How long does your 9-week old (or approx age) sleep at night without a feeding?

[ajr2211]

My pediatrician told me my 9 week old (who weighs about 11 pounds) is capable of going 10-12 hours without eating. She said that he's waking in the middle of the night for comfort, not hunger, and that I can eliminate the middle of the night feeding. So just curious, how long does your 9 week old (or approximate age) go at night without feeding?

[wendibird22]

You didn't indicate if your son is BF or formula fed. I can only speak from experience with BF.
DD1 woke 3x's a night until at least 6mos and then 2x's a night until she weaned at 19mos. DD2 is now 12wks and she sometimes sleeps 8hrs before waking but sometimes only 6hrs. IMO it's too much to expect a BF baby to sleep that long without waking to eat at that age. I think some do but there's a lot that don't.

[neeleymartin]

i think your pediatrician is crazy. maybe a 9 week old CAN make it without food for that long, but... if a bottle/food is comforting then feed your lo. i am a huge advocate of cio and other toughy methods, but 9 weeks old???? c'mon doc.

i remember the nurse in the hospital telling us to get as many feeds/oz in in the day b/c they need a certain number in a 24 hour period. if not during the day, they must eat at night.

with that said, feed that little cherub. the night waking will end soon enough.

[ajr2211]

Guess that is important to mention - he's both breast and bottle fed. I don't produce enough milk for him so we supplement with formula. He takes about 5 oz, 2 of which are formula and 3-3.5 of breastmilk.

He's gone 5-6 hours in between feedings at night. I thought that was pretty good but my pediatrician said if I don't break the middle of the night feeding now then it will continue and be harder to break at 4 months because they're more stubborn at that point. I'm beginning to think this is absurd and I should be grateful for the 5-6 hours that he'll go. I've tried eliminating the middle of the night feeding that past 4 nights and though I can get him back to sleep, he continues to wake up at least every hour until I feed him, which is probably a pretty good indicator that he's hungry and not just wanting comfort.

[hellokitty]

If he's doing 4-5 hrs in btwn feedings at night, consider yourself lucky. Your ped is on crack if he thinks that it is at all typical for a 9 wk old to sleep 10-12 hrs through the night w/o waking up.

[NewMom2007]

DS1 nursed all night long forever (well, seemed like forever - many many months). DS 2 - total opposite - slept through the night by month 2. I couldn't believe it. However, just when you get used to something, it changes...and the last few nights he's been waking 2x - 3x overnight.

While your Ped is correct that a baby 'could' sleep for a longer stretch at this point, all babies are different and they shouldn't be expected to sleep longer. I would venture to guess more 9 week old babies wake overnight than sleep through. I think your mama intuition is right in this case - if he keeps waking every hour, he probably wants more milk.

[Kymberley]

DS1 nursed all night long forever (well, seemed like forever - many many months). DS 2 - total opposite - slept through the night by month 2. I couldn't believe it. However, just when you get used to something, it changes...and the last few nights he's been waking 2x - 3x overnight.



That's my experience as well. DS slept 12 hours from 5-6 months, then he started waking up 2 times a night. I just nurse him when he's hungry. I'm kind of used to limited sleep at this point.

[lchang25000]

If he's doing 4-5 hrs in btwn feedings at night, consider yourself lucky. Your ped is on crack if he thinks that it is at all typical for a 9 wk old to sleep 10-12 hrs through the night w/o waking up.

:yeahthat::yeahthat:

[bubbaray]

If he's doing 4-5 hrs in btwn feedings at night, consider yourself lucky. Your ped is on crack if he thinks that it is at all typical for a 9 wk old to sleep 10-12 hrs through the night w/o waking up.


:yeahthat:

[Dr C]

Agree with PP. Your ped is crazy. Thank your lucky stars that your baby is sleeping GREAT at this age.

[Avispa]

I think it varies a lot from one baby to the other. My friend's DD started sleeping through the night at WEEK 1! For mine it was around week 10. It just happened, one night she slept 8 hours straight. From then on we knew that she didn't "need" to feed in the middle of the night, so when she would wake up I would just comfort her. After about one week of doing this she started sleeping through the night on a regular basis. But I think that you need to wait until your DC gives you some clues whether he/she is ready or not. I don't think that there is a set age at which all babies are ready to do it, every baby is different!

