12 hours of sleep in 12 weeks??

[Anonymous]

has anyone out there read the book Twelve Hours' Sleep by Twelve Weeks Old: A Step-by-Step Plan for Baby Sleep Success? I've read good reviews about it, but honestly can't face buying yet another book. Can anyone out there tell me the general advice it offers? If it really sounds all that great I'd check it out. But, I'm starting to wonder if all these books can really be that much different!
Thanks so much!!!

[Anonymous]

OP, I had a baby that did not like to sleep. Not day, not night. He has always slept 3-4 hours less a day than what all of the expert sleep books have said he should sleep (he's now 4). I read all of them: Sleep lady, Baby Whisperer, Ferber, Weisbluth, No-Cry Sleep Solution, 12HB12W, Sears... you name it. There are basically 2 schools of thought:

1) You have to help your baby learn to sleep - use routines/schedules, loveys, and finally some form of fussing/crying.
2) Babies aren't supposed to sleep well, so do as much soothing as you can and hope for the best.

I tried approach #2 for a long time. After a year and a half with no sleep, I opted for approach #1. It worked... sort of. My son is still not a champion sleeper (and probably will never be -- I come from a long line of crappy sleepers).

That being said, while there are babies out there who are capable of sleeping 12 hours in a row by 12 weeks, I suspect that they are the exception rather than the rule. Many babies will need a nighttime feed until they are 6-9 months.

[Anonymous]

The book is worth every penny. We followed it to a tee and it worked. You really need to be bottle feeding though because you need to know exactly what the baby is drinking.

What I loved about the book is that it it gives you a step by step guide.

[Anonymous]

It does not even sound healthy for a baby so young to sleep for 12 hours straight. Twelve hours is a loooong time to go without food when the stomach is still so small.

[Anonymous]

Well-my DS was sleeping 12 hours by 12 weeks (although we didn't use that book), and has consistently been at the top end of the charts for height and weight. I was exclusively pumping and we were bottle feeding, though, so we knew he was getting enough food during the day. OP-you will probably get a lot of responses telling you that babies can't/shouldn't be sleeping through the night without feeding that early on, all I can tell you is that it worked for us (and our pediatrician was not concerned) and DS, who is now 8 months old, is still a great sleeper.

[Anonymous]

I'd agree with 22:56. Our birth coach/lactation consultant singled out this book as what *not* to do to an infant.

[Anonymous]

I have three children: from my viewpoint, "good sleepers" are born and not made. You can certainly encourage your children to self-soothe, blah blah blah, but not all children will respond to "sleep training." Good luck!

[Anonymous]

I'm hoping for 12 hours by 12 months!

And I agree entirely with 9:44. Some babies sleep well and easily on their own, others don't, and you can't do a whole lot to change it.

[Anonymous]

And please keep in mind that most exclusively breastfed babies, especially if fed on demand, cannot sleep that long. (Most books say 5-6 hours is sleeping through the night for breastfed babies.) Breastmilk is digested faster than formula. Plus, their tummies are tiny when they are that little.

[Anonymous]

OP here, my baby is actually already 9 months old so I think his tummy is probably capable of going longer than the 4 hours he is currently doing. I didn't hear about this book until well after we've tried lots of other things! he is exclusively breastfed though (working on getting him to take more baby food and finger foods 3 times a day). Sometimes he goes 6 hours without eating at night...since he's still mostly on breast milk do you think that's as good as it gets?

[Anonymous]

My baby was fed exclusively breast milk, although mainly by bottle b/c he had some serious latch issues-- and we used 12 hours by 12 weeks. Loved it, loved it, loved it!

The book basically encourages getting the baby on a schedule and working to get a baby to stretch longer between daytime feedings, so that then they last longer at night. Anyway, we found that once we stretched those daytime feedings (at around 2.5 months old), our baby would go 6-7 hours at night without waking. While the book has techniques for stretching that 6-7 hours out to 12 hours, we opted to let nature take its course after the 6-7 hours. And, about a month or two later (by 4 months), our baby would go about 10 hours.

Now, at 17 months our baby generally still sleeps 10-11 hours. He just doesn't seem to need 12 hours so that is fine by us.

So, I guess I would suggest that the book is worth using as a guide to help set a schedule for your baby, which then does seem to encourage longer night time sleep.

Hope that helps.

[Anonymous]

We used the book -- and had the author as our night nurse/ sleep coach. She has a place in heaven!! Good sleepers are definitely made, not born. More than that, the book teaches the parent. It's all about a schedule and a routine and putting them first (no napping in the car or stroller b/c the parent has stuff to do -- their sleep, in their crib, always comes first.) Babies have to be a certain weight before you can start the sleep training and you slowly take down the amount of food in the middle of a night -- reducing it by an ounce or so until they're weened off of it. Give the book a shot -- saved our lives with twins!! 2+ years later we still have kids who sleep 12 hours a night.