Anyone else not spend many sleepless nights with a baby?

[Renee in NC]

A comment on the "How many children" thread reminded me that I have been meaning to ask this.

 

Is there anyone else here that didn't experience very many sleepless nights when they had newborns (or older dc even)? I just didn't have many at all, even with 7 children! Sure, my newborns woke up. I'd change them, feed them, and put them back to bed. Or, with some, I'd feed them in bed with me and never get up. Either way, my awake time was not much at all and none of my babies stayed awake at night very much. I know dh never lost sleep from a baby at all - he never got up with me or took care of a baby at night, but I didn't need/want him to, either.

 

The only times I can remember was with #3 in the hospital at 10 months and they wanted him fed every 3 hours and he wasn't allowed to sleep with me. I did have to get up then, but even so I wasn't ever sleep deprived.

 

Is it because I can go to sleep so easily? (I can be wide awake, get in bed, and be asleep less than 5 minutes later.) I also know that some babies just don't sleep well, but I haven't had any of those. Hmmm...I don't need as much sleep as many others do, either (6 hours is usually good for me.) So, anyone else?

[Starr]

Dd slept from midnight to 6 am, was up for an hour or so and slept again with me for 2 more hours. No sleep deprivation at our house. :D

[Big Buckin' Longhorn]

My son was an excellent sleeper. Still is. Now I have to practically physically assault him to get him to wake up. :lol:

 

I was young and lived with my parents when he was born, so he slept in my room with me watching television and/or listening to the radio. He can sleep through ANYTHING (think loud rap music and the big light on). When he was a newborn, he did wake up regularly at around 4 hour intervals, but he would eat and usually fall asleep while nursing after about 15 minutes or so.

 

Now, nearly 18 years later, he cannot function without 8 to 10 hours of sleep, and frankly, on no-class days, he gets a LOT more than that . . . but that is another thread altogether. :tongue_smilie:

 

I sometimes hate to mention it when I see those harried sleep deprived new Moms. I was just lucky, I guess.

[MeaganS]

I've always wondered this too! Both my daughters slept through the night very early. My 3 month-old slept through the night at the hospital, even. About once a night I get up to put in a pacifier, and for the first 2 weeks or so, I maybe had a feeding, but both my 2 year-old and my 2 month-old have been angels when it comes to sleeping. They're even on the same schedule. Bed at 7, up at 7!

[Cherryanne]

Nope! Neither of my children were good sleepers as infants. I envy you all though.

[phathui5]

We've always co-slept and by some incredible miracle, I learned to sleep through nursing once they were big enough to latch themselves on. So having babies hasn't messed with my sleep too much.

[Dawn in OH]

My youngest, now 8 1/2 months old, was a great sleeper from the first day home until 6 months old. It was great, especially since his two other brothers were non-sleepers. They were up every hour and a half wanting fed, held, or to play. Neither would sleep anywhere but on me. I was a walking zombie.

 

I recall my second child (girl) sleeping more than her brothers, but nothing like my youngest.

[Mejane]

I slept with my infants, so I'd just roll over and nurse them, change them right there in the bed if they needed it, and go back to sleep. It was an awesome setup. Once they were old enough to sleep through, they did. :)

[gardening momma]

Mine slept with me, so I got lots of sleep.

[twoxcell]

I didn't know what sleep deprivation was until our number 4 was born:lol:. My first started sleeping most of the night at 3-4 months old, my second woke up to feed quite often but she always went straight back to sleep, and number 3 slept all night from 2 months old. Ds 2 is 14 months old and has never slept all night. My body is used to staying up late now, and it is hard to get out of bed before 9, but we are doing just fine.

Edited January 4, 2011 by twoxcell

[joannqn]

I didn't have sleep deprivation issues until mine started teething. Then it gets bad. My 17 month old has nights where she's up 6 times a night and nurses for an hour or more each time...which means I'm stuck with trying to sleep with her stuck to my breast. And I don't sleep well at all, especially in that position.

