About When Do Babies Sleep Through the Night?

Updated on November 11, 2010
P.H. asks from Clarksburg, MD
23 answers

I am heading back to work after Thanksgiving and I am wondering about when babies start to sleep through the night. My son is 10 weeks old. really I am hoping that he skips the middle of the night feeding before I go back to work. Any comments/tips?

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C.W.

answers from Washington DC on

depends on the child. my daughter was 2 years old, my son was 6 months old. Maybe you will get lucky, but don't count on it.

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R.M.

answers from Cumberland on

Usually around 12 wks-or sometimes around 10 pounds-but sleeping through may actually mean, say midnight to six a.m.!

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J.T.

answers from New York on

Err... they sleep through the night??? : )

My daughter will be 3 in January anad she still wakes up - not to eat but she wakes up.

All babies are different though so you just need to see how you LO will do. There are a lot fo differnt schools of thought on getting your baby to sleep throught the night. If your LO does not sleep on his own I would reccomend doign a little research to see what method works best for you style of parenting (CYO, Ferber, etc.).

Good luck!

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V.T.

answers from Columbus on

P. - I hate to break it to you but at 10 weeks I highly doubt that your son will be sleeping through the night. Are you nursing him? If so, they very much need that middle of the night feeding both for him since breast milk is easily digested and also for you to maintain your supply.
Most babies wake up in the middle of the night not just for food but also because they are not physically ready to sleep through the night just yet. Again, I am a full time working and nursing mom and what helped me through the night time feedings was to nurse lying down - my son caught on very quickly and I just put him in his crib after he nurses and falls asleep.
My little one is almost 10 months old today but yet to sleep through the night, he still wakes up once, sometimes even twice to nurse but keep in mind that all babies are different. Hope your little one will catch on quick!
All the Best to you!

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B.B.

answers from New York on

I've only had 2 kiddos so far. Both of them started sleeping through the night by 4-5 months. I consider sleep through to be bed time to about 4 or 5 in the morning.

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A.D.

answers from Roanoke on

Hi - I think it all depends on the baby, and what you consider "through the night" to be. My son is 5 1/2 mo old and has only slept through the night (8:30 - 5 am) twice now. He started limiting his night wakings to just once during the night about 4 mo. My pediatrician told me that most babies under 6 mo can't physically skip the night feeding - ie, they are hungry and need to be fed. Good luck!

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A.C.

answers from Washington DC on

I have to say that if your son is 10 weeks old and only wakes up once to eat then you are way ahead of the curve. My doctor told me that babies aren't really ready to sleep 12 hr stretches until they are at least 18lbs.

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K.M.

answers from Miami on

It's normal for babies to wake up for the first year and sometimes longer. It's totally inconvenient for the parents, especially working ones, but it's normal. Sleeping through the night is really a developmental milestone like anything else. And just when it seems like they're sleeping well you get hit by the 4 month sleep regression or developmental milestones like rolling/sitting up/standing up/etc or teething. A good deal of it depends on the baby too so while some babies sleep through on day 1, many many babies are still waking up the first year or longer. The best advice I can give you is just to have reasonable expectations! =)

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M.H.

answers from Dallas on

All babies are different. My daughter started sleeping through the night at 4 weeks.

M.P.

answers from Provo on

ALL babies are different. With my son he did the whole awake for 4 hours awake for an hour or two thing for 2 months. Then at three is when he started to sleep through the night, but at 5 months is when all hell broke lose with his sleeping. He still isn't sleeping through the night, but he's also only waking up once so I can deal with that.

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K.M.

answers from Norfolk on

According to doctors sleeping through the night is sleeping for 5 consecutive hours at night. My daughter was breastfed and got up for a night feeding till she was about 6 or 7 months old. There are no hard and fast rules. You know whether or not your child needs to eat during the night. You might be getting up at night for a while for feeding or if not feeding for other things. It always seems to always be one thing or another :)

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J.P.

answers from Boise on

So different for each child and for each method. Is he just waking up once? How big is he? If you think he is able to skip that meal, when he wakes up, don't go to him immediately, but wait a couple minutes. Each time you can wait a couple more. You could even have your husband go in to try to calm him a bit and see if he will go back down on his own. Good luck.

And, both my children were breastfed. The first slept through the night at 9 weeks, the second at 11 (heavy wetting issues, not feeding). I used the babywise method.

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T.J.

answers from Washington DC on

Sleeping through the night for a 10 week old would be 5 hours max. Every child is different, some with sleep through at 2 months others not until 2 years.

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A.H.

answers from New York on

my kids came from Korea. In Korea they don't get up with babies at night.. they ignore them for a few nights.. ahd guess what.. when they come to America at 2 mo. old..they are sleeping thru the night.. Not saying this is the answer, but it worked for my kids.. i think most babies ar sleeping thru the night by 3 mo.

