Baby Sleeping Through the Night
Posted in Tipster Tuesday and tagged with Baby, Daughter, Schedule, Sleeping on 05/18/2009 08:00 pm by lori
I have been meaning to do this post for about a year, but I’ve put it off because I know it is a sensitive subject for many moms. But to you who are not mommies yet and need a plan before your baby’s born, I hope I can help!
Jonathan and I were blessed with a daughter who started sleeping through the night at 5 weeks. Author, Dr. Cathryn Tobin (I haven’t read her books) says that, “When a baby begins to smile, it’s the perfect time to encourage healthy sleep habits.” And that’s when it started working for her. At five weeks and two days old, she slept 6.5 hours. Three nights later, she started sleeping 8 hours, and at 2 months old, she slept 9 hours.* She slept 10 hours at 11 weeks, and right before her 4 month birthday, she started sleeping 12 hours. And ever since then, she has been sleeping 12-13 hours at night.
Here are some things that worked for us:
- We kept her on a schedule. I made sure she got at least 7 feedings in during the day (after she was 2 months, she had 6 feedings), so that she could get that good stretch at night without waking up hungry. So, I fed her about every 2-3 hours. I had a log/feeding chart that kept track of when she ate, how much I pumped, how long she slept, how many pees and poopy diapers she had, and if she cried going down.
I wouldn’t let her stay asleep after she ate. Many times, she would fall asleep while she nursed, but after she was finished nursing, I’d wake her up. (Sounds horribly hard to do, I know). Then, we’d have play time for about an hour.
Then, I’d put her in her bassinet (never did co-sleeping) to nap, while she was drowsy but awake. In other words, I wouldn’t rock or nurse her to sleep. We swaddled her the first 4 months so that she wouldn’t wake herself up by her arms twitching, and I think this helped a lot.
Then, she would either wake up after an hour of napping, or I’d wake her up to eat when the hour was up.- Then, I’d repeat #2-4 until her very last feeding of the night. Then, instead of keeping her awake for playtime after eating, we’d put her right to bed.
We learned that we needed to take the time to teach Abigail how to fall asleep on her own, so that when/if she would wake up in the middle of the night, she could self soothe herself back to sleep. Author Suzy Giordano (I never read her book, but I found her quote, and it made sense) says that rocking your child to sleep or driving them to sleep “is creating habits that will keep your baby from learning to go to sleep on their own.”
Now, don’t go thinking Abigail was the miracle child because we dealt with plenty of weeks of inconsolable crying during the day (I don’t like to use the term colic), and she also had Gastroesophogeal Reflux Disease. But we really owe this to hard work and lots of prayer and God’s grace! Also, at least eight couples told us about how this scheduling worked to get their babies sleeping through the night around 2 months. And since Abigail was born, we’ve told a few people about this, and it has worked for four babies.
Next week, I’ll tackle what we did when Abigail cried, being put to bed. If you want more information sooner than that, just leave a comment, and I’ll get in touch with you.
UPDATE: I did a part 2 to this post here, entitled “What if Baby Cries”
*And during this time, most nights, we would wake her up so we could get all of her feedings in during the day.
**Now, in no way am I telling you “What you are doing is bad or wrong.” I’m just sharing our experiences because I keep getting asked, “How did you do it!?”
Related Post: Help Newborns Stop Crying
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May 19th, 2009 at 3:11 am
Thanks for sharing your sleep story. We did a different approach and it did take longer for our little one to sleep on her own but she sleeps great ( 12-13 hours) and puts herself to sleep. We did co-sleep and I nursed her to sleep… This worked well for our family.
Many of my friends used an approach similar to yours and it was good for them as well.
Blessings!
Donna ~Blessed Nest’s last blog post..Greening Up the neighborhood
May 19th, 2009 at 10:14 am
Donna- Thanks for stopping by, leaving a comment and sharing your experience. Isn’t it great when are kids let us sleep at night! Glad your little one complies!
Lori’s last blog post..Baby Sleeping Through the Night
May 19th, 2009 at 3:06 pm
Wow that is amazing, though ours didn’t sleep through the night until around 4-6 months, now they are perfect sleepers, easily sleeping 12-13 hours each night, and no fuss going to bed. We just lay them in their cribs, with their blankets and paci’s and they might play for a bit but eventually go to sleep at 7:30 and easily sleep until 7:30 the next day or earlier if I have to go to work. I strongly believe in early bed times. Glad your have a great sleeper also, and great techniques.
Jenna @ Newlyweds’s last blog post..Eggplant Parmesan
May 19th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
Jenna- I can’t imagine how much harder it must have been to do sleep training with twins! Good job, and if I get twins the next time around (they run in the family), I’ll get with you for more advice. Anyway, I’m glad you’ve got good sleepers, too.
