Yes, they do sleep through on their own eventually.
There are gentle nudges you can try, I never had success tho, I just have to wait it out. But I have to say my 3yo is such a good sleeper with regards to actually going to bed and going to sleep. He does ocassionally wake up and come in, but on the whole, he sleeps right through in his bed from about 7.30 every night without a fight.
I wouldn't call CIO a nudge tho, that's a rather hard shove in my opinion. Elizabeth Pantley and Pinky McKay have books with more gentle suggestions to encourage more sleep which might be worth a try. But really, if the waking only bothers you upon comparing to other babies, and normally doesn't worry you, then just keep doing what your doing.
I often wonder how the CIO people deal with their babies when they wake with teething, or when they wake up cold (often the reason mine wake up .. woops.. should dress them better huh LOL) Do they get frustrated that they are no longer sleeping through? Do they re-train them to stop crying or do they actually comfort their baby and help with whatever is wrong?
I'm all for going along with whatever bub needs at the time.
mine always tended to sleep through at a couple months old,i never fed them to sleep i always put them to bed awake and they learnt to settle themselves. i had no problem getting up if they are teething or in pain and if they stopped crying i would put them back down
in the end if your happy to get up then dont let ppl make you feel bad..you do whats right for you!!!!!
Last edited by Jennifer13; May 6th, 2009 at 08:55 AM.
Heavenly i tend to have had a similar situation like you. After a couple of months DS1 was sleeping through. Not to say that we didn't have our off nights of course. But after a while when he did wake but shouldn't really want to be fed and nothing else was wrong the health nurse said to offer some water, a hug but let them know that it really is sleep time. Not sure if you'd say that staying with them and patting (i mostly did it without him seeing me) until he drifted off to sleep a form of cc but it worked really well for us. I never let him really cry without knowing that i was there by my touch. You can encourage them to sleep without cc but it still could be just as difficult, it probably depends on the child.
I also would say if you are happy with the way your little man is going just stick with it. What works for you guys is most important.
aah.. see there's that word "shouldn't" a word that ought to be banned from any conversation regarding babies. Who determines when a baby "should" & "shouldn't" need a feed through the night? Each mother & baby team works differently. I know that my babies needed to feed through the night for a long long time. They were full on feeds, never just comfort sucks. Why deny it?? Bit mean really.
And can I just mention that this is thread is in the Gentle Parenting section so posters are looking for gentle solutions that don't involve any type of cc.
I've been wondering this very same thing. BabyMama, my LO generally sleeps quite a bit better than yours, but he is still up once a night for a feed and I get the very same reactions/ feelings from mothers group. The other mothers always look taken aback and kind of go "oh..." like they don't know what to say! Grrr....
Can anyone tell me, at 11 months, is he quite (developmentally) capable of sleeping 12 hours without a feed? He seems SO hungry when he wakes during the night. Its very confusing!!
Last edited by Jennifer13; May 6th, 2009 at 09:02 AM.
amber - That's a really hard question to answer. In a way, yes, he is capable of sleeping through 12 hours a night. But there are soooo many reasons why he may be waking.
With Emily, we have to continously feed her between 4 and 6pm, then she'll sleep all night. I mean, she's a complete guts at dinner! If we don't feed her enough, she wakes up.
But sometimes it's not that simple. Nina was never that simple unfortunately
I dunno about the reward thing. I mean.. we're not training dogs here LOL. I night weaned DS at 15 months and he still didn't sleep through until 2 1/2. He would just bring himself into our bed though and go back to sleep.. sometimes I woke up and couldn't remember when he'd come in!
I think the best thing to do, in all honesty, is to stop worrying about the whole sleep thing. Don't compare, and don't talk to MCHN's about it! LOL. I think it's terrible that sleep seems to be THE thing that determines whether you're doing a good job, or whether you have a 'good' baby. It places pressure on mums, which then leads to forcing bubs to conform before they're ready. Truly, there are worse things that a baby could be doing. I personally prefer having happy contented toddlers that don't tantrum. Yet that's never commented on... people just look aghast that they wake up at night LOL. pfft.
Keep it in perspective. If it bothers you and you are suffering from lack of sleep, then of course, seek out ways to give that gentle nudge. If it doesn't bother you (majority of the time ) then just keep going, and they will 'get it' in their own time. There are bigger things to worry about IMO.
I always considered my DD to be a terrible sleeper - she was feeding 4 -5 times a night (BF) for a while there. We never ever did CC, and I continued to feed her/rock her / co-sleep until one day, miraculously, she started sleeping through. She was 17 months old....
Yep, we were the last in Mothers Group to "sleep through", but I wouldn't have done it any other way, and while I was a walking zombie a lot of the time, I am now very happy that we did it so gently and with no nudging (except for DH going in to her more often than me sometimes).
True, Liz, I guess when I really think about it the reason DS's night feed bothers me is mainly comparison (and therefore feeling like a "failure"). While I don't love getting up in the middle of the night, it certainly is a special bonding time too, and it doesn't really cause any significant sleep deprivation.
I think the other reason it bothers me is that I worry that if I don't do something, he will never outgrow it himself and I will be doing this for several more years- which does bother me.
Firstly..............If night waking for a feed doesn't bother you, then it is fine!
This is our story.....
When DD1 was 9 months i decided i was exhausted and didn't want to get up to feed in the night anymore. So when she woke, i got up to her, picked her up, cuddled her, rocked her, walked with her until she settled. When she was asleep i put her back down. Yes it took an hour or so the first night. But the next night she settled again much quicker. And it improved from there. I think by about the 5th night she wasn't waking for a feed anymore. So i guess in our case she did need a little help. But i am not sure of a definate answer to your qn..... maybe she would have got there on her own, maybe not.
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) then just keep going, and they will 'get it' in their own time. There are bigger things to worry about IMO.
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