what does it mean when people say "my baby sleeps through the night"?

[Anonymous]

8:10 here. My dc had breastmilk only, but I fed her an additional pumped bottle right before bed to keep her full longer.

[Anonymous]

My daughter didn't sleep through the night until 3 months, at which point the night feeding stopped. At 5-6 weeks, we were definitely still waking up at least once a night and feeding at least once a night.

[Anonymous]

So for the poster who thought OP's question was a joke, I think we can all now see why OP is confused!

[Anonymous]

Op, you should also ask how long STTN lasted. I know plenty of people who report early STTN babies, but come 4 months, 6 months, 8 months, their kids' sleep turns to hell.

[Anonymous]

np here - dd slept through the night at 18 months. i define sttn as sleeping without waking to feed/fuss/cry through a night which i define as overnight - somewhere around a normal bedtime to a normal wake-up time; in my case: 8:30 to 8.

before that, dd needed night feeds until 8 or 9 mon, then would wake up 2-3 times needing to be soothed, rocked, or just have her lost paci re-found until 12-13 mon, at which point we gave up trying to put her back to sleep in the crib over and over again, so we started co-sleeping - at that time, i would say she probably slept all night, but i dont count it b/c it was with us and we were still waking up multiple times a night with her thrashing (which also, in turn, sometimes woke her up). she went to a big bed at 18 mom and slept through the night the first night and ever since...

i think the people who think a baby who wakes to feed, but doesn't play or stay awake, is sttn are bogus.

and i have never heard that babies can be allowed to sttn the night when they regain birth-weight, unless they were born enormously fat. i thought 10-14lbs was the goal weight before they could comfortably sttn without NEEDING a feed.

[Anonymous]

Why do y'all remember these petty details?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do y'all remember these petty details?

It's petty to remember when you stopped having your sleep interrupted by a hungry, crying baby?? Whatever y'all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do y'all remember these petty details?

because, maybe, just maybe, some of us are going trough this RIGHT NOW!

the world doesn't revolve around YOU, you know?

[Anonymous]

God, I hate these posts.

Just for a taste of something else, my son, who is 10 months sleeps through the night according to my doc because he sleeps from 12-6. He goes down at 7 and wakes usually at 9 to nurse, then 12 to be changed and nurse, then 6 to be changed and nurse.

But if ANYTHING is going on - teething, sick, developments, schedule off, then he almost always wakes up around 2/3 and nurses.

I just can't imagine this place where my baby does this 10 hour stretches. More power to you all, but damn. I need to not read these posts I think!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mine slept through the night at 2w. old - would go to bed at 7:30pm, wake up around 11pm for half an hour and then go back to sleep until 3am, eat and go straight back to sleep until 8am. She would then eat again and we would both sleep in until 10am. Heavens!

Now she goes to bed at 6pm and wakes up between 6 and 7am. I dream nurse her before I go to bed, just for cuddles and because it is our only nursing session at this point. I prefer the old schedule

It is NOT sleeping through the night if your kid wakes up for feedings. Period. This is in fact the exact opposite of sleeping through the night. You are in fact describing a very typical newborn schedule. You are lucky if the feedings are quick and easy, but you are kidding yourself if you think this is STTN. Of course, if it makes you feel better to call it that, by all means enjoy!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:np here - dd slept through the night at 18 months. i define sttn as sleeping without waking to feed/fuss/cry through a night which i define as overnight - somewhere around a normal bedtime to a normal wake-up time; in my case: 8:30 to 8.

before that, dd needed night feeds until 8 or 9 mon, then would wake up 2-3 times needing to be soothed, rocked, or just have her lost paci re-found until 12-13 mon, at which point we gave up trying to put her back to sleep in the crib over and over again, so we started co-sleeping - at that time, i would say she probably slept all night, but i dont count it b/c it was with us and we were still waking up multiple times a night with her thrashing (which also, in turn, sometimes woke her up). she went to a big bed at 18 mom and slept through the night the first night and ever since...

i think the people who think a baby who wakes to feed, but doesn't play or stay awake, is sttn are bogus.

and i have never heard that babies can be allowed to sttn the night when they regain birth-weight, unless they were born enormously fat. i thought 10-14lbs was the goal weight before they could comfortably sttn without NEEDING a feed.