[MomOfOneFunOne]

Mine was born sleeping through the night. I even took her to the dr and asked him to check her out for it. I thought that if she didn't wake and nurse, she'd surely die. He said she'd wake if she got hungry enough. I thought he was crazy. I continued to wake her for about a week and then I decided to let her sleep but I'd keep vigil (she slept with us) and make sure she breathed all through the night.

 

I kept that up for about two nights.

 

She's still alive. And what she didn't eat then, she more than makes up for now. I imagine that by the end of this year, there will be pasta, broccoli, lemon, and raspberry shortages such as the world has never before known.

[Garga]

First was a co-sleeper. He was up every 2.5 hours. DH is a light sleeper and couldn't be woken every 2.5 hours because it would take him an hour to get back to sleep (so he had only 1.5 hours in row before he was woken again.) It was stopping him from being able to perform at work, so he had to sleep in a different room. This went on for 14 months. I managed to take naps in the day to catch up on the broken nighttime sleep.

 

For my second son I knew we couldn't live that way. So, he went into a crib and somewhat cried it out (he never cried longer than 10 minutes tops.) He had the normal nighttime feedings that breastfed babies need, but those were phased out at a normal time (couple of months? I can't remember when they can start going 6 or more hours.)

 

 

So, I've sort of had both and was SHOCKED that it was my co-sleeper that was worse than the crib sleeper.

[stripe]

I can't imagine the hassle of getting up to get a (screaming loud enough to wake me up) baby out of another room and roam around preparing a bottle. I didn't go that route. It worked much better for all concerned.

[MotherGoose]

Mine both slept great, and like some of you, I'd just sort of avoid the subject around other new moms. I do think Babywise helped me a lot: I didn't let them cry for long, but I also didn't go in at every whimper and gave them ample time to sort things out themselves. I discovered through this that tiny infants make a lot of noise I was not previously aware of, but it's not because they are unhappy. I was also VERY strict about a feeding schedule and encouraged them to have a full meal, not a snack when eating time came along. But they just need sleep by their very nature, I think, like their mom and dad! :) Thanks be to God!

[MorganClassicalPrep]

DD is almost 5, and I think I've had maybe.... 3-4 sleepless nights in her entire life (due to her at least, my own insomnia is another matter!) Those nights were when she is very, very sick.

She spent her first week of life in the NICU. Her first night home from the hospital I was still feeding her every three hours by order of the doctors, then I spent a week in the ICU. The first night I was home from the hospital we both went to sleep around 10, and when I woke up at 8 the next morning I was terrified to even look in the bassinet. She was just sleeping, and slept for another 30 minutes.

 

To this day, she still sleeps like that. Once she's out, she is O-U-T.

[littlebug42]

My experience may be different than others but mine slept fine once I got them out of my bed and my room. When they were in my room, every cough, sneeze or grunt would wake me up. Even after I moved them across the hall, I could still hear when they needed me without the aid of a baby monitor. When I did that, everyone slept better. I much preferred to wake up, go nurse if need be, and then everyone go back to bed. Neither of my kids wanted to be rocked either. They wanted to be put down so they could just go to sleep.

 

I have a friend right now with a 14 month old and she hasn't slept the night through since before he was born. I would never have survived.

[CourtneyChn]

No, not at all. None of mine have been good sleepers but I do envy you all.

[Sevilla]

I do not relate to the 'sleepless nights' complaint of new parents. I think it's because my babies were rarely 'awake' at night - they just stirred to nurse and then went right back to sleep. We coslept and because of that and learning to nurse laying-down within the first few weeks my sleep cycles synced up with the baby's and I usually stirred just enough in the dark to latch them on. I would change diapers in the bed and only use a flashlight. The few times I actually got up out of bed or turned on a light at night I felt MUCH more tired and exhausted - so I believe that staying in bed, in the dark, and moving as little as possible is why I didn't find sleep deprivation to be a key feature of parenting a baby.

 

(And my kids didn't sleep through the night early - they nursed every 2-4 hours at night until they were well over a year old).

[Suzanne in ABQ]

All three of mine slept through the night (which I define as 8 hours) by the time they were 7-9 weeks old. Then, they would wake for a feeding (generally around 4am for all three), I'd nurse them, and put them back in their crib (awake). I would go to the bathroom, and fall right back to sleep. They would sleep at least another 3-4 hours, and I would too! I don't remember feeling sleep deprived in general.

