Do babies sleep through without a nudge?

[Visitor7]

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

[Liz]

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.

[Campari]

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).

Be proud of yourself!

[amberj]

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.

[*EJ*]

I apologise for using the word 'shouldn't' but being the mother of my child i was aware when he did and didn't need a feed.

How i encouraged my baby to sleep apparently can be seen as a form of cc, so i'm sorry but i never saw it that way.

I always got up to his cries and i always showed/show him as much love and effection as possible. When he did wake i saw it was extra minutes in the day that i wouldn't usually get to spend with him. Sleep time for my son has been a very happy time for as long as i can remember and sleeping through the night happened quite early. To this day when it's time for a day sleep or night sleep he grabs his teddy and walks to his bed himself.

I apologise again because this has nothing to do with the question now but just like you have described with mothers group i feel i am being judged for giving my child some guidance.

BabyMama i'm sorry if i didn't give you advice you were looking for but i'm sure you'll find what works for you and your son We're all different and different things work for different mums and bubs.