or bad of a sleeper your child will be. Just enjoy the extra rest for now, while you have it!
ETA - like PP, I consider STTN going down at bedtime and getting up at a reasonable hour
DS's sleep peaked at 3 months old, when he would wake once or twice. Personally, STTN doesn't mean shit if he sleeps 5-6 hours starting at 7:30 pm. Yes, he often sleeps from 7:30 - 2, but who cares? What good does that do me if he's up at 2, 4, and 5? And his general pattern is to wake every 2-4 hours.
Personally, STTN means I get to not leave my bed between when I go to sleep and a reasonable hour like 6 am.
This is pretty much DS exactly. At 3 months he was sleeping for 8 hours. It was glorious. Then 4 months happened and it all went downhill.
He has STTN once (730-6am). That is it. Last night he only woke up at 1130 which was nice.
I had a really good sleeper in the beginning, but that all changed around 3 months. That's not universal btw; a lot of babies in my moms groups are sleeping like angels now :shakes fist in air: A small part of it is probably due to the earlier bedtime so there's less overlap between when he goes down and when I do. He's still not doing 6 hour stretches like he used to, though. Hopefully your baby will be a better sleeper.
DS's sleep peaked at 3 months old, when he would wake once or twice. Personally, STTN doesn't mean shit if he sleeps 5-6 hours starting at 7:30 pm. Yes, he often sleeps from 7:30 - 2, but who cares? What good does that do me if he's up at 2, 4, and 5? And his general pattern is to wake every 2-4 hours.
Personally, STTN means I get to not leave my bed between when I go to sleep and a reasonable hour like 6 am.
This is how I feel. I would even say resonable wake up hour could be 5 as long as I don't need to get up between midnight and 5 am that would be a success.
Post by zeewifeandmama on Nov 2, 2012 12:03:25 GMT -5
I'm with the posters that had reasonable sleepers until the 4mw. Then, she was up multiple times a night.That's the case with my daughter anyway. She would be up multiple times a night, then around 2 she only woke once and that continued until she FINALLY sttn at 2.5! She still will occasionally wake up but it's usually for a good reason ( hungry, potty, thirsty etc..) My son is just approaching that age now and I'd be lying if I didn't say I was a bit nervous.
STTN never counted until they slept through my night. Like pp all I cared about is if my butt had to get out of bed at night.
I also don't really consider it STTN unless I can reliably count on them to do it every night, which IME happens around a year when you're past the worst of teething and can sleep train if you want to.
DD for example started sleeping ten to twelve hour stretches around 8 weeks. Now she's hitting the 4 month wakeful with a vengeance and she's teething. So we're back to crappy sleep again. I expect it to ebb and low throughout the first year.
My kid is almost 14 months and still wakes up every night. However, she puts herself back,to sleep. I only notice if I sleep in the guest room. We don't use a monitor anymore. sleep training at seven months was the best thing I ever did. She did really well.
This thread makes me so happy that I'm not the only one whose kid majorly regressed at 4/5 months. Ds is just about 6 months and now gets up 2-3 times. Grrrrr. I'm going to start sleep training soon I think.
DD1 woke me up every night well into age 2. I'd go to bed at 11ish & wake up at 7ish...shed always wake in those hours & I'd consider her not STTN. I never really counted hours straight she slept. Even now I'll have one of my 3 wake me 50% of the time for one reason or another. It sucks but I'm used to it.
Dd slept 6 hrs a night from birth. From 4-6 mos she slept 11 hrs straight. She then got up once a night until I weaned at a year. It could have been a lot worse, but it could have been better.
OK, sounds like what I suspected... that they're good sleepers in the beginning, then things backslide. Fair enough. Thanks for the responses. I felt really bad at my parents' group the other day when the woman next to me (whose son is one day younger) asked how sleeping has been for us and I said he does six-hour stretches, but some bad nights it's just a four-hour stretch. I asked how her baby's sleep has been, and she said a good night is a three-hour stretch... So yeah, her response made me wonder if that's what people here have experienced. Glad it's not that bad for most!
4 months was a tough time for both kids. But I tried to stay consistant and do a bit of FIO (fuss it out) and they got much better by 5 months. Leo now STTN or very close to it each night.
OK, sounds like what I suspected... that they're good sleepers in the beginning, then things backslide. Fair enough. Thanks for the responses. I felt really bad at my parents' group the other day when the woman next to me (whose son is one day younger) asked how sleeping has been for us and I said he does six-hour stretches, but some bad nights it's just a four-hour stretch. I asked how her baby's sleep has been, and she said a good night is a three-hour stretch... So yeah, her response made me wonder if that's what people here have experienced. Glad it's not that bad for most!
I'm pretty sure that CrashIntoMe from ml and my bmb had a kid who did 2 hr stretches until 9+ mos.
OK, sounds like what I suspected... that they're good sleepers in the beginning, then things backslide. Fair enough. Thanks for the responses. I felt really bad at my parents' group the other day when the woman next to me (whose son is one day younger) asked how sleeping has been for us and I said he does six-hour stretches, but some bad nights it's just a four-hour stretch. I asked how her baby's sleep has been, and she said a good night is a three-hour stretch... So yeah, her response made me wonder if that's what people here have experienced. Glad it's not that bad for most!
I'm pretty sure that CrashIntoMe from ml and my bmb had a kid who did 2 hr stretches until 9+ mos.
