Sleeping Through the Night - Denton,TX

What kind of doctor tells you a three month old baby should be sleeping through the night? There is no "should" with 3 month olds. They do what they do and you meet their needs--food, comfort, changing a diaper. Also, I assume you meant to say that after he was 10 pounds? Maybe your doctor has never had children of his own. Also, most doctors will tell you to not even offer a baby that young rice cereal (or any solids) anyway. It has no nutritional value--it is just a starter food to get them used to eating solids and to introduce them to a texture other than liquids. You shouldn't be filling up a three month old's belly with rice just so he'll sleep--sorry! Babies wake up A LOT and a lot of them do it until they are well over one year old. You should start going to bed a lot earlier. ;)

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I have four sons. My baby is 19 months old. He still wakes up at 3:00 am every night to nurse. He sleeps from 9 to 3 and then fitful from 3 to 7 - that's normal - soon I'll get more sleep - but don't give too much cereal too early (allergies) and don't put a lot of pressure on yourself. Western medicine doctors don't know everything. I did some online research about sleeping habits of families and babies in third world countries and what I found was very interesting and encouraging in terms of allowing me to work my schedule around my baby's preferred sleep schedule, not the other way around.

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I would seriously consider finding a new doctor. Some rare babies do "sleep through the night" (meaning a five hour strech of sleep) but MANY, I would even venture to say MOST do not. I would be concered with what other falty advice this doctor will give. Would he want you to let him cry to sleep? stop nursing at six months? etc. etc.? My child is now 20 months old. We co-sleep and she still nurses, and thus still wakes up a couple times during the night. She is a healthy intelligent toddler that trust her mama to meet her basic baby needs. I would consider buying The Baby Book by Dr. Sears as a reference for you as you go through the next two years. It has been a life saver for me when it came to questions about nursing, sleep, eating, sickness, and other developmental concerns.

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I'm with the others on this. My son was 15/16 lbs at 3 months and he did not sleep through the night. He started sleeping through the night at 4 months. BUT, my daughter didn't sleep through the night until she was 12 months. I would say the normal range if 4 - 6 months.

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I agree to read On Becoming Babywise. I did this with all my kids. My boys slept through the night at 9 and 11 weeks. My daughter was treated the same and didn't sleep through the night until 4 months or older. Does your child have reflux? If he's awaking from naps too, there M. be silent reflux. Also my daughter wasn't tolerating my breastmilk, but she is a completely different baby on formula. This was sad, bc I wanted to bf till a year. I'm thankful for the sleep though!!

I cant believe your DR. told you that!! What a joke! My son did not sleep thru the night untill he was 8 months old!(and then I still had to sometimes go in his room and find his paci for him) Now,my daughter pretty much did at 3 mos but not every baby is the same! Good Luck and dont worry,your baby will get on a schedule and sleep thru the night when he is ready!

A.,
Yep, he can sleep through the night, 12 hours. It's possible.

I read the book "On Becoming Babywise" by Gary Ezzo and it really worked well for me. The book talks about how to arrange your baby's schedule to promote good sleep and eating habits. I liked that he included a lot of suggestions that were breastfeeding-friendly, if you are breastfeeding. Something the book taught me that really surprised me was that babies really do need an early bedtime (6pm!!) and they will sleep much longer than if you put them down at, say, 8pm. I'd never have believed that if I hadn't tried it myself. Anyhow, Babywise pretty much saved my sanity, and worked very well for several other moms I know. Maybe check it out and see what you think.

Good luck! =)

Every child is different. My daughter slept through the night at around 3 mos. but my son was almost 3 years old before he slept through the night. Some tips: When he wakes up, go to him and change his diaper then put him back to bed. Don't take him from his room or even rock him. Let him cry awhile to see if he will put himself back to sleep. At this stage of his life he M. not yet be on a normal schedule so you need to give it more time. As long as he is not distressed or sick you can treat him the same way every night. Consistancy is the key. You also need to get more sleep!!

