When do babies sleep through the night? This is the question that every exhausted parent asks themselves in those early weeks of sleep deprivation with their new baby.
Developmentally, babies are able to sleep through the night (7:00pm to 7:00am) from around six months old, but sadly there is no magic answer to this question, after all every baby is different as is everyone’s parenting style.
There is no right or wrong answer and it’s important that you decide which path suits your family dynamic best.
Parents and healthcare professionals can sometimes be divided on their opinions of baby led parenting (feeding on demand) as some are essentially not really looking for any kind of routine whereas others would prefer some structure and routine for their baby. There is no right or wrong answer here and it’s important that you decide which path suits your family dynamic best.
In my experience, I firmly believe that babies love routine as much as we do in our everyday lives and finding the right balance between feeding sleeping and wake time is a positive step towards helping your baby sleep through the night. This can be achieved by introducing some structure from day one. However, it’s important to remember that if you would like to breast-feed then for the first couple of weeks you need to feed every couple of hours to help build up your milk supply.
Five positive steps to help your baby successfully sleep at night:
- Include a ‘dream feed’ (around 10:30pm) as part of your baby’s routine.
- Swaddle your baby from birth and continue to do this for 10-12 weeks.
- Encourage you baby to nap during the day.
- Low lighting and voices between 7:00pm and 7:00am.
- Three-hourly feeds during the day and four-hourly at night.
We all love sleep and waking up refreshed and ready to start the next day and your baby is no exception!