I would not deal well with that. I mean, obviously you just deal I guess, but wow. :-(
Post by Willis Jackson on Nov 2, 2012 14:33:39 GMT -5
DS didn't sleep 5hrs straight until 18mos. We had tried Ferber at 6mo but it didn't work. Then we tried Pantley and that was also a big fail. What finally worked was Baby Whisperer.
DD woke every 3hrs until about 5mo, then every hour until 6mo when we did Ferber. It worked really well and she's been sleeping ~10hrs straight (save for teething/illness) since then.
OK, sounds like what I suspected... that they're good sleepers in the beginning, then things backslide. Fair enough. Thanks for the responses. I felt really bad at my parents' group the other day when the woman next to me (whose son is one day younger) asked how sleeping has been for us and I said he does six-hour stretches, but some bad nights it's just a four-hour stretch. I asked how her baby's sleep has been, and she said a good night is a three-hour stretch... So yeah, her response made me wonder if that's what people here have experienced. Glad it's not that bad for most!
I'm pretty sure that CrashIntoMe from ml and my bmb had a kid who did 2 hr stretches until 9+ mos.
A lot of the time DS sleeps a initial 5 hour stretch and then is up every 2 hours after. Lucky for me that is why I am supposed to sleep. He is a year. To be honest, it is only really horrible when he won't go back down. If he goes back down quickly I can handle it.
Post by Ashley&Scott on Nov 2, 2012 15:36:06 GMT -5
M's best sleep was from about 6w-12w. At that point he was doing 4-5 hour stretches which meant getting up once overnight. I was pretty happy with that.
Around 3 months he started teething & his sleep went to crap. Currently he sleeps in 2-4 hour stretches. They're gradually getting longer, fingers crossed.
I'm with the posters that had reasonable sleepers until the 4mw. Then, she was up multiple times a night.That's the case with my daughter anyway. She would be up multiple times a night, then around 2 she only woke once and that continued until she FINALLY sttn at 2.5! She still will occasionally wake up but it's usually for a good reason ( hungry, potty, thirsty etc..) My son is just approaching that age now and I'd be lying if I didn't say I was a bit nervous.
*eye's closed, hands over ears* I can't hear you I can't hear you I can't hear you"
Post by fortmyersbride on Nov 2, 2012 17:09:20 GMT -5
DD slept 4 hrs straight a couple of times around 8 wks. That is the longest she has ever slept. Currently she'll sleep 2 hrs at the beginning of the night 7-9 or maybe even 7-10pm). And then wake up every 30 min- 1.5 hrs for the rest of the night.
Her sleep went to crap when she developed some GI issues. But now that we have them under control I think the problem is that she never learned to sleep longer periods due to the health issues. We've tried variations on CIO and she just doesn't stop. We're considering a sleep specialist appt if she's not improving by her 15 mo appt.
The only time I have slept more than 2 hrs in a row since she was 2 mos old was when I went to a work conference OOT. I am considering going back to taking call once a week, I think I would have a better chance at sleep in the hospital
I seriously envy people with babies that sleep well!
DD slept 4 hrs straight a couple of times around 8 wks. That is the longest she has ever slept. Currently she'll sleep 2 hrs at the beginning of the night 7-9 or maybe even 7-10pm). And then wake up every 30 min- 1.5 hrs for the rest of the night.
Her sleep went to crap when she developed some GI issues. But now that we have them under control I think the problem is that she never learned to sleep longer periods due to the health issues. We've tried variations on CIO and she just doesn't stop. We're considering a sleep specialist appt if she's not improving by her 15 mo appt.
The only time I have slept more than 2 hrs in a row since she was 2 mos old was when I went to a work conference OOT. I am considering going back to taking call once a week, I think I would have a better chance at sleep in the hospital
I seriously envy people with babies that sleep well!
Post by pierogigirl on Nov 2, 2012 17:27:55 GMT -5
DS1 never slept 5 hours or more until almost a year. DS2 just started sleeping a 5hr stretch and he'll be 11 months this week. He still wakes twice a night (last night it was at 2 and 4:30).
Post by DarcyLongfellow on Nov 2, 2012 17:49:38 GMT -5
My memories are hazy, but I'm pretty sure DD did a 6 hour stretch at least once a night starting pretty early on -- like 2 months or so.
But when I say she didn't sleep through the night until she was 18 months old, I mean it wasn't until then that I could put her down for the night and not have to see her again until she woke up for the day :-) She went a long time where she'd wake up around midnight then again around 6 am. Both times I would go in and put her back to sleep, and then she'd sleep until 9 or so in the morning.
Post by scribellesam on Nov 2, 2012 22:18:12 GMT -5
Mine is not a great sleeper in my opinion: He was up 4-5 times nightly until 3mo. Then for one (glorious!) month he STTN from 8:00-6:30 nearly every night. Since he hit 4mo, he's STTN maybe 5 times in the past two months? He's usually up 1-2 times per night, his longest stretch is about 5 hours right at the beginning.
We haven't tried any sleep training yet, but given how much he screams when he is fighting sleep, I'd almost rather just keep getting up.
We always got a 4 or 5 hour stretch from him from the time we brought him home and it got longer every week. At 12 weeks he was doing 9 to 10 hour stretches. Then he hit 4 months and bam! No more STTN. He will do it sometimes (last night he slept from 845 until 5, ate and went back down until 7) but with no regularity so I don't count it.