[Hoggirl]

Ds slept through the night at six weeks of age.

 

The Lord knows me so well! :lol:

[WarriorMama]

Both my kids had day and night mixed up for ages - they'd sleep for HOURS during the day and be up all night. With my first it was no huge deal - I would nap when she slept and it all worked itself out. With my second it was torture, because I couldn't sleep during the day, and my husband couldn't help much with nighttime stuff because he didn't get any leave and had to get up early for work.

 

That second child JUST started sleeping through the night (most of the time) a little while ago, around age two. :glare:

[kokotg]

First baby was magic sleep baby. Slept through the night by 8 weeks old, and was sleeping 12 hours at a stretch by 3 months. He slept in a crib because we had a tiny bedroom and a double bed at the time; I figured I'd bring him into bed with us when he woke up to nurse, but after a couple of nights in the crib...he stopped waking up to nurse. shrug. he needed his space.

 

Second baby was a nightmare. We co-slept for 7 or 8 months, until it became completely unbearable. The issue wasn't that he woke up at night; it was that he woke up and stayed up for hours, night after night after night. Until he was past 2. Actually, it kept going after that, but he weaned at just past 2, so he didn't usually wake ME up at night anymore. But we'd find him regularly, playing all by himself in the playroom at 3 in the morning, having turned on every light in the house on his way downstairs.

 

Third baby was pretty normal. He co-slept until he was 3 and woke up at night to nurse for probably a year to 18 months, but it was less and less frequent as he got older. He'd nurse and go right back to sleep, which seemed like no problem at all after what we went through with his brother.

 

These threads are always funny to me because there's always this mix of "my babies slept great because we co-slept!" and "my babies slept great because we sleep trained!" As someone with some of each kind of baby, I think it's mostly just dumb luck.

[LibraryLover]

Not sleepless as in 'pacing the floor' sleepless, but I remember being exhausted when my children were infants & toddlers. We share sleep, and I nurse until they wean. However, I was always wishing for nice stretches of uninterrupted sleep, which I didn't get until my youngest was about 2 & 1/2 or so. When I was pregnant with my last (4th, because who knows what the future holds? :)) I remember thinking, "I should sleep while I can." My youngest was not, and is not, a huge sleeper. (It's genetic, because she is just like her Daddy in that regard.)

[tabrizia]

Both of mine have co-slept and both have slept good. They both slept for 12 hours or so from about 2 months to 6 months when they started getting up once a night to nurse again. Since we were co-sleeping it didn't really keep me up though.

 

On the other hand I have been keeping myself up with many sleepless nights without the small ones help. I have insomnia, so often don't fall asleep till late, I also tend to wake at least 2 times in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, more now that I am pregnant, but on average when not pregnant it is around 2 times a night. I don't think I have had a solid 8 hours of sleep without waking myself up for over 5 years. The worst part is I really can't blame it on the small ones, because it really is all me, they slept great as infants, even with the occasional wakings, and need to night nurse till 13 months or so. It is all me.

[ElizaG]

We have four children and haven't had many sleepless nights. We did try to encourage regular sleep habits from the beginning, using some ideas from Dr. Weissbluth and an older book called "My First 300 Babies." The latter happens to be recommended by SWB; in fact, I first came across her web site when I was searching for reviews. It was comforting to learn that at least one clearly intelligent, apparently non-psychotic, nursing mother had found this method to be helpful. :001_smile:

[5forMe]

I have an 11 month old and I am exhausted. We co sleep because he refuses to sleep in the crib. He is a fairly light sleeper and wants to nurse the minute he is roused awake. At this stage in my life, I don't sleep as well while nursing.

 

Some of my kids were like this as babies and then I have had babies who preferred to sleep in their crib and would fall asleep on their own.

 

Funny how offspring from the same two parents can be so different.

