STTN clarification

Silverlining2011

I'm curious- when people say their baby sleeps through the night, how many hours are we talking?! So many people ask me whether my baby is sttn- including the grocery checkout lady today. I find it kind of annoying!

I feel like I've got a good sleeper but she does wake to feed sometime between 12-2 and 4-6! Isn't that normal? Her first stretch between bedtime and 1st wakeup is 6-7 hours! I think that's pretty good?! Am i missing something?!

BlondieBia21

No you're not missing something, be thankful for it. I believe sttn is defined as midnight-5 am. I think the term is confused because some may expect it to be a full 8 hours of sleep like what we are used to.

Carnation77

For us, SSTN = 8 pm to 5 or 6 am.  But my son does wake up - I hear and see him moving - he just likes to suck on his hand, readjust his head, and then falls back alseep on his own (usually every 2 hours).  Of course, like every baby, sometimes he regresses.  And right now we're trying to transition to the crib so he is waking up a few times more because he has more trouble falling back to sleep on his own in there and I have to go in and hold him for a minute before he goes back down.  But technically I think it's 5 hours or more of sleep for the baby.

I think it's ridiculous how people act like all of a sudden a baby STTN and that's that.  Their sleep changes all the time!  And really, I don't mind getting up once or twice a night.  It's when he regresses to every hour that I have trouble.  I also think older people have deluded themselves into thinking their own children used to STTN.  My MIL was telling me the first week my son was born how all her children STTN in their cribs straight home from the hospital and all she had to do to get them to nap was lay them down in the crib and say "sleepy baby" and poof! they were asleep.  My mother also claims she just layed us down and we magically fell asleep.  I call BS!

PB102012

@BlondieBia21 has it right. 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep is considered STTN.

My LO sleeps from 6:45 pm to 5 am most nights, but is sometimes up for a 1:30 snack, it just depends. I always go to sleep early just in case she gets hungry at night so I am not a walking zombie during the day.

Silverlining2011

Thanks ladies. Every baby is different I guess! Some of y'all have some long stretches. It's totally true that people don't really remember what their baby was like at this stage. Plus, why are people even asking me about sttn in the first place- it doesn't affect them in any way. I should just smile and say yes.

roo1oo

That question drives me nuts too. Mostly because I feel like every time someone asks that, its while LO is having a good stretch of sleeping, and if I answer that he is STTN, that almost always jinxes me and he sleeps terribly for a few nights.

Lizghannam

My mother says the same thing, "Oh yeah, all five of you were sleeping through the night by two weeks." Way to make me feel like a bad mom! lol I don't know what to tell you because both of mine have never STTN. At six weeks, my second son had ONE eight hour stretch and then it never happened again. My two year old still wakes up twice a night. I've learned I function better on interrupted 4 hour nights of sleep then getting a full eight. I see it as our bonding time without everyone else

I'd say your kiddo is pretty much STTN if they're doing six hours!!

BelhurstBride

Does the answer really matter? If you're not concerned who cares what anyone else thinks?

LittleNugget93

I was asked this question and when I said that my daughter still wakes every hour to 2 hours, I got the rudest look. My daughter comfort nurses a lot and I'm okay with that. She has been teething and she just went through the 4 month wakeful. We are coming out of it now and she is waking every 2-4 hours. We bed share and that makes everything easier on both of us. 

People need to mind there own business. If your little one wakes more frequently, enjoy the time. It won't be long before they will want to be independent and have nothing to do with you because they are teenagers. Haha. 

LittleNugget93

We should stop trying to "fix" our children and start listening to them. They are smarter than we think. 

magdalina.h

It's 5-6 hours technically.
For us she went from waking up every 3-4 hours to waking up 8+ hours.

Aubs0009

I believe it's considered sleeping through the night if they sleep for 6 hours straight. For us DD sleeps from about 10:30 to 6:30.

Cupcakes339

DD sleeps 10:30 to 4:30. when people ask, i say yes she is and DH says no. i guess we have different definition of sttn i try to stay up and pump at midnight before bed. midnight stash is only way I can build the reserve.

luvmygirlss

The medical definition is 5hrs but when people ask you that, they are most likely referring to the entire night without uninterrupted sleep, which can happen any from 4-6months of age. Some babies STTN earlier than that and some babies still need a feed until 9mos.