STTN

I know it all depends on your baby and every baby is different. But when did your Breastfed baby STTN???

I had a hard time breastfeeding my first so at 2 months we did formula and at 3.5 months she STTN!!!

My girls are going to be 3 months in a coupple of days and I hope by 4 or 5 months they STTN.

Do Breastfed babies STTN as soon as Formula fed ones?? Just curious to know what you Mom's have experienced.. TIA!!!

 

You are right, it depends on the baby. My twins were (still are) horrible sleepers. DD actually was sleeping through the night (8pm - 7am) at about 2 months but then got a cold and it never went back to that way.
My current 'baby' basically has been getting up once a night since birth (7pm - 8am). Everyone has been exclusively breastfed. There is no way of knowing when it will happen. I will say though at 4 months, they are still needing nourishment during the night, if they are still waking, and breastmilk is more easily digested. Good luck.

 

one slept through at 6 months & the other at 7 months. but honestly, how you feed your baby has little impact on when they STTN. there are moms on here who's BF babies slept through at 3 - 4 months old & others who formula fed and are still getting up with their LOs at 9+ months.

 

Mine have gotten varying amounts of breastmilk, but at 11.5 months old. They get mostly formula (approx. 10oz.), cow milk (approx. 6 oz.), and breastmilk (3 oz) in that order, and they STTN last night, which is the first time since 8.5 months old.

At 8 months I did CIO, and the STTN for about 2 weeks, and then the waking restarted. They stopped nursing shortly after that, which really caused my supply to drop. Even though they got more and more formula, they didn't sleep.

In my experience, it doesn't matter solids, formula, breastmilk, or CIO. None of those things made my boys STTN. Well CIO worked for 2 weeks until they started walking--may or may not be related. Also when we initially did CIO, they would wake at 5AM. Ugh!!! That's actually why I decided not to do CIO again because I'd rather get up once and have them wake between 6-7.

Lately, it's not unusually for one of them to STTN, but last night was the first time they both STTN and didn't wake until after 6AM.

 

I had a baby who was mainly bottlefed expressed breast milk and she was STTN by 6 months (thank god for her!) her brother on the other hand didnt STTN until *I* decided we were going to nightwean at 13 months of age!


STTN is a developmental milestone just like rolling over or learning to walk.

 

I asked the same thing at the age your twinkies are. My girls were 6.5 months when they finally started consistently STTN (before that one or the other would for a few weeks at a time). I let them CIO at that point. Oh, and by STTN I mean 11 hours. They did sleep 5-7 hours by about 4 months on exclusively breast feeding. My singleton did it earlier, but he was full term and didn't have another baby waking him up all night. I have read and do believe that studies do not support FF babies vs. BF babies STTN earlier. BM does digest faster and that seems to be where the assumption comes from, but after a certain age (3 months) waking is not tied to hunger. Who knows?

I do know that adding formula is a slippery slope for your breast-milk supply, but it's not a bad thing if you're comfortable with it. So, I guess I'm saying do what's best for you, but don't have any high expectations of formula being the answer to STTN. It hasn't been the case for many mothers that I've read about on TS.

By the way, you're so great...BF twins this long and your first two for those critical first few months!! WAY TO GO MAMA!

 

Totally different for each child. Sage STTN at 3 1/2 weeks old, when I left her bundled and buckled in her carseat one night after being at one of our folks' house. That was amazing to me, so I buckled her in there everynight, and put the carseat in the bassinet next to my bed. That worked for a couple months, actually. Then she got big enough to get her arms out and waving and woke herself up. She didn't STTN again until 15 mo old. But by that, I do mean sleeping all night. She was getting a good 6-7 hour stretch in there long before that. Both of my boys were well over a year before they totally STTN. Sabrina was horrid at napping. She wouldn't nap unless she was held. But she'd sleep and sleep at night. I don't remember exactly when, though. Sydney was a great napper! But didn't sleep well at night, wanting to nurse all night long. I'm ok with nursing on demand, even at night, if I can have them in bed with me because I don't have to wake up too much. It was harder w/ 2, but the co-sleeper helped to keep them right next to me. So I never really worried too much about forcing a schedule, and some of my kids have just naturally worked into one easier than others. But I bet if you ask for advice in the FY forum, you'll get a ton on ways to help your babies STTN, even BF. Personally, if they're small at all, I wouldn't push it at their age. I think the extra nutrients they're getting at night really help. If they're above average for weight, then it's less of a big deal. That's been one of the things that's helped me decide with my children.

