What is considered "sleeping through the night?"

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Forum -> Parenting our children -> Infants

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allthingsblue

Thu, Oct 23 2014, 7:20 pm

Baby is about 4 and a half months old. I feed him at about 6.30, put him to sleep. He wakes up around 11 for a feeding, and then between 4-6 am, and then at about 8.30 for the day.

What would be considered sleeping thought the night? Is it normal for him to sleep from 6:30 until 8:30, that's14 hours!

zaq

Thu, Oct 23 2014, 7:32 pm

Don't worry about definitions. It's whatever YOU call sleeping thru. My personal criterion was 8 hours, which meant **I** could sleep thru the night. Some people call as little as 5 hours sleeping thru, possibly because they feel that having a baby sleep thru the night implies superiority on the part of the mother.

Fourteen hours at a stretch is no way the norm for a baby your baby's age, and in fact if your baby slept that much, your dr. might tell you to wake him up for a feeding if he wasn't growing well.

If your baby goes down at 11 and wakes up at 6, that's 7 hours and sleeping thru the night by anyone's yardstick.

LiLIsraeli

Thu, Oct 23 2014, 8:03 pm

My definition of "sleeping through the night" is not waking up to eat at all! So hon, your baby ain't sleeping 14 hours...

frimamom

Thu, Oct 23 2014, 8:17 pm

My son had a similar schedule and I called it sleeping through the night

Sherri

Thu, Oct 23 2014, 8:36 pm

Many of my friends considered a 12-6 a.m. stretch "sleeping through the night".

amother

Thu, Oct 23 2014, 10:15 pm

My pediatrician told me with my first that sleeping through the night is sleeping a double feeding cycle. So if you typically feed every 3 hours during the day, sleeping through the night would be sleeping 6 hours-skipping one feeding.

miami85

Thu, Oct 23 2014, 10:34 pm

I've read that sleeping through the night is 6 hours. I think that the 6:30-11:30 would be the "through the night" part. See if you can get your baby to stay awake a bit later so that He might wake up more like 7am. But I know it can be difficult to alter a baby's schedule.

supty

Thu, Oct 23 2014, 10:42 pm

allthingsblue wrote:

Two feelings at night for a 4 month old is totally normal. If I remember correctly, I think "sleeping through the night" at that age is 6 hrs. Sounds like you're baby is on a pretty good schedule. Then again, this is coming from someone who's baby didn't sleep through the night until 18 months so I have pretty low expectations...

vicki

Fri, Oct 24 2014, 4:43 am

I considered my babies sleeping through the night when they slept from about 11-12 to about 6-7. It was nighttime, even if late, to morning, even if early. Separately, I celebrated when my babies slept 5 hours straight during the night - any 5 hours. That was a milestone for me to start regaining my sanity and strength.

mandr

Fri, Oct 24 2014, 11:58 am

Also there's something called "sleeping through the night with feedings" Wink

in my book.

My baby doesn't "wake up" for real but he does have to eat (he gets a lot of his calories at night because he's distracted in the daytime). I feed him before bed (8pm) and then before I go to bed (12ish) even though he hasn't woken up yet. I dreamfeed him then. Then he wakes up to eat about 5:30 and I feed him. And up for the morning at 7:30ish (no feed until 9ish).

I consider these three nighttime feeds as a blessing because I know he is getting a lot of milk then, compared to what he gets by day. I see no reason to change this schedule yet.

wifenmother

Fri, Oct 24 2014, 12:17 pm

I would consider your baby's schedule as "sleeping through the night" OP. Infants can sleep for 14 hours like that, so long as they wake up for a feeding or two. Personally, I define sleeping through the night when my baby gives me a 5-6 hour stretch without a feeding.

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