When do babies sleep through the night? Help your newborn sleep better sooner

Congratulations! If you’re reading this you probably have a new baby and are REALLY tired. Hopefully we can find the perfect balance between hope and reality as we get into when babies naturally sleep through the night! When do babies sleep through the night? Let’s talk about it.

What does it mean for a baby to sleep through the night?

Some sources call 5-6 hours sleeping through the night, while others insist that babies sleep a full 12 hours. When we talk about sleeping through the night, we typically mean a full 10-12 hours. Meaning they typically have a bedtime between 7pm-9pm and then sleep until 5am-8am.

Sleeping through the night also doesn’t mean that your baby [or toddler, or child] will sleep 10-12 hours every single night without ever waking up. Waking in the night is normal and natural. Even as adults sometimes we wake for a drink of water or to go to the bathroom. If your baby doesn’t need you to go to them more nights than not, then they can be considered sleeping through the night.

In this blog, we will be talking about around a full 10+ hours without a feeding and without needing intervention on most nights.

When can my baby sleep through the night?

Your baby is capable of sleeping through the night when they are eating enough during the day, are comfortable enough to rest flat on their back and have the skills to fall asleep and fall back to sleep independently

Before we go any further though, let’s establish a mindset together. Not all babies are the same. Nightingales is an in-home Newborn Care Specialist agency that has supported thousands of babies overnight. Some of these babies are sleeping 8+ hours by 8 weeks old and 12 hours at 12 weeks old [or sooner]. But some of these babies are sleeping 3 hour stretches at 6 months old.

So…when can MY baby sleep through the night? Let’s break it down.

3 Steps to Help Your Baby Sleep Through the Night

Step one: Your baby can sleep through the night when they can eat enough during the day

Nutrition is NUMBER ONE. You cannot even begin to think about lengthening sleep stretches if your baby is not gaining weight at an expected rate.

Brand new babies need to eat at least every 3 hours or so, generally 8+ times in a 24 hour period. We encourage parents to work on a 3 hour schedule during the day [AKA Eat. Play. Sleep], and you can expect your 1-4 week old baby to eat every 3 hours overnight as well.

All babies have different nutritional needs and can begin to stretch overnight feedings at different times. Typically parents rely on their pediatrician to give the go ahead for parents to not wake babies for feedings and/or to encourage longer stretches between feedings. Encouraging longer stretches should be a slow gradual process, with the goal being around 10 minutes longer between feedings each night. ALL calories missed during the night need to be added in the day.

Example of stretching feeding times:

A 4 week old baby wakes up 3.5 hours from their last feeding. They are grunting and wiggling. Instead of responding immediately with a feeding, the caregiver gives the baby cuddles and a pacifier and the baby falls back asleep for 20 minutes. It is now 3 hours and 50 minutes since the last feeding and the baby is rooting and licking their lips and turning their head for a bottle. The caregiver feeds the baby.

Stretching feeding times for a newborn does NOT mean letting your baby cry or forcing a hungry baby to go without. This is not an appropriate response for an infant under 4 months of age.

Feedings are the most common reason that babies wake in the night. We’ve had babies wake as frequently as every hour for a little snack! Your baby will not be able to sleep through the night until they have weaned out nighttime feedings.

Hot Tip: Babies with reflux often have a smaller stomach capacity and are not able to wean out overnight feedings

Hot Tip: Breastfeeding parents may want to include an overnight feeding and/or pumping session to maintain supply. Weaning overnight feedings often triggers menstrual cycles to return

Step two: Your baby can sleep through the night when they are comfortable lying flat on their back for long periods of time

When we work with parents whose babies are having difficulty sleeping, oftentimes it’s because they are uncomfortable. Your baby might be gassy, they might have colic, or reflux or constipation. They may structurally be uncomfortable from torticollis, or a birth misalignment.

It’s important to assess if your baby is comfortable lying flat on their back while playing during the day. Sometimes babies don’t enjoy lying flat on their back simply because they prefer to be held! It’s a skill that takes time to learn and get used to.

If your baby is uncomfortable on their back:

You need to get to the root of the problem. This might involve advice from your pediatrician, lactation consultant, GI specialist, chiropractor, Occupational therapist, Physical therapist or knowledgeable Newborn Care Specialist. Some things to potentially expect:

If Breastfeeding:

• Change in diet
• Change in rhythm/schedule of feedings
• If Bottle feeding:
• Change in formula
• Change in bottle type
• Change in nipple flow
• Gas: Assessment for tongue/lip tie
• Reflux: Reflux medications
• Structural: Positional exercises, gentle adjustments
• All: Gas relief positions, Windi, belly massages, warm baths

If your baby prefers to not be on their back [not uncomfortable]:

You need to practice with them! Have them on their backs and bellies during awake time as much as possible. You also need to put them down on a flat surface when sleeping whenever possible. They might sleep shorter stretches, but they will get used to it over time.

If a baby is used to being held for sleep, sometimes parents will hire a professional to come in for 2-4 nights in a row to help transition their baby into sleeping in their crib instead of being held.

Step three: Your baby can sleep through the night when they can fall asleep and fall back to sleep independently.

Let’s put together a hypothetical. Your baby is 10 weeks old. They have their last bottle at 8pm and they don’t take another bottle until 5am. They are comfortable on their back. However, they still wake up a few times a night to be held and cuddled. What gives!?

Unfortunately, weaning out feedings isn’t the only magic solution to helping a baby sleep through the night. Babies cycle through deep and light stages of sleep throughout the night. Babies before the 4 month sleep regression might only come into a light stage of sleep 1-4 times. Whereas a baby after the 4 month sleep regression…well…let’s say it’s typically more than that.

How a baby falls asleep is how a baby needs to fall back to sleep. [I wish I could put that on a bumper sticker]

If your baby falls asleep independently, drowsy but awake, and they go into a light stage of sleep at 1am, they will turn their head and go back to sleep.

If your baby is held and rocked to sleep and they go into a light stage of sleep at 1am, they will call out for you to replicate how they fell asleep initially!

Sleep conditioning is a blog of its own, but know that your infant typically won’t naturally sleep through the night without some serious effort on your part.

What age is my baby capable of sleeping through the night?

If your baby was not born prematurely
And
If your baby is eating enough during the day
And
Your baby is comfortable and has no medical barriers
And
*If your family/professional overnight support is actively working on encouraging longer stretches and independent sleep

If all of these factors are in place, then typically a baby’s maximum stretch correlates to their age in weeks between weeks 4-12. [Keep in mind they should be eating every 2.5-3 hours the rest of the day, this is only one stretch.]

Meaning that…

• *A 4 week old baby might do a 4 hour stretch of sleep with no feedings
• *A 6 week old baby might do a 6 hour stretch of sleep with no feedings
• *An 8 week old baby might do a 8 hour stretch of sleep with no feedings
• *A 12 week old baby might do a 12 hour stretch of sleep with no feedings

We work with hundreds of families 4-7 nights a week offering in-home care and many of their babies are sleeping through the night, 10-12 hour stretches by 3 months of age.

Want some help? Let’s set up a time to chat! We support parents with sleep both virtually and in person.