My mother and mother-in-law were very adament about me giving my son rice cereal when he was younger because they did it when their kids were younger and swore it would help him sleep through the night. I talked to my pediatrician and even took my mother with me and he said not to do it. So I did some online research to send to my mother and law. This is one of the articles I found:

http://www.drjen4kids.com/myths/mythrice.htm

In my humble opinion, your baby is going to develop his sleep patterns on his own. My son did not start sleeping through the night until he was 6 months old and I have talked to a ton of moms that give different ages. A poor lady I teach with had a son who woke up every 2 hours until he was 18 months old. The biggest mistake I made when my son was younger was not putting him down when he was awake. I would always rock him until he went to sleep and then gently place him in his bed. I wish now that I would have put him down when he was tired and allow him to learn to fall asleep on his own.

Good luck...my son is now 2 and this is the hardest time I have had yet in raising him. The terrible twos is no myth.

What has worked for me is feed then (playtime ) & always put him to bed while he is awake he then learns to fall asleep himself .. I also agree with Catherine" On Becoming Babywise" is great reading good luck :)

It's completely normal. You both need a better schedule. As a new mom you need more sleep!

I think it is a little misleading for new parents when people talk about when babies start sleeping through the night. It doesn't mean your child is going to do it every night from that night on. It just means this is the start of them working up to that. Your little guy probably won't consistently sleep through the night for a while longer and then that pattern will be disrupted by teething, sickness, etc. Basically, your not going to get a full night of sleep, every night for many, many years to come. Also, all babies are different. My first son started sleeping through the night at 8 weeks, but my second not until several months after that. Your doctor, I think, is just suggesting what the average might be and your baby doesn't know about averages. He is doing his own thing and I would just go with that. He is too little to let cry, so if he wakes up hungry, try comforting him first and if that doesn't work, feed him. Good luck and congratulations on your new baby.

My daughter didn't sleep through the night until she was 7 months old. She needed that extra night feeding. Once she stopped really nursing well at night and it appeared to just be her habit, I let her cry it out and she slept through from that point on. Every child is different, but I wouldn't push it or introduce food too early to try to rush the process.

The AAP standard for sleeping through the night is 5 hour streches. At three months old my baby was sleeping through the night (7 to 8 hour streches) but then starting at about 4 months old he started getting up anywhere from 1 to 4 times a night. He is now 10 months old and finally just started sleeping through the night again. All that said babies develop on their own schedules and most babies do not sleep all night for some periods of time. It concerns me a little that your pedi would not know this or explain it to you.

If you have a little time to read I would recommend the book "No Cry Sleep Solution." It explains how babies sleep and how their patterns are different from adults and then offers different methods to help your baby sleep. It was a great book for our family.

I know it's tough functioning on little to no sleep (My little guy has only been sleeping 9 - 10 hours for about a week so I am still painfully aware) but hang in there and try to enjoy the quite time in the middle of the night. I sort of miss hanging out with my baby when the rest of the house is asleep.

Good Luck!

I can't believe a dr. would tell you he should sleep through the night by 3 months/10 lbs. My son is 2 and still wakes occasionally! Most people say a 6 hour stretch is sleeping though the night, and that M. be doable for a 3 month old, but none of mine slept though the night until they were close to or over 1 year old. I breastfed all of them, and that can make a difference b/c their bellies don't stay as full on breastmilk because it is digested easier. Another consideration is that the American Academy of Ped. recommends no solid foods until 6 months, 4 at the youngest, but preferablly 6. You might check out www.babycenter.com they have WONDERFUL articles, expert advice and various strategies to help with getting your baby to sleep, however I think it's a lot to ask of a 3 month old to sleep straight through the night. Hang in there! She WILL eventually sleep through the night!

My daughter started sleeping through the night around 2 months and since then she has gone to bed on avg at 9pm and woke up at 7am. I have over 15 families I babysit for 90% of the infants I have sleep through the night there is maybe 3 that did until they were like 9-12 months... (feel bad for those parents.)