[6packofun]

Some people get the right blessed combo of their own sleeping habits and their baby's and there you go. LOL

 

Our babies have all been pretty good sleepers, but I need at least 7 hours to function well AND I'm a light sleeper. So I didn't have the best comob...eh, no biggie. Some parents feel the need to feed every 2 hours and are OK with that choice. So many families, too little time for comparisons. LOL

[vettechmomof2]

Both of my children slept very well from early on.

[TravelingChris]

I had three and they all slept through the night very early and even when they were newborns, it was one feeding between 12 and 6- just how they were. I don't think I would have had three if each was a difficult baby especially as my arthritis came roaring back after each pregnancy.

[Random]

Three of my four babies were easy at night. I would nurse, change a diaper and put them back to bed without trouble or crying. I didn't spend many sleepless nights with those three.

 

But my second had some health problems and cried 24 hrs a day almost 7 days a week. It was awful! I was so tired and miserable. I don't remember much of his first two years.

[ChristusG]

No sleep deprivation here. Our babies/toddlers sleep with us in our bed. Very easy to nurse and go right back to sleep. My babies slept like angels right beside me.

[NanceXToo]

Both of my daughters slept through the night from the time they were around 6 weeks old on. When they did wake prior to that stage, it wasn't excessively often and they didn't KEEP me up.

 

My son on the other hand... he was well past a year before he slept through the night even ONCE and that one time was a fluke because the next night he was back to waking. Up until around 15 months of age, he was waking like 7-10 times a night. Then it went to 4-5, then 3-4, then 2-3, then 1-2, and he stayed at that 1-2 for a few years.

 

Around age 4 he started sleeping mostly through the night but it would not be abnormal for him to wake up once, call out for reassurance, and then fall back asleep.

 

Now at 5 he usually sleeps all night.

 

He was fun! :P

 

P.S. that first time he slept through the night I went out and got a cake and had them write "Ben slept through the night!" on it and threw myself a little party! :D

[FaithManor]

My babies were easy-peasy. R, slept through the night when she was exactly four weeks old and had never gotten up more than twice a night (11:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m.) before that. Her daddy liked to sleep propped up on pillows so she could lay on his chest; this may have had something to do with her sleeping so well.

 

Same thing with C, though I'd say that he was closer to eight weeks old when he stopped getting up in the night.

 

P, was three months old before he was an all nighter. However, he was lactose intolerant and had lots of belly aches. Our pediatrician diagnosed him as failure to thrive without first looking for any causes...idiot! We pinpointed that problem ourselves and then he settled right down. Until then, he was our most challenging, being up three times in an eight hour stretch. But, he didn't stay up a long time...just long enough to nurse and then basically, erp it all up or it seemed like ALL of it.

 

A, the last one...was very similar to C...good eater, good sleeper, no worries and he spent a lot of time on daddy's chest. After P was born, my health was shot and we weren't supposed to have anymore. "A" was a real shock and DH was pretty thankful I survived so he was determined to keep A from waking me up. I expressed milk and left it in the fridge. Though working a lot of hours, dh took the night feeding and gave him warmed up breast milk in a bottle. He took it like a trooper for his daddy and would only wake up about once per night for about two months and then, swaddled up quite tightly by his daddy with some classical music playing in the background, would sleep for a seven hour stretch and then wake up RAVENOUSLY hungry. I thought that child would eat me alive! LOL...the breast feeding only lasted four months.

 

So, I was really blessed with very easy babies.

 

Faith

[Carrie12345]

I was a sleep deprived zombie for a good 18 months or so when my girls were babies. I didn't have that problem with either of my first two boys. So far, my current newborn isn't too bad at night, but his daytime antics are leaving me exhausted!

[BamaTanya]

but my three boys!!! None of them slept thru the night until I weaned them at 1 yr, 1.5 yrs, and 2 yrs. We did co-sleeping with all 5 dc. Somehow, knowing Mom was right beside them, made my boys think night-time was for eating. I'm a light sleeper and could close my eyes and rest while they were nursing, but I couldn't SLEEP. And I was a working mom with the first three children. Those days were zombie days . . .

[Gratia271]

All three of my children were easy in this respect. The younger two are twins, so they required more attention. We still really didn't struggle with many sleepless nights.