What does sleep through the night mean and when?

[miltonjs]

I used to think it means they can sleep uninterrupted for x hour, does not wake up, and wake up at Y. E.g 9-7 am straight.

My LO is almost 2 and still wakes up every 3 hours for boob. Some parents coslesp and don’t even remember if kid woke up in between so I’d like to hear when your definition and when they truly slept through.

 

[relle25]

@miltonjs For me personally it means truly sleeping through in terms of they go down for the night at bedtime and then don't wake up (or at any rate, are loud or upset enough to wake anyone else up) till it's either time for daycare/school in the morning or on the weekends till a reasonable-ish hour (like past 6 a.m.).

None of my kids did this till close to 2 years old.

 

[butforthegraceofgod]

@relle25 Yup, this. My toddler has started to do this around 18 months, then stopped, now at 20 he seems to be back at it (fingers crossed)

 

[irishamerican4christ]

@miltonjs To me it means that they don't require any parental intervention from bedtime until 10-12 hours later. My baby started STTN at 7.5 months once he was night weaned. He wakes up briefly in between sleep cycles sometimes and I'll see him change positions in his crib, but goes back to sleep on his own.

 

[ckuteesa]

@miltonjs My girl (,6 months) sleeps uninterrupted 9-12 hours from 10 weeks. Though sometimes she will wake up within the first couple of hours and need to be held till she falls back asleep, takes around 15 mins. Shes exclusively breastfed. Shes always slept in a cot attached to the bed till a few weeks ago she moved to her own room.

My nephews woke every couple of hours for around 2 years. There is a huge scale! But yes some babies do actually sleep through. Completely random tbh, I've certainly not done anything to get my child to do this it was her choice entirely.

 

[jonbradford]

@miltonjs My kid sleeps from 7/7.30 to 6am when he is ready to start the day. Unless he is sick or has a dirty diaper, of course.

That is my definition of sleeping through the night: neither one of us wakes up until morning. He didn't do that until... 10 month I think.

 

[makubexx]

@miltonjs At least 8 hours uninterrupted sleep. My first 2 started sleeping through the night in their cribs by 5/6 months without sleep training. They’ve been sleeping 9-11 hours pretty much every night since, unless they’re sick or teething or something, all throughout childhood.

My third however never slept through the night as a baby, nursed overnight until age 3, and even now at age 5 wakes up to drink water and cuddle every night at some point. Sounds like your little one is not sleeping through the night.

 

[lady70]

@miltonjs For me it means 6-8 hours straight through the night. My kids got there at 2 months old but they are unicorns. Some kids take up to 3/4 years

 

[lawrence90]

@miltonjs I use it to mean sleeping through the night from bedtime to morning without needing me. Mine did it the first time at 14 months, started doing it about half the time around 19 months. Started sleeping through consistently (almost 100% of nights) by maybe… 27-28 months? It all goes out the window if he’s sick though.

 

[buckeye_momof4]

@miltonjs Technically, it means between four and six hours. We felt like we were sleeping through the night when baby would go down at 8, do a dream feed at 10, and then nurse at 4am but go back to sleep until after 7. But your perspective also changes as baby changes and matures. Now that he’s a toddler and sleeps 11 hours without waking up, I’m horrified that I once rejoiced over four hours.

The full night uninterrupted started happening intermittently around 11 months, but it only started getting more consistent around 14 months.

 

[bellahouz]

@miltonjs It means staying in crib and not requiring intervention. My boy is a good sleeper and still wakes in the middle of the night. But he usually doesn’t complain and goes back to sleep on his own. He’ll move around, have some water, then roll back to sleep.