Lori’s last blog post..Baby Sleeping Through the Night
May 19th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
Thanks for stopping by my blog. And we have had very similar experiences with both of our children. We basically did “Babywise” but I wasn’t super strict. To this day, my in-laws and parents can’t believe that our littlest one goes down every night without being rocked. Co-sleeping made my husband very nervous so we really never did that. I think it was about 8 weeks that I would say that our kids slept through the night. My daughter is now 20 months old and we put her to bed awake every night and she goes to sleep for at 12-13 hours with little or no problems. I am all for scheduling. It has always worked for us and I am glad to see it worked for you as well. It makes for a much more pleasant experience.
Gretchen’s last blog post..Kitchen Tip Tuesday . . . Notes from an OAMC class
May 19th, 2009 at 8:50 pm
Great tips. Both of my babies slept through the night at 6 weeks with a gradual progression in length of time up to 10-12 hours. Now that they are 3 and 5, they still sleep 10-12 hours.
Megan’s last blog post..Old Navy: $1 Flip Flops on Saturday, May 23rd
May 19th, 2009 at 9:01 pm
Gretchen- Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. I’m glad it worked for you, too! Yes, it is so nice to put Abby to bed with a smile on all our faces (like husband and I did awhile ago) and her fall asleep and stay asleep on her own.
Megan- Thank you for your comment; they’re always welcome. Good to know that kids can keep up a good sleeping stretch when they get older.
Lori’s last blog post..Baby Sleeping Through the Night
May 19th, 2009 at 11:03 pm
We did something similar with our 3 kids and they all slept through the night around 2 months old. I think the keys are: 1st the one you said of keeping them awake for a while after feedings during the day and 2nd: Our pediatrician said a baby who is a healthy weight at 6 weeks old no longer needs to eat in the middle of the night and they are just waking up from habit because they are used to eating at that time. He recommended feeding the baby one last feeding at 10 or 11PM and then not again until 5 or 6AM. If baby woke during the night, you can comfort them, give them a paci, etc. but not feed them. We did this and after a few nights the babies stopped waking for those 2 and 3AM feedings!
It Feels Like Chaos’s last blog post..Works for me Wednesday: Best Ice Packs
May 20th, 2009 at 8:09 am
You know, we were hardcore with Jon Thomas-and he was sleeping through the night (12 hours) by 10 weeks old. With Isaac, I wasn’t, and I’m STILL paying for it! He’s 19 months old now and it is RARE if he sleeps through the night. I would always rush into his room and comfort him if he was crying because I didn’t want him to wake up his brother (their rooms are right down the hall from each other). I regret that decision every single night (about 2 a.m.). We’re trying to change it, but it’s been extremely hard. Good for you!
May 20th, 2009 at 11:13 am
It Feels Like Chaos- Thank you for your comment! Good point about babies not needing the feeding– I will cover that next week. I’m glad you could get all of your 3 kids doing this. Great job!
Allison- I totally see what you mean about not wanting Isaac to wake up JT, and I’m sorry Isaac is keeping yall up. You’re a brave momma. So, you’ve taught me to still be hardcore w/ the second baby (whenever he/she may come). Thank you.
Lori’s last blog post..Baby Sleeping Through the Night
May 20th, 2009 at 6:59 pm
Kate was technically sleeping through the night at 6 weeks also. It was much better at 8 weeks when she was sleeping about 10 hours and I got a full night’s rest. The schedule is great for us!!
September 1st, 2009 at 8:51 am
Kaylee just turned 2 months, and is a formula fed baby, she now weighs 10.3 lbs. During the day she is eating 4-5oz every 3-4 hours. There are nights that she will go down between 8-10pm and sleep until 4-5am. Then she gets back in the pattern of waking up every 3 hours to eat. We are now going on the 7th night of this pattern and as you can imagine I am going crazy from lack of sleep. After I feed her at night I have been rocking her until she is asleep, because it seems if I put her in her crib before she is totally asleep, she wakes up. Am I supposed to let her cry? If so for how long? Please any tips or advice would be wonderful.
September 1st, 2009 at 9:49 am
@ Amanda- Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. I’m glad you’re seeking out ways to help your baby (and you) get better sleep! I’ll send you an email in response to your questions, but you’ll find more information on my continuation post of this one, here: http://www.thetowells.com/2009/05/what-if-baby-cries/ .
October 29th, 2009 at 11:07 pm
Hey, Lori! Great post! We just wanted to say that we started Maggie and Melanie both on Babywise from the moment they arrived, and it has been such a blessing. Living in limbo for the first half of Melanie’s life on three continents, we felt so blessed that our children (and we) were getting enough sleep to deal with training, furlough, and a new missionary lifestyle. We’re big fans of a schedule that is a blessing to the whole famiy!
October 30th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
@Casey- Thanks. I’m glad y’all found it to work for y’all, too. Yes, schedules are wonderful!