T.M.

answers from Philadelphia on

Hi P.,
My experience has been that by about 2 months they only wake about once a night for feeding. Then by about 5 months all my kids were sleeping consistently through the night. I did have to ferber my first born at 6 months when she was waking 3, 4 or more times a night but then she has slept through the night ever since. Now, don't get me wrong, there were still a few rough nights now and then and still are. But for the most part all of them were sleeping through the night at around 5 months.
I wish you all the best!
T.
BTW all got breastfed!

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K.L.

answers from Washington DC on

My first slept through the night at 8 weeks, meaning from 10pm to 6am. Over the next several weeks we moved his bedtime back to 9pm then 8pm etc. And he was breast fed until he was 18 months, so a breast fed baby can certainly sleep through the night.
My daughter is now 6 weeks and sleeps 8 hours several nights a week.
And she is breast fed too.
Is your son really getting a full feeding in the middle of the night? Or is he just snacking? If it's the latter he probably doesn't need to get up and you might consider trying one of the sleep methods. Also what is bedtime? You could try making it later a little but at a time so that he doesn't wake until the morning feed and then slowly back it up again until he's going to bed when you want him too. It also helped us to keep baby awake before the last feed, no naps right before bed.

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J.A.

answers from Dallas on

Breastfed babies will not sleep through the night (unless you have a perfect angel) until they are weaned. Don't expect him to sleep through the night anytime soon. If he is only getting up once that is awesome....be thankful!!

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K.L.

answers from Washington DC on

I heard differently about skipping the night feeding. The info I got from my ped. was that when a baby is 12 pounds then they can go through the night without eating. My kids are 7 and 9, so it's been awhile, but I think that's what I remember?! Both of mine slept for close to 8 hour stretches at around 10 weeks, so it is totally possible (hopefully it'll happen for you!)

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P.G.

answers from Dallas on

I hate to break this to you as well, but every child is different. You may get lucky, but my son didn't till he was almost 3 years old. I have a friend with 4 kids and they all had different sleep styles. You can do your best to have a sleep routine that encourages comfort for him, swaddle, etc. but you just can't predict it.

M.M.

answers from Chicago on

Anywhere between 2 months and 3 years. :)

Depends on your child and the sleep habits that you create. My first slept 12 hrs through the night consistently between months 4-6. Then the developmental wakings began (and stopped) as new skills were aquired.

My daughter (13 weeks) still wakes 1-2x/night to feed. I'm going with the flow until I know she's ready to skip those night feeds (generally, I'll stop them after she sleeps all the way through without any waking on her own. We'll see when that is!)

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K.P.

answers from Houston on

Hi P.,

The women here have pretty much said it...babies are different and sleep patterns vary based on type of feeding etc. If breast feeding, baby needs the feeding at first but I do know some moms who are able to feed at midnight and then around 5-6am in order to maximize sleep. This is after a few months though.
My 3 were all different. My first didn't sleep all night until he was 3 years old.
My second started sleeping all night at 6 weeks after taking her off the breast d/t milk allergy. And the youngest was sleeping all night after 2-3 wks. He was also bottle fed d/t allergy.
With the last two, I incorporated a different method with them as well. At night,
I didn't turn anymore light on than what I needed to feed and change. I didn't talk to or play with baby at night. I fed, changed baby and put them back to bed.
During the day, I played with them alot. It seemed to work. Also, of course fed baby just before bedtime.
Because babies are awake and playing in mom's womb more so at night, they do the same when they get here. It is actually a biological response and takes a few weeks to adjust. Problem is parents want to play with baby when baby is alert (at night) which reinforces night time as play time. Hence, the reason for taking the above steps.
Hope this helps.
K.

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T.C.

answers from Minneapolis on

All babies are so different and there are so many things that can affect thier sleeping. They may sleep throught the night for a week or two then start waking up due to a growth spurt, or teething, or illness, etc. My son was sleeping through the night by 6 months, and my daughter is almost 8 months and still gets up twice a night for a bottle. She has been a difficult sleeper all along and she is extremly active. She takes down a 5 oz bottle each time but at least now i can just give it to her and she holds it, drinks it and goes back to sleep. Maybe you will get lucky but it may be a while yet.

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L.O.

answers from Detroit on

breastfed babies do not sleep through the night..

my daughter slept through at 7 months.. my son did not sleep through until he was 2 yearsold.

If you are nusring... feed the baby at 7 pm ish and put him to bed.. when you go to bed at 10ish go in wake the baby and nurse him.. that might... keep him alseep longer.. but he will stil probably wake up between 2-5 for a meal.

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