HTH

I think every baby is different. My child didn't sleep all the way through the night till well after he was 1 year old, even though I gave rice cereal at night too, and did EVERYTHING else they told me to. GOOD Luck! :-)

I can tell you right now that there are moms just LOL right now that your pedi said that by now he should be sleeping through the night! Every baby is different and there is no right or wrong time for him to sleep through the night. At 3 mos, I would expect him to awake at least once, if not twice but that's just been my experience with my kids. Both my kids were exclusively breastfed until 6 mos, then I introduce solids. I have a 7 month old now who still only sleeps til 3am and wants to nurse. I'm OK with that. I get good REM sleep between the hours of 10-2am and feel rested in the morning. If you're not, and it's severely causing you problems with tiredness during the day then there are several books on the subject to help, but there are no guarantees. My daughter is now starting the teething process, so I realize that soon, all bets are off and she'll be up several times a night again, just as my son was. Also, a growth spurt will cause a change in sleeping patterns. So, I'm sure several moms can agree that there is no "formula or guide" that babies go by when dealing with sleeping through the night. My experience has been, that by 1 year the pattern gets easier to predict and nights will once again become easier. Hope this helps!

It would be very unhealthy for a 3 month old to sleep through the night, and I would run from any doctor who suggested it.

I recently read an article written by neurologists that discussed why babies wake during the night, and how it decreases their risk of sids and helps their brain develop. It is a necessary part of our biology to wake during the night when we are infants. It is only in our modern society that babies have been expected, and even forced to sleep through the night. One thing I would *not* do is try to give him food in order to help him sleep through the night. Not only is it bad for his intestines when he is so young (biologically, babies are supposed to have only breastmilk for the first 6 months + of life, and as much of it as they are willing), but at night, when his digestion is slowed down already, it is even worse for his system.

As far as sleep training and babywise goes, I would stay CLEAR away from those ridiculously cruel techniques enforced upon an innocent infant. If you do a search, many infants have died because their parents have followed the babywise series. It's BAD stuff. I would have to BEG you to stay away from that.... please don't let another sweet infant fall victim.

Our society needs to get out of the mindset that our babies need to learn to make our lives easier. They are infants... we are supposed to wake during the night with them, be exhausted for a while, love them with every ounce of our being, and do everything we can to help them develop into healthy adults. Forcing abnormal sleeping habits does not fall into this.

If your 3 month old is sleeping a 3 hour stretch, he is doing better than most! If the doctor asks how he's sleeping, just respond, "he sleeps like a baby!" --- because he does.

I will look up the studies from neurologists when I have a moment... have to run out the door in 30minutes.

When people say "sleeping through the night" referring to an infant your son's age, they mean 6-7 hours at a stretch. Not from 8 pm to 8 am. If you put him down at 8 or 9 pm and he sleeps thru until 2:30 or 3:30 a.m., then has a feeding and goes back to sleep again for a couple more hours, then he is "sleeping through the night". If he goes to sleep around 10pm and sleeps until 4-5 a.m., then he is "sleeping through the night". His night just starts a little earlier than yours does, lol. Basically, he has dropped a feeding... In short order, he should be dropping (or stretching in between) another and stretching that 6-7 hours towards 7-8 hours. But that is from when HE falls asleep... not when YOU got to bed. Big difference there usually.

I agree with other moms who have said that the whole phrase "sleeping through the night" is WILDLY misleading. After doing some research myself with my little one, I realized that when the books I was reading said something like "50% of infants can sleep through the night by 2 mos old" what they meant was, 50% of infants, by two months old, have, on at least one occasion, slept 5-6 hours at a stretch. This is NOT my idea of sleeping through the night! Sure enough, at 6 weeks, DD slept for 7 hours at a stretch ONE TIME, but still usually woke up every 4 hours to nurse. At 3 mos, DD made a transition from sleeping from midnight to 5am ("through the night" according to AAP, but NOT me!"), to sleeping from 9pm to 5am (and I was THRILLED). But she still periodically woke up in the middle of the night. Even at 8 mos, she went from 7pm to 7am without eating, but would still wake up and cry sometime in the night about 50% of the time, and DH or I would go in to rub her back and soothe her back to sleep. The length/quality of sleep will also vary back and forth due to growth spurts (needs more milk), teething, occasional colds, etc. So normal is, in fact, just crazy. By all means, do your best to instill good sleep habits in the kids--I loved "the baby whisperer" method--but definitely don't expect to put a 3 mo old to bed at 8pm and not see him again until 7 or 8am (like we do now with our almost 3-year-old).