There's a difference between being allowed to sleep through the night and being ignored when hungry. If your baby is hungry, s/he will cry, and you should feed him. If he is sleeping soundly, you absolutely do NOT need to wake him. THe 10-14 pound figure is when many babies will start sleeping for longer stretches, but if they do it sooner that's just a bonus.

My DS was less than 6 lbs at birth and the ped said we could stop waking for feedings when he was about 10 days old. He's now 11 months and 25 lbs. I've never heard any pediatrician recommend waking a normal healthy baby for feedings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:any stretch of 6 or more hours when it's dark outside is considered STTN.

Really? You'd call 6pm to 12am STTN?

Yes, ma'am. Kids don't know how to read the clock. All they know is dark/light cycles with the help of mom's melotonin if they're BF.

That's why we put DC to sleep at 10pm and we don't hear from him until 5am and we all get plenty of sleep.

Kids may not know how to read a clock, but parents do. It just doesn't make sense to define STTN from the baby's perspective. If you do, it's a pretty meaningless definition, because what people really are asking is, "When can [b]I[/b] expect to get some sleep?"


My DS was BF for 6 weeks and slept only 4 hours at a stretch. When we switched to formula that improved to about 5 hours, but suddenly at 12 weeks he slept from 7pm - 5am and has ever since. I can't take credit - we didn't sleep train, he just did it on his own.

Your fight is not with me, sweet pie.

Healthcare professionals do the research and publications are peer reviewed. Go talk to the big guys.

Signed,

Mom of a EBF baby who came from the hospital STTN (6 hours stretches any time between 7pm and 8am)

Clearly the so-called "experts" have some misunderstanding about the English definitions of the words "sleeping," "through," and "night," but really what's the difference? Does it make it any easier to get up at 3 a.m.? (It didn't for me. I was THRILLED when my baby actually began SLEEPING. THROUGH. THE. NIGHT. That meant I could get a full uninterrupted night's sleep as well.)

[Shopmom]

I am a baby sleep professional and yes, the most common answer to a baby sleeping through the night is a 5 hour stretch. However... I consider sleeping through the night going to bed at a decent bedtime..say 8pm and not completely waking until early morning....hopefully about 7:30am. This typically ius easiest for babies who are bottlebed, because they can be weaned from having night feedings.
The best age to expect a baby to sleep through the night is at 5 months.
www.mybabysleepsatnight.com

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
and i have never heard that babies can be allowed to sttn the night when they regain birth-weight, unless they were born enormously fat. i thought 10-14lbs was the goal weight before they could comfortably sttn without NEEDING a feed.

8:10 again- My kid was huge, over nine pounds at birth. She also gained quickly after birth and had no reflux issues. (Neither DH nor I have ever been overweight, and she is thin at three).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PPs who had early STTN kids -- did you formula feed?

The only people I know who had 6wk-olds sleep through the night were friends who formula-fed. I think it takes longer to digest and the baby gets more calories. I'm a BF-only person, so it was more on the order of months before DC STTN, sadly!

My EBF DD slept from around 10:00 pm until 6:00am starting at 7 weeks. We were able to back that bedtime up to around 8:00pm by the time she was 14 weeks or so.

I think formula does take longer to digest but clearly its not the only factor. Something I think(?) I had going for me, I had a pretty crazy oversupply and dd could get a boatload of milk at a time.
Ab

I think genetics have something to do with it. My brother and I (formula) both STTN at around 8-10 weeks. My daughter (formula) STTN at 12 weeks and his son (EBF) at 8 weeks.

To me STTN at that age is 6-8 hours.