 

I read about babies sttn and truly cannot fathom it. How???? Did you work at it or did it just happen? None of my kids has slept through the night (7 hours say) before they were oh, I don't know, three years old? And only then because we worked at it and talked about it and practiced what to do when you wake during the night and on and on with tears involved from everyone. Currently both my twins are up between 3 and 7 times a night. Each. They are almost two.

I'm jealous and angry that I can't get more than 40 minutes sleep at a pop!

 

QUOTE(Username @ May 18 2009, 05:21 PM) [snapback]1318201[/snapback]
I read about babies sttn and truly cannot fathom it. How???? Did you work at it or did it just happen? None of my kids has slept through the night (7 hours say) before they were oh, I don't know, three years old? And only then because we worked at it and talked about it and practiced what to do when you wake during the night and on and on with tears involved from everyone. Currently both my twins are up between 3 and 7 times a night. Each. They are almost two.

I'm jealous and angry that I can't get more than 40 minutes sleep at a pop!

Both, sort of. I already posted about how different my kids have been. But at some point, usually after they're a year old (like 15+ months), we just gradually don't get up for them when they fuss. If they totally wake up and are hysterical crying or really need help for something, then of course we do. But as they get older and can be reasoned with, we talk to them about it, rub their backs a little without getting them up, stay away longer, etc, until they just don't wake up regularly anymore. We did separate our twins from about 5 mo to 2yo because they'd wake each other up. Now they share a room with their big sister. Sabrina does have a tendancy to wake up if she goes to sleep in her own bed, and just climbs in bed with Sage and goes back to sleep. I've never read the books about it (or did CIO), but I know if you need specifics there are lots of options... ask in FY or 2-4 forums.

 

QUOTE(Username @ May 18 2009, 01:21 PM) [snapback]1318201[/snapback]
I read about babies sttn and truly cannot fathom it. How???? Did you work at it or did it just happen? None of my kids has slept through the night (7 hours say) before they were oh, I don't know, three years old? And only then because we worked at it and talked about it and practiced what to do when you wake during the night and on and on with tears involved from everyone. Currently both my twins are up between 3 and 7 times a night. Each. They are almost two.

I'm jealous and angry that I can't get more than 40 minutes sleep at a pop!


You might try The No-Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley--I found it had a lot of helpful, gentle ideas in it. Some things I had done with my older kids and forgotten, some I hadn't tried yet. It's got stuff to help with every situation and age, whether you're co-sleeping with a four-month-old or working with older toddlers. Three months ago I was up several times a night with my then seven-month-olds and now I'm down to a dreamfeed and DS waking one other time, and I'm working up to night weaning him if possible. (I'm not personally always opposed to CIO because sometimes--especially with my girls--it was just a couple of nights of a couple of minutes crying. However, it hasn't worked that way for either of my boys, and I'm not going to let a child cry for hours every night, no matter what their age.)

 

QUOTE(Username @ May 18 2009, 11:21 AM) [snapback]1318201[/snapback]
I read about babies sttn and truly cannot fathom it. How???? Did you work at it or did it just happen? None of my kids has slept through the night (7 hours say) before they were oh, I don't know, three years old? And only then because we worked at it and talked about it and practiced what to do when you wake during the night and on and on with tears involved from everyone. Currently both my twins are up between 3 and 7 times a night. Each. They are almost two.

I'm jealous and angry that I can't get more than 40 minutes sleep at a pop!


we started sleep training the girls at about 3.5 months. in our case it was a fairly involved process & we did use CIO - it worked well for us, although i know a lot of parents aren't comfortable with the idea. anyway, for me, it seemed like it was a combination of the sleep training & the girls just maturing to a point where they were capable of sleeping through to get to that point. and there are still nights when they wake up & i'll go to them, but it's usually the exception.

