The pediatrician was shocked that Klara doesn’t sleep through the night. And I was shocked that she was shocked because I had no idea 2-month-olds regularly sleep through the night. I was so glad that Klara slept for 4-5 hours straight at night but the pediatrician made me feel like something was wrong with me for not expecting longer stretches of sleep.
Folks, am I completely crazy here? Do two-month-olds regularly sleep through the night? I understand that it might happen occasionally but on a regular basis?
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My limited experience tells me that you are lucky if Klara sleeps 4-5 hours straight at such a young age. We had to wait until X. turned 6-7 months old to experience that luxury, and very seldomly.
I leave and take with my pediatrician. Every time that person sees me s/he begs me to give my son ground meet to eat on a regular basis. Ground meet?
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“My limited experience tells me that you are lucky if Klara sleeps 4-5 hours straight at such a young age.”
“Every time that person sees me s/he begs me to give my son ground meet to eat on a regular basis. Ground meet?”
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She might be big enough to sleep longer stretches without needing physical sustenance, but that doesn’t mean that she won’t wake up and want you. The pediatrician might guilt trip you into thinking you’re doing something wrong by getting up with her, but you do what works for you. No one sleeps through the night in our house. That’s why I just ate a whole box of fudgcicles.
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I never tried fudgcicles. Let’s eat some when you come over!
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In my experience a baby will once in a while sleep through the night at about three months, but not every night certainly. But babies are individuals and no two are the same in this regard, I think. Don’t let yourself be terrorized by authority here! Mother and daddy know best, I think.
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I always counted it as “sleeping through the night” if one of my babies slept from midnight until 5 am. For three of my kids, that happened somewhere between three and six months. For one of my kids — oh, god, I don’t even know how old he was but it seems like it took YEARS. My friends and I used to compare notes (well, mostly about how sleep deprived we were), and I remember that there was a huge range. Babies vary.
The main thing to remember about pediatricians is that they aren’t really trained to give parenting advice. So take what’s useful and leave the rest.
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Folks, am I completely crazy here? Do two-month-olds regularly sleep through the night?
An emphatic “no.” Your pediatrician is full of $hit. No baby sleeps through the night in the grownup sense (7-8 hours straight) at 2 months, and many don’t even at 6, 9, or 12 months. The fact that Klara is giving you 4-5 hours in a stretch, and reliably so, is about as long as can theoretically be expected from such a young baby; you are indeed very lucky! Sleep habits vary among babies and depend on the baby’s personality, what she baby eats (solid foods vs formula vs breast milk), if she’s sick/teething/gassy, how mobile she is/how tired she gets. Infant sleep habits are never set in stone and the only thing you can count on is that, before you know it, they will change. (Even older kids range from those who need less than 8 hours to those who need 12 hours and naps, and both extremes can be perfectly healthy.)
Trust your instincts. If you and Klara are happy and healthy, she’s eating and growing, and you are not a sleep-deprived wreck, it’s all good.
And that pediatrician is a freakin’ sadist; who bullies a new mom like that? I would seriously consider dumping him/her. A good pediatrician is worth his/her weight in gold, it’s really worth your time to find a knowledgeable, warm, and empathetic one; they are out there!
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It’s good to have the reassurance! It’s very easy to feel self-doubt and insecurity with a newborn.
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Oh dear, another doctor with no bedside manner and strange and wrong ideas.
As my sister once consoled me, one day the baby who kept you up will be a teenager and will sleep and sleep and be next to impossible to rouse.
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“Folks, am I completely crazy here?”
No absolutely not!! The paediatrician IS plainly crazy to believe that 2-3 month olds should sleep through the night. A few will, she may be used to bottle fed babies, who are more inclined to sleep for longer between feeds because they get hungry less quickly, as the formula is less digestible than breast milk.
Having said that my second baby was breast fed for a year, yet he slept through more often than not from 6 days old – however he was always, and remains (age now 36) an exception!
I took all three of my babies into my bed so they could nurse for as long as they needed and so I often fell asleep before they did. I’m NOT saying you must nurse your baby in your bed, I know it’s a controversial topic, but it always seemed totally natural to me, with much more relaxation for all.
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My daughter is 16 months old and still doesn’t consistently sleep through the night, though it has gotten better the past month or so.
But at 6 or 8 weeks she began sleeping through the night for a brief moment in time (3 or 4 weeks). It did not last. The following 6 weeks were the worst sleep I have ever gotten, even worse than when she was a few days old. Infants are learning about sleep, and learning so much about the world around them, they don’t have patience for sleeping long stretches.
It is so true that every time I thought I had her figured out or was able to soothe what bothered her, a few days or a week went by and there was something else completely new and challenging next.
I read an interesting analogy that newborns are the drill sergeants of parenting bootcamp. They give you a few basic tasks and you do them with little relief and much repetition. They break you down and build you back up again-zthey begin to smile, coo, laugh, sleep in longer stretches. Then you get a whole new set of challenges, but the skills you learned in that newborn phase (patience with little sleep, renaining calm while your toddler has a meltdown, etc.) get you through all the harder stuff to come
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Exactly! Any perfect method that one invents becomes obsolete immediately.
“The following 6 weeks were the worst sleep I have ever gotten, even worse than when she was a few days old. Infants are learning about sleep, and learning so much about the world around them, they don’t have patience for sleeping long stretches.”
This is really good to know. I’ve been noticing this since my daughter turned 8 weeks old and it’s great to know this is normal. THANK YOU!
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