My baby sleeps through the night

My baby sleeps through the night.

 

It seems to be that the bar that all parents want to conquer is to get their baby to sleep through the night. Today I want to have a closer look at what exactly it means when your baby sleeps through the night.

 

I have had so many clients who say to me ” my friend” or “one of the playgroup mums” or “antenatal group mums”… someone who’s baby is the same age … “is sleeping through the night.”

 
They tell me with tears in their eyes and trepidation in their voice as if they are doing something wrong or somehow failing. My response each time I hear this is the same.

 
What exactly does that mean to you ?...and what exactly does that mean to her? - regardless of the age of their baby.
Once we get into this discussion, the things I want to know is what exactly does this mean. I want to know does their baby feed during the night? If their baby is 6 weeks of age and not waking for a feed overnight, then I want to know what does that person consider is night time?

 
For some, if they get 6 hours sleep in one go at night, they consider that sleeping through the night.
For others, getting 12 hours between feeds is sleeping through the night. For yet others still, their baby may wake for feeds a number of times at night but because they go to sleep straight away without fuss- they consider that sleeping through the night. Of course there are some basic average ages for when a baby may sleep through the night. There certainly are some babies who sleep through the night without waking for a feed at an age earlier than most others. These are usually the odd one out rather than the norm.

 
So next time you are comparing notes with some else about baby sleep and you are feeling like maybe you are doing something wrong- remember to really ask the sticky questions and not just accept it on face value. Once you really ask specific questions such as “so your baby goes for 12 hours without a feed and without waking?” The answer you get may be very different.

 

Now you know when someone tells you "my baby sleeps through the night" that it may not all be as it seems.