How long is your longest sleep stretch?

whitney4126 · December 2014

I'm sure there has been a ton of posts that addressed this in the past, but I never really paid attention because I wasn't stressed out about comparing LOs sleep to others until recently.

LO is 14 weeks and I EBF. Each night she has one 4-4.5 hour stretch of sleep, followed by a 2-2.5 hour stretch, followed by a 1-1.5 hour stretch of sleep. At around 7 or 8 weeks she suddenly started sleeping through the night, like 7-9 hour stretches. It was glorious, and I thought that's how life was going to be, but it lasted 2 weeks and then went away as quickly as it started. Because it takes me some time to fall asleep, I am usually getting about 3 hours followed by two 1 hour stretches. While I've physically been able to function on this, I just feel mentally off most of the time. I find myself doing dumb things and my memory is embarrassing. This is starting to worry me because I'm starting back to work after New Years and I am an attorney one mistake can be a huge and costly liability.

So are there still S14 mommas out there whose babies aren't STTN? How long is your LOs longest stretch of sleep? And if you are a STM, is this indicative of how it's going to be for a while, or is it likely to change between 4-6 months. Alternatively, will my brain ever go back to normal?

Daisy1232 · December 2014

Yup. LO wakes up around 3, then 6 or 7 and is usually ready to rock for the day.

lil_diamond_eyes · December 2014

LO had been sleeping 4/5 hour stretches. But lately has been sleeping 9. She has started teething, so I don't think this trend with continue. she is 12 weeks.

MrsHamon09 · December 2014

I rarely post over here anymore but my child never sleeps through the night. My child 1 time gave us 3 hours but never again. We are doing 30 min to 1 hour stretches. She is 15wand EBF. Other mamas with children likemine you are not alone

RedBaramid · December 2014

We usually do our last feed at 9pm (go down to bed within an hour afterwards) and get up for our "MOTN" at 4am-ish. If she goes down later she gets up later. After that wake though, we only get tops 3 hours out of that... we may get a longer late morning or mid-afternoon nap though. So I guess you could say that DH and I have the opportunity for a 6 hour sleep stretch ourselves, we almost never get that though.. We're too busy resetting the house and trying to have a little adult time.

crystangel · December 2014

We get a 4-5 hour stretch and then two 2-3 hour stretches after. Although last night he did wake after 2 hours in that first stretch but didn't take long to put back to sleep.

pbeckaroo35 · December 2014

I'm increasingly afraid that the brain fog is the new normal. We've been getting longer stretches of sleep since late October and I'm still a mess.

mtlotslove · December 2014

The first stretch is usually around 4 hours, sometimes we get lucky and its longer. Then anywhere between 1-3 hours after that.

Bella2425 · December 2014

I too had a magical unicorn that was sttn at 6-8 weeks but then stopped when we moved to the crib. Now he "usually" does a 5-7 hour stretch followed by a 2-4 hour stretch. If the stretches are on the short side he will do a third 2 hour stretch but that means we start the day around 9 am which won't fly when I go back to work in 2 weeks....

I feel like he needs to eat more during the day to sleep longer ( ff) but he spits up anything more than 4 oz. kinda at a loss over here.

Eta: he's 11 weeks

Songbird2 · December 2014

First stretch is between 3 and 5 hours, then anywhere from 1 to 3 after that.

aliciak316 · December 2014

Usually he eats around 9 then passes out till 2:30-3 then eats and goes back to sleep till about 7. Twice he's given us 8-9 hour stretches which was amazing but I'm not counting on that sticking around for awhile

ccklenks · December 2014

I've found that if she sleeps and eats more throughout the day, she has a longer first sleep at night. 14 weeks, bottle feeding with about half breastmilk half formula. Her last feed of the day is 3-4oz formula otherwise usually it's 2oz at a time. Bedtime routine starts at 8, she's in crib and snoring by 830. I pump then head to bed by 915. Hubs joins closer to 10. LO wakes 2-3, eats and falls right back asleep, then wakes 5-6 and is up for the day 8-830. I work from home so it's a great routine for me. But we still can't get her to sleep longer than 7 at a time. If it's a bad night, she'll also wake at midnight. Moral of the story: you're not alone. And the brainfog has finally started to dissipate, but sometimes I'm still extra dumb. I've found that taking a fish oil supplement really helps. I think it's the DHA leaving our bodies through breastmilk so baby's brain can develop properly.

