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DS was a terrible sleeper. He went for about 5 months waking hourly, and then improved to only 5-6 times every night for the next year. He had massive hour long tantrums several times a night for months, as well as 1-2 hours of tantrum to get him to bed. It has been a very slow process with him and he didn't go to sleep by himself until he was 4 and slept consistently through the night until 4.5. He has an anxious personality.
DD was also not a very good sleeper, but I wonder how much of that was caused by being woken though the night by DS's screaming. She started going to sleep by herself at 2y3m when room sharing with DS on holidays. From about 2 she was waking once at night and DH was going in and sleeping in her bed. She now sleeps though 90% of the time since just before turning 3.
DD2 is not going very well in the sleep department either. She wakes 5-6 times every night and as a bonus every few nights she will wake up for an hour or three where she rolls around (co-sleeping), pulls my hair, divebombs my face etc. Not cool.
They have all co-slept after the first wake up, because they wake so often it is the only way I can survive. Oddly enough, they were all amazing newborns. They woke only once or twice and all were sleeping through by about 10 weeks. It all fell apart around 3-4 months, I guess when they become more aware.
I have thought about this a lot because I wonder if it is my crap parenting that has landed me a hat trick of cruddy sleepers. I definitely think that personality comes in to play e.g. for DS there was nothing else we could do because he would settle for nothing less than BF back to sleep and he was also very clingy to me during the day.
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I have no experience to add as DD is going through all that now. But just wanted to say awesome thread! Someone should make this into a book titled 'reality of sleeping through'. :)
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Short book - the content would be "They don't." LOL. (Only up once last night, and before midnight, so in a chipper mood.)