[♥ms.pacman♥]

my DS is exactly 9 weeks old today and last night he slept from 930pm to 5:30pm (8 hours, w000t!!!), which i consider amazing and i think quite exceptional for his age. i consider myself extremely lucky. for the past week he had been consistently sleeping from 9pm to 330am or so (about 6-7 hours) before needing a feeding. i exclusively breastfeed. i should mention that my son is VERY large for his age (90th percentile for height and weight) weighing in at 13 lbs at his 2 month checkup (!), so he is able to take in a lot of food at a time (right before he goes to sleep at night., he usually has 2-3 feedings that equate to about 5-6 oz of food i am guessing).

anyway, judging from what i hear from other parents, i am extremely lucky; i think most babies start sleeping 8 hours at a time at around 3-4 months. i don't know anybody else who can say their baby slept through the night at 2 months , let alone for 10-12 HOURS?? I think STTN is usually defined as 6-8 hours anyway.

I agree with previous posters, your pediatrician is on crack if he expects a 2 month old to sleep 10-12 hours at a stretch. i'm guessing less than 2% of babies that age do that. also, claiming that your LO is just waking up for "comfort" and not food is bull. even in Baby411 it says that under 2-4 months of age, babies are not mature enough to "manipulate" you into getting you to comfort them, and one should not expect babies at that age to just fall asleep on their own and sleep through the night. also their stomachs are just not big enough to hold enough food to go for that long. it even mentions at what age babies should be capable to sleep through the night without needing a feeding (this applies to babies w/o acid reflux and other issues):

4 mos - can sleep 6 hours at a time w/o feeding
5 mos - can sleep 9 hours at a time w/o feeding
6 mos - can sleep 12 hours at a time w/o feeding

like others said, i think it will be around 5-6 mos of age before they can sleep 10-12 hrs at a stretch.

[Melaine]

If he's doing 4-5 hrs in btwn feedings at night, consider yourself lucky. Your ped is on crack if he thinks that it is at all typical for a 9 wk old to sleep 10-12 hrs through the night w/o waking up.

:yeahthat: My DF mentioned something similar and I asked who told her. Her BIL who has not even started practicing as a pediatrician. I couldn't help snorting at her, because I guarantee that he was under the assumption that sleeping through the night was 10-12 as opposed to the 6 hours that typical experts are referring too.

To answer your question, when mine were that age they were sleeping about 3 hours at a time.:) Granted they were smaller, but I think the idea of them sleeping 10-12 hours at that age is really delusional.

[♥ms.pacman♥]

Guess that is important to mention - he's both breast and bottle fed. I don't produce enough milk for him so we supplement with formula. He takes about 5 oz, 2 of which are formula and 3-3.5 of breastmilk.

He's gone 5-6 hours in between feedings at night. I thought that was pretty good but my pediatrician said if I don't break the middle of the night feeding now then it will continue and be harder to break at 4 months because they're more stubborn at that point. I'm beginning to think this is absurd and I should be grateful for the 5-6 hours that he'll go. I've tried eliminating the middle of the night feeding that past 4 nights and though I can get him back to sleep, he continues to wake up at least every hour until I feed him, which is probably a pretty good indicator that he's hungry and not just wanting comfort.

you are absolutely right, your baby is doing GREAT and your ped is being absurd IMO. my LO's sleep pattern sounds very similar to yours and i personally am so grateful to be getting a continuous 6 hours of sleep at night. when DS slept 8 hours last night i could not believe it and thanked my lucky stars that he is such a good sleeper, because i know it is unusual for babies this young. when he woke up at 5:30am this morning fussing a bit i just fed him and he went back to sleep until 9:30am. ok with me. anyone who thinks i should have instead let my 9-week-old DS starve and cry his head off after already quietly sleeping 8 hours without food is messed up in the head IMO.

[smiles33]

I thought you might have mistyped and meant 9 MONTHS, as that's how old my DD2 is now and she only recently started sleeping more than 6 hours at night! :ROTFLMAO:

Seriously, anything more than 2 hours at 9 weeks is awesome. DD1 woke up every 2 hours to nurse until she was a year old as she was reverse cycling (I went back to work FT when she was 4 months old). We finally did CIO out of desperation because I was fainting out of exhaustion (slamming my head into a wall once and crashing into the staircase railing the other time). Given the fact that I was WOH 50+ hours/week and commuting 1.5 hours RT, we decided we had to CIO so I didn't end up crashing my car!