froglegs04 · December 2014

Ugh, I feel you. Mine (almost 4 months, but was 1 month early) has sttn twice this week at the beginning of the week, but the past two nights have been back to crap. She goes down at 7-7:30, wakes up an hour after that to be held/bf again, sleeps another hour, gets up again, then MAYBE goes down for 2-3 hrs at a time until 6:30 am. I have been back at work for 1.5 months now, and am extremely loopy, so I feel you. I pray every day that she will sttn, but she doesn't like napping either. I have no clue if she's going through the 4 month sleep regression or what, but child doesn't sleep and neither does mama!! Oh, and now she has decided she doesn't like daddy holding her, but wants to use mommy as a pacifier for night sleep. I feel like I'm doing everything wrong these days!

portentosa · December 2014

Oy. I'm not sure I should tell you that it took 7 or 8 months for my first to STTN in bed with us and then another 6 months to get him to STTN in his own bed by himself, and that for the past month he's regressed to waking up and climbing into bed with us (he'll be two in a couple weeks).

As far as DD goes, she started out the same as DS... wouldn't sleep anywhere but on me or in bed with me, but I've had some success with her talking herself to sleep in her cosleeper and RnP. But she'll only stay asleep that way for 2-4 hours, usually the same as yours with the longest stretch first and then less and less throughout the night. I can get 8 solid hours of sleep if I put her in her swing. She'll stir and suck her thumb, but she doesn't fully wake up.

TBH you really can't count on solid sleep to be a pattern in the first year (or two or more) with growth spurts, mental leaps, teething, illness.... just so much going on that can disrupt sleep.

JustCricket · December 2014

We just got cleared to let her sleep as long as she wants (previously on orders to wake her every 3 hours because of how small she was when she was born) Recently we were bending the rules slightly and waking her after 4hrs overnight... but that normally just led to a 1.5hr to 2hr sleep stretch after that initial 4hr. Last night we finally got a 4.5 hour stretch... but that was followed by several 2hr stretches. I'm hoping soon we'll start getting some longer stretches... but that could be just wishful thinking on my end.

HorseLover11 · December 2014

Our lo has been STTN (8-7) consistently since 7.5 weeks - don't hate me!! As a consultation prize I've been dealing with terrible clogged ducts, milk blisters, and mastasis. Anyway my point was to share what has worked for us if you can find it helpful. We have a routine at night that includes a bath before her bottle (DH gives her 7.5 oz of breastmilk) - her last feeding is at 430 - she then typcially stays awake until 6 and has a catnap until we start her bath at 7 and bottle at 730. Having the 3 hr break helps to ensure she's hungry and will eat really well before bed.

camichael84 · December 2014

We get a 6-8 hour stretch, she wakes for a bottle, then about a 4 hour stretch after she eats. In theory, I should be getting plenty of sleep, but I EP and get painfully engorged if I go longer than 7 hours between pumps. I don't want to try to cut out the middle of the night pumping session due to previous supply issues, so I usually get 4 hours of sleep during her first stretch then 2.5 during her second stretch. The thing that sucks is that I'm a SAHM, and I think DH assumes I get plenty of sleep because of this, but I don't. I would kill to sleep a straight 8 hr stretch of sleep.

HorseLover11 · December 2014

@TheresaKraf‌ - she doesn't spit up but after a weighed feeding I know she gets 5-6 oz from breastfeeding and eats 5 times a day so about 30-32 oz each day. I guess it would depend on how often your lo ate. A consultant we used said to increase by 1/2 oz once the baby sucked the bottle dry 3 nights in a row within 30 min.

kristine618 · December 2014

I completely feel you, Mama. I am feeling really out of it at work from the sleep deprivation too. Some days I really don't feel like I can keep up with everything. I desperately need more rest and feel like a normal person again. I happen to be an attorney too. On a good night, our LO goes to bed around 7:30, and wakes up at 12:30 and 4:30 to eat. (I have tried giving him the paci only, or feeding less than a full feed in an effort to get him eating more during the day than night, but it has always backfired and caused him to wake up even more often, so I stopped doing that.) After the second feed, he refuses to go back to sleep so the only way for me to get any more sleep is to put him in the swing, and he eventually rests off and on until we are up with the toddler at 7:30. I am debating getting a night nanny at 4 months to help train him. I am also starting to think I could try letting him cry it out; not yet, but soon. I could never do it with my first, but I am at my wits end.

jandkpaden · December 2014

My LO follows the same pattern. 4.5 followed 2-2.5 followed by a couple 1.5 stints. I find that I am more mentally aware now then I was when we were doing every 2hours. She also only nurses for about 10 minutes between those shorter sleeps. So I do my best to keep my brain shut off so that I can go back to sleep quickly

MLE_C2B · December 2014

LO was going 4hrs till last night. He slept 11:30-8 when I had to wake him up to eat before I took DH to day surgery. It was glorious! My first DS STTN at 7 weeks and we thought it was a fluke but 8 hrs turned to 12 and he never turned back.