How long till STTN?

[ShwarmaQueen]

So, DS is now cosleeping with DH. We tried the Dr. Jay method and I just couldn't do it, so I moved to the guest bed. He's still waking 2-5x per night and DH is able to pat him back to sleep. DH has his Spring semester of grad school starting in a week so we were hoping DS would be sleeping more solidly with me being out of the bed, but so far that hasn't been the case. We tried DS sleeping by himself and that just made him hysterical, so DH volunteered to cosleep with him so I could sleep at night (I was having major mood issues because of the lack of sleep) and he says he doesn't mind.

Will his body learn soon to sleep through the night, since he's not getting milk when he awakens? DD didn't sleep through the night until she was closer to 2, but I wasn't sure if that was usual or not. 

[Louisep]

STTN around 2 seems normal to me. My DS is almost two and most nights wakes at least once but he needs much less comforting to go back to sleep. We still cosleep so I don't know what he'd do in his own bed.

We night weaned at 12 months and dropped to one nap and I think DS's sleep had a very minimal improvement. By 14 months his last teeth came through and that's when we saw the big difference. Also, around this time, DH and I started alternating sleeping with him because I, like you, was beyond exhausted. We still do it to this day - we rotate sleeping with him. We'd probably all be back in the family bed together by now except for the fact that I have pretty bad sleep habits from all the nightwaking and DH's snores and movement really keep me awake.

Anyway, maybe you two can trade off nights once your DH starts grad school? The other thing we do is the one who sleeps with him gets a lie in in the morning.

[sillysmile]

Our DD (24 months) has been nightweaned for a long time, but still wakes during the night. On very rare nights just once, but sometimes 5-6 times. Not sure what makes the difference, but she is slowly but surely sleeping longer stretches.

[Baby_Cakes]

Around 2 seems about right to me.  DD never STTN, ever, not even as a fluke, until 26 months.  Now, she does it on occasion but usually wakes once and I just need to go to her, help her lie down, and she's back out again.

ETA we nightweaned at 14-15 months.  It helped the frequency of wakeups a bit, but didn't eliminate them completely.

[ShwarmaQueen]

Louisep- I'm worried that if we take turns at night I won't have the willpower to 'say no' and it will only make things harder for us- a bit of regression, you know? I think I'll give him a couple months without me at night before I go back to co-sleeping with him. It has taken me a week to be able to sleep through the night, even without him next to me because, like you, the messed up sleep cycle- as a result I've been downing sleepy teas in the evening and limiting caffeine to mornings. I still wake up when I hear him fussing (sometimes before)- even through 2 closed doors- mamma instinct is strong stuff!

Thanks for all the replies. At least I have an estimate of two years, and if it happens sooner than we'll be happy, but we won't be expecting it sooner. I know it's really a matter of development.