Sleeping Through the Night
When can babies sleep through the night?
There are many reasons babies don't sleep well overnight. I don't only mean the holy grail of sleeping through from 10pm-7am, or 7pm-7am. Even good stretches of night sleep are expected once feeding is established.
So why won't they sleep well? Why won't they sleep more than 2h? or wake up several times from 3am onward?
Depending on your babies' age, there are a few things to look for that can transform your babies' night sleep...
Newborns:
Once weight gain is good, and babies are taking full feeds, observing 3h feeding windows will help your babies sleep better. This helps their digestive system rest between feeds, and also ensure they aren't waking up due to hunger. When baby snack frequently, they usually don't take very big feeds. They then get hungry shortly after, become gassy, and sleep is compromised.
4-6m:
There's a sleep regression at this age due to a second production of Melatonin (sleep hormone). Your babies' night sleep stretches shrink from 4-6h, to 2-4h. This is particularly hard on babies who aren't linking sleep cycles. Working on small self-settling skills is possible at this age, and it will help your babies start sleeping better during the day and the night.
There are 3 deep sleep cycles at the 1st part of the night, and 3 light sleep cycles at the 2nd part. Overtired babies cannot enter deep sleep, and thus wake up a lot before mid-night. Meanwhile light sleep cycles mean babies are more likely to wake up when they have strong sleep associations,
Sleep associations can play a big part in night wakes. Depending on how your babies are used to settle to sleep, they might need/want your assistance overnight when they wake up. If they solely rely on feeding/rocking/tapping/bouncing etc to settle, they are more likely to call for you when they get up, instead of trying to settle back to sleep.
Also, feeding more than every 4h overnight will lead to multiple wake ups due to an overstimulated digestive system, and expectancy to feed. Therefore, feeding more than twice overnight will lead to more night wakes.
6-12m:
Starting solids affects babies' sleep structure. They now rely on nutrient intake not only from milk, but from other food sources too. Make sure your baby is having enough protein and carbs in their diet.
Developmental milestones, separation anxiety and dropping 3rd nap too soon set sleep regressions off at this age.
Observing age-appropriate wake windows (2.5h+), ensuring morning nap is shorter than big afternoon nap and starts after 9am, and keeping 3rd nap until 8-9m, will help set you up for success at night too.
When babies sleep too much or not enough during the day, their night sleep is affected. Working on self-settling is a game-changer after 6m, and can help you and your babies get the sleep you all need.
12m+:
Keeping morning nap in place until 15m is important. Toddlers need a 30min nap (starting after 9:30am) to help them make it till the 12:30/1pm afternoon nap. Dropping morning nap too early results in too early morning wake-ups, too early mid-day nap, and overtired toddlers at bedtime.
Also, ensure morning nap isn’t too long. If morning nap starts too early and lasts too long, mid-day nap won’t be long enough, and your toddlers will get to bedtime overtired.
Timely bedtime around 6:30-7pm is ideal for this age (can be a bit later for older toddlers). Too late bedtime leads to multiple wake-ups before mid-night, and too early morning wake-ups.
If your toddlers have only 1 nap, it’s important they sleep enough so they won’t be too tired by bedtime, yet not too much. Too long afternoon nap essentially cuts into night time sleep. Bed time will then start too late, toddlers will struggle to sleep well over-night, and may wake up too early.
Toddlers usually need between 1.5-2h until they are 2.5yo, then 45m-1h, and nap is usually gone by 3/3.5yo.
In short…
There are a few factors to consider with sleeping through the night, but in general babies over 6 months old who have started solids, consume adequate amount of protein and carbs, and weigh over 6.5kg, can start sleeping through from 10pm till morning (6:30-7am).
If your babies are over 6 months old and still feeds a lot overnight, it will be a good idea to start introducing more solids and offer more milk during the day, so they will consume most of their daily calorie intake during the day, and leave nighttime for sleep.
Observing 4h feeding windows overnight is key in supporting good stretches of sleep. Past 6m, babies wake for their 10-11pm feed naturally. After that, they should wait at least 4h before another feed is offered. If they are eating well during the day, they can sleep till morning. And from 8m, once solids are established, babies can go without any overnight feeding (given their weight is good, and there are no medical considerations).
Another reason your babies might not be sleeping through is that they sleep too much during the day, and/or at “wrong” times of the day. Babies need a certain amount of sleep over 24hrs. If they don’t sleep through the night, it might be because they lack the sleep drive to do so, they sleep too little during the day and are overtired, or they don’t sleep enough during particular times of the day.
Overtired and under-tired babies cannot sleep well, neither during the day nor at night.
When baby’s sleep structure fosters age-appropriate sleeping times and wake windows during the day, and adequate amount of food (milk and'/or solids) has been established, good night sleep is achievable.
Read about biological sleep windows to optimise your babies’ sleep during the day, and at night.
Sleeping through the night means sleeping past 6am… If your little ones wake up before then, here is a quick guide to fix their early morning wake-ups.
Book your sleep consultation package today to help your babies start sleeping better, or find out more in a free discovery call below.