Sleeping through the night, every tired parent's dream! Raise your hand if you had a penny for every time another parent asked you if your child sleeps through the night...ME too! It's the golden trophy and what most families aspire to. So, how do you do it?!
Your friends baby slept through from 8 weeks old, your sister in law's baby has to be woken every morning or she'll keep sleeping! You're sitting there wondering when it will happen for you or if that ship has sailed entirely.
So what does sleeping through the night actually mean?
It can mean different things to different people. That's right, most families have different versions of what this means to them. Let me tell you that there is no right or wrong answer to this! If your little one is sleeping a stretch of 6 to 8 hours overnight they are technically "sleeping through the night" according to most research. If your little one is waking once per night for a feed, they too are also "sleeping through the night". For most, this is not quite what they imagined when they heard this term. Most refer to the saying as sleeping right through from bedtime until the morning. And you know what? Most parents sit in this exact same boat!
Many people like to comment that babies shouldn't be sleeping through the night, and do you know what? NOBODY sleeps all night! All of us rouse through different sleep cycles through the night.
I know I know, you want the real juice on how to get that golden bedtime to morning stretch. So let's focus on the areas that you as parents can control and how they play a big factor in our little one's sleeping right through from bedtime to morning or just gaining longer stretches of sleep overnight.
With babies, it does take a while for them to learn this skill, but some longer stretches of sleep can definitely happen if all the parent-controlled factors line up for them correctly. A baby’s ability to sleep through the night depends on many factors – their daily milk and food intake, their sleep environment, how much day sleep they’ve had, whether they’re able to settle and re-settle themselves to sleep (in babies older than 4 months)... and more!
However when we talk about babies sleeping through the night we can get comments like "you shouldn't be letting your baby sleep that long, you should be waking them for a feed." And yes, for some babies this is true. For other babies that have been given the all clear from their medical team and they are gaining weight, then there's no reason to wake them. They will wake on their own when they are hungry.
Disclaimer - we're NOT saying you should expect your baby to sleep through the night from a young age. Some babies are capable of this, if everything is lined up just right, but most babies will still wake for 1-2 night feeds until they are well-established on solids, which may not be until closer to 8 months old.
There are many factors that contribute to your baby sleeping well at night, some are within your control and some are not, for example, your baby's age, size or developmental ability.
Let’s take a look at the factors you DO have control over, in the hope that it might help you and your baby towards a full night sleep.
Making sure your little one has a full tummy! Calorie intake across the day with milk feeds and/or solids (if age appropriate) play a big role in overnight sleep. We want to be ensuring they are having full feeds and a wide range of nutrients in solids (protein, iron, zinc etc). Remember that most babies will still have 1-2 milk feeds per night until well-established on solids and this is totally okay! If your little one is over 4 months old and a good weight then you can look to replace any wakes overnight with your responsive settling method.
A good wake to sleep balance across the day! Having too much or too little day sleep can impact the hours obtained overnight. If they've had too much day sleep then these extra zzz's will steal from the overnight ones. If they've had too little then we can encounter false starts and more frequent wakes due to an increase in cortisol levels which can act like an adrenaline in our little ones.
Room temperature - too hot or too cold? The optimal temperature for sleep is between 18 and 22 degrees celsius. Ensuring they have the right clothing and sleep layers (with recommended TOG ratings) will help in ensuring they aren't too warm and can maintain a comfortable temperature overnight. From approximately 3am onwards we see a drop in temperature which can lead to some early wakes with our little ones being too cold. Using a sleep sack or sleep suit at night are great ways in ensuring your little one stays cosy and also balancing temperature in those warmer months.
Sleep associations! Our little ones thrive off predictability to ensuring they have their relevant sleep associations around them will help in making sure they go to sleep and stay asleep. Is it white noise playing, their favourite comforter (if around 7m of age), their sleep sack, dummy etc? These sleep associations are great if your little one is falling asleep with them as once they wake and have the same props right there, they can seek comfort in re-settling themselves back to sleep.
A dark room! I get so many questions around "how dark should my baby's room be?" Let's just say that you shouldn't be able to read a book in there with the blinds/curtains shut. The reason for having a dark room? Darkness is key in producing the sleepy hormone, melatonin. The hormone helps them to fall asleep and stay asleep. If their room is too light and they wake up after a sleep cycle and see the light shining in then it can stimulate the wakeful hormone, serotonin, and signal to our little one's that it is time to get up. You can look at a night light if your little one is at an age where they are afraid of the dark. A red night light is proven to have no disadvantage to an restorative sleep.
How does your little one fall asleep? If your little one is being fed to sleep, rocked to sleep, patted to sleep then they will look for this each time they wake up. It is not to say that any of the above is wrong - because it is totally fine and okay if it is working for you! However if your little one is dependent on these factors to fall asleep then they will look for these comfort cues when they wake up. If you are comfortable to continue offering them then you do not have to change a thing!
You may be sitting there thinking does night waking last forever? Remember that everything is just temporary. Overnight wakes in babies and young children is normal and temporary. If your sleep situation is not working (or stops working) then you can always do things differently. All parents find that they change the way they do things as their child grows older and reaches different developmental stages – sleep is just another thing that changes as your child grows..
If you need some sleep support and you are ready to make a change our team of experts are here for you! Book a discovery call and let's chat about your little one's sleep and how we can help your family get the rest you all need to thrive.
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