Is it really so strange that my 15mo doesn't STTN? - Page 2

[Aliyahsmommy]

My first child slept through the night at 3 months old, she was also bottle fed formula, and she slept in her own room in a crib. She actually preferred the crib to co-sleeping though as we were co-sleeping previous to the crib and she seemed so unsettled and never seemed to be able to get comfortable. I am positive she was sleeping through the night and not waking as we had a baby monitor, kept the bedroom doors open, her crib was on the same wall as our bed, and I am a very very light sleeper.

My second child is currently 26 months old and he has never slept through the night, except a couple months ago for one night when I was out with my hubby for our anniversary lol. Anyways he is still breastfed and co-sleeping.

I think that different factors contribute to sleeping through the night as do the personalities of different children. It is like comparing apples to oranges:)

[Youngfrankenstein]

Originally Posted by nstewart 

So you have those kids that we sleepless mammas are so jealous of!! A friend of mine's DS also was BF from birth and slept through the night rather early on (8 or 10 weeks, I believe).  She's the only one like this that I know though.

Well only the first three!!!  This last one STTN a handful of times in her 25 months of life.  I don't want to jinx it, but she has STTN 3 times in the last 4 days.  It would be wonderful to get used to that and let my body get back to being normal sleep-wise.

[memz]

My DD is 24 months old and doesn't STTN yet! So you are not alone!!

[Lupena]

I second normal! My 18 month old wakes up at least 8 times a night, 2-3 makes me want to cry with joy! It's all very stage-y. We co-sleep, too...

[mama2soren]

I don't know if this is reassuring to you or not, but my 44 month old (yes, 44) still doesn't sleep through the night!  And not for lack of trying on our part.  He just recently will stay in his own bed all night (hallelujah!), but still wakes at least once needing some help from one of us to get re-settled.  It's possible these people 1: got really lucky and had natural-born sleepers, 2: sleep trained them or are unresponsive to their night-wakings, or 3: are lying   I have been known to gloss over the truth when it comes to talking about DS's sleep, at least when I'm around people who I know would be negative about him not sleeping through the night.

[Taximom5]

When they're ready to sleep through the night, they will.  They won't before they're ready.

My first one didn't sleep through the night by himself until he was 8 YEARS old (he had autism and a lot of issues).  But he slept through the night just fine in our bed.

The way we got him to STTN by himself was to borrow the neighbor's border collie (whom our son adored). We showed the dog our son's bed and said, "you'll be sleeping here tonight," and I swear, the dog nodded.  And he slept in my son's arms all night. 

Our second baby STTN at 6 weeks.  I went back to work when he was 9 weeks, and he didn't sleep alone through the night again until he was 2. Well, actually, he didn't sleep alone then, either--we put him in bed with his brother, and they both STTN together.

Baby #3 also took years to STTN.

With all of them, we didn't stress about it.  We started putting them to bed in their own beds (we gave up on cribs early on and just put them on a futon on the floor) when they were about 1 1/2, read to them, lay with them til they fell asleep (or until we did ), and told them that they could get in bed with us in the middle of the night if they needed us, BUT NOT TO WAKE US UP.

Most mornings, we would wake up and all 3 of them would be in bed with us.

It was actually really nice. I miss those days. 

I could never understand why the pediatrician would get so fired up and insist "You have to teach them to put themselves to sleep."  WHY?  They put themselves to sleep just fine now--what's the rush? Is there a race?  Are they better human beings if they don't crave a parent's warm arms?  *I* don't like to go to sleep alone, why should I expect a baby to?

A side benefit:  our older kids would lie down with the younger ones if we were busy--WITHOUT BEING ASKED.

[YSeraphDR]

This thread makes me feel better. My sweet pea is 10 months old and wakes up 1-3/x per night.

The topic has come up in discussion with bottlefeeding moms, and when I mention that my baby

wakes up during the night, they have a way of giving each other a knowing look, like "that's what

you get for breastfeeding".

Ahhh, it's good to hear some fresh voices!

[Taximom5]

Originally Posted by YSeraphDR 

This thread makes me feel better. My sweet pea is 10 months old and wakes up 1-3/x per night.

The topic has come up in discussion with bottlefeeding moms, and when I mention that my baby

wakes up during the night, they have a way of giving each other a knowing look, like "that's what

you get for breastfeeding".

Ahhh, it's good to hear some fresh voices!

What we "get for breastfeeding" isc

the knowledge that we fed our babies something VASTLY superior to canned or powdered formula 

the knowledge that our babies are better protected against disease

the knowledge that that our babies have fewer allergies and are less likely to develop asthma

the knowledge that our babies are held in the loving arms of their mommies rather than in a cold cage  crib

the knowledge that we are less likely to develop breast cancer

Don't get me wrong--I believe that we are very lucky to have access to formula should we need it.  A few mothers really cannot produce milk, even with help from a good lactation consultant (although lousy advise from pediatrician is often responsible for mama wrongly believing that she can't produce enough milk).  Some have medical reasons that necessitate avoiding breastfeeding. Some have workplaces who do not support bf-ing mums. Adoptive mothers do occasionally manage to breastfeed but certainly shouldn't be expected to try.

But by and large, most of the bf-ing mums I know got MORE sleep than the formula-feeding mums I know.  Why?  Most of them slept with or near their babies, most of them slept WHEN their babies slept, and most of them felt comfortably connected with their babies.

That doesn't mean that formula-feeding mums are doomed or anything like that.  It's just a bit tougher for them.  If  you sleep when your baby sleeps, you usually end up with matching sleep cycles.  So when baby wakes to nurse, you are usually at a very light stage of sleep at that time, you wake easily, and you both fall back to sleep easily.

I'm not sure which I heard more often:
"You need to let that baby cry himself to sleep!"

or

"You need to wean that baby to a bottle of formula--you can't nurse forever, ya know!"

(I heard this several times when the baby was 6-9 months old.  Go figure.)

[mrstovar]

Interesting discussion. When people ask if my son, now 19 months old, sleeps through the night I always laugh and say, "Oh no he doesn't, none of us do. He wakes up during the night just like his daddy and mommy do."  People seem to realize that's it's not a big deal for us and so they don't persue the matter further, fortunately.