Is your ped really young and inexperienced? Not a dad? Sounds really wacky to me!

[firsttimemama]

I'm beginning to think this is absurd and I should be grateful for the 5-6 hours that he'll go. I've tried eliminating the middle of the night feeding that past 4 nights and though I can get him back to sleep, he continues to wake up at least every hour until I feed him, which is probably a pretty good indicator that he's hungry and not just wanting comfort.

Listen to your mama gut. It is telling you the truth! No one knows your baby better than you. And I'd find a new ped. (if it were me)

[hellokitty]

:yeahthat: My DF mentioned something similar and I asked who told her. Her BIL who has not even started practicing as a pediatrician. I couldn't help snorting at her, because I guarantee that he was under the assumption that sleeping through the night was 10-12 as opposed to the 6 hours that typical experts are referring too.

To answer your question, when mine were that age they were sleeping about 3 hours at a time.:) Granted they were smaller, but I think the idea of them sleeping 10-12 hours at that age is really delusional.


I was thinking the same thing. My dad IS a ped, a dinosaur at that, BUT he is/was a horrible parent and my mom basically raised us up like a single mom, b/c my dad was not at all involved, other than providing us with shelter/food/clothes. By the time my kids are 1 mo old, my dad always starts hounding me about whether or not my kids are STTN. He also pushes formula (btw, I am a LLL leader, so my head feels like popping off when this topic comes up). I always pretty much growl at him about how ridiculous it is that he is a PED and he doesn't even know WTH he is talking about. Oh and he has only changed ONE diaper in his entire life, DS1's first meconium poop and since then he has never, ever changed another diaper, even when he insisted on babysitting DS3 while we went out to dinner and he knew that the baby pooped, ugh (handed baby back to us when we got home and told us that he pooped, I had left the diaper bag with him with all the supplies). So, just b/c someone is a ped, it doesn't automatically make them some sort of expert on children or parenting, in fact, a lot of them could be as stupid/clueless as my dad, and ppl automatically grant them, "expert" status, when they most definitely do not deserve it. The advice my dad gives me make me want to throw up, b/c he has no real life experience, even as a parent, to offer. Ppl tell me, "Oh, you're so lucky your dad is a ped." Um, no. He basically just causes trouble and feels that we have to listen to him b/c he is a ped, even if he is totally off base. He insisted that DS1 was autistic, told me that he was in a "chronic state of starvation," b/c he was BF'd, told me he had something wrong with his leg, b/c he did not like the way that DS1 crawled... the list could go on and on. I've pretty much learned to just ignore his, "advice." Luckily, we have a ped who I like and respect, but even then I don't always just swallow his advice w/o using my own critical thinking skills.

[arivecchi]

My ped said this as well. They are CAPABALE of it, but that does not mean they have to. I did not do CIO with my babes until they were 4 and 5.5 months old (many parents wait until even later). My kiddos woke up every two hours on the dot until we CIO'd them so if your baby is sleeping more than that, that is great!

By the way, I would not ditch a ped over this one issue. I disagreed with the ped on this one issue and ignored his advice. You can do the same if your ped is great otherwise. If you don't mesh in other ways as well though, then yes, it might be time for a change.

[jgenie]

DS2 is 8 weeks old, EBF and sleeps 3 hours at night w/out a feeding. It's going to a long time before he's STTN. :)

[meg72783]

my 10 week old sleeps 3-4 hrs a night between feedings. my ped said not to wean until 4 months..last week he discovered his hands and he was waking up every 1-2 hrs at night. after 3 days he went back to 3-4 hrs and i am so relieved.i read that their nervous system needs to be mature before they can sleep thru the night and thats around 17 weeks.

[the2bobs]

Both of my boys have slept thru the night from the day they were born. I'm not exaggerating. We had to wake them up to feed them at night. By the time they were 9 wks old there were no night time feedings. I don't think this is normal though, I think your experience is much more common. My neighbor's son was still waking to nurse in the middle of the night when he was 11 mos old, whereas when DS1 was that age he had already given up his bedtime bottle. Be happy you have a kid that wants to eat, I have 2 that have no interest and it's a battle to feed them.

[Katigre]

At 9 weeks old my babies were still nursing every 2-3 hours at night (and during the day). We coslept though which typically means more frequent night feedings (which I liked b/c it keeps my period away for a loooooong time - I go 18 months post partum without AF).