 

By the doctor's definition, 9 weeks. They were sleeping 6-8 hours straight at that point (7PM - 1AM, sometimes as late as 3AM, then back to sleep until 7AM). My guys were exclusively breastfed. They kept their one early AM feed until 11 months, though, so if you mean 12 hours, that would be when it happened consistently. I didn't use any sleep training techniques.

 

My twins were horrible night time sleepers. I don't think they consistently STTN until they were 3. Sersiously. But Amelia is a wonderful sleeper! SHe's only 2.5 months and last night slept from 10p to 5 am!!! She consistently sleeps 5 to 7 hour stretches. So I think in the next couple months she will go even longer.

 

Ours are 8 months, and on a combination of BM, solids, mostly formula at this time. They are still not STTN, the longest we get is 4-5 hours, rarely. But it's getting better each month... GL!

 

My boys started to STTN at about 4 months old. I exclusively breastfed for night feeds, but never had the supply to EBF so they got supplemented with formula during the day. Per my ped, I figured out how much food they'd need over a 24 hour period and fed it to them in 12. Then they slept the other 12 hours.

Sounds too simple, but it worked for us. I secretly think I'm just really lucky.

Now if they wake during the night I either wait for them to self sooth (90% of the time) or go in to comfort them. I never offer food after they're down for the night because I know they're not hungry.

 

Jackson slept through around 10 months, and Jacob at 11 months. Jacob had reflux, so I think that had a lot to do with it for him.

 

We swaddled and they slept 8 hours by 2 months old... we enjoyed great sleep until they started teething at 6 months... then it was a rough couple of weeks/month until I got their daytime naps limited and dropped the 3rd nap and I did start pumping and supplementing with an EBM bottle at 7pm for night time. We finally at about 10-11 months dropped the last EBM bottle and they STTN 11-12 hours. now it about 7p to 7a... but we started some teething again... ugh!

 

If it's any consolation, I recently heard about a study suggesting that one of the reasons why BF babies have lower incidences of cot death is because they DON'T sleep quite as soundly as formula fed babies and they do wake more easily

QUOTE
Infant sleep studies have shown that breastfed infants are more easily aroused than formula-fed infants, which may be an alternative mechanism for the protective effect of breastfeeding against SIDS.
.

Just on a pro-BF note, the researchers concluded
QUOTE
This study shows that breastfeeding reduced the risk of SIDS by 50% at all ages throughout infancy.

 

my bf'd babies still don't...


gl!

 

What is this sleep you speak of? j/k!

My 8 month olds still don't.... nights tend o be a haze and I'm not 100% sure what goes on. Miles tends to stay asleep longer it seems and Bob seems to be up ever hour or two hours... something like that. I had hoped they'd STTN sooner, but once I accepted that they weren't I was a lot less stressed about me losing sleep. You can't really plan when they're going o hit these stages or milestones, just take it as it comes, I say.

 

This question just makes me laugh My oldest didn't STTN until he was about 3, DD1 was about 2, and the small ones still are up several times. Our goal for them is about 2 years old, but they need to start sleeping in their own bed first For me it was always easier just to get up and nurse them back to sleep than attempt any kind of sleep training (until they got older, about 18 months or 2 years or so, depending on the child).

 

8mo old I did CIO, it took one night and only one of my girls woke that night.

I have had many sleep issues with them, like early wakings and nap boycotts, FREQUENTLY! :gah:

 

I BF exclusively, and at about 3 months our babies starting consistently sleeping from about 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. (sometimes as late as 7!). Now if they wake in the night, feeding them is the last thing we will do--usually they just need a minute or two of soothing to get them back to sleep.

 

Z started STTN at about 7 months, then teething continued. These days she does pretty good
R nope, never has she still has a night time feed about three hours after she has been laid down. A little dream feed and back still sleep she goes.
best wishes

 

Mine started at 3 months. Now they are 5 months and they sleep about 9-10 hours at a time (8:30-6:30). Sometimes they do wake in the early morning hours. I soothe then and rarely have to do a night feed. They are mostly breastfed.

 

My breastfed babies did not sleep through the night until they were 28 months old.

 

8mo old! CIO, one night and they have been STTN since. They had been sporadically STTN anyway so I knew they could do it.