When do normal BF babies sleep through the night? When to share room with sib?

[goldenpig]

DS is 3.5 months and over 15 lb already (80th percentile). Currently DS is in an Arm's Reach mini cosleeper. I nurse him to sleep at 8-9 pm, then he usually wakes up at midnight-1 am, 3-4 am, and up at 6-7 am. He usually ends up in our bed after the first wakening, and he'll go back to sleep after I nurse him. We recently transitioned DD to a twin bed but left her crib in the room so they could share a room. I have tried putting DS in the crib for daytime naps and sometimes at bedtime. But if/when he wakes up and cries during the night, I don't want to let him wake DD up since she's finally STTN, so I'll just bring him to our room and nurse him back to sleep. I don't think he's really learning to sleep on his own this way, but I don't really know how to teach him without waking everyone else up. I'm not even sure if he's ready to stop night feedings yet. I have no point of reference for normal BF babies, as I kept night nursing DD till around 18 months or later because she was so tiny that I wanted her to get as many calories as possible. She nursed 3-4x/night till I started night weaning, and didn't fully STTN until over 2. He's a lot bigger than she was, so I'm less worried about him needing to nurse at night, but I'm not sure when the right time is to start night weaning. I'm not in a huge rush, he's already much better than she was, but I would like to teach him good sleep habits so they can share a room eventually.

If you BF, when did they stop night nursing and did you have to do CIO or other sleep training methods, or did they naturally just start sleeping longer on their own? (And please no "my baby slept 12 hours a night straight starting at 2 weeks old" stories :angry-smiley-005:--I hate you!) And when did you start having the baby share a room with a sibling? Did you sleep train in your room first or after they started sharing a room? TIA!

[drako]

DD really didn't start sleeping through the night until about 12-13 months old. When she would wake in the night (usually once) when she was 9 months on, I would nurse her in my bed and put her back to her crib. She was and is not sharing a room with a sibling though. After nursing she would not be asleep but would fall asleep in her crib on her own without fussing. I felt she would sleep through the night when she was ready and that is exactly what happened. Nursing her at night was the only way we would get any sleep. Sometimes we would fall asleep in my bed but she really never had any problem going back to her crib. Listening to her cry when she woke up in the night was not an option with us. We got much more rest when I would nurse her when she woke and then put her back to bed. Yes, it was frustrating to have to get up but it wasn't that bad since I took her back to our bed.

[AbbysMom]

Like the PP, mine didn't sleep in the same room so I can't help there. But we kept my younger in the Arm's Reach co-sleeper til she was around 6 months in our room. She woke a lot at night and I nursed her and she usually ended up in bed with us. At 6 months, she went in her own room and slept longer so that she only woke at 4 am for a feeding. I would nurse her in her room and she'd go back to sleep til 7.

I think you are doing great in trying to have him take naps and fall asleep in his own bed but if I were you, I would keep him in your room at night for a while longer. It's tough for you but I'm sure he'll transition just fine when he's sleeping better at night so I wouldn't worry about that.

[citymama]

I have been thinking about some of the same questions! In particular, how to help dd2 learn to fall asleep on her own and when she'll be old enough to share a room with Dd1.

With DD1, she started to have a longer 5-6 hr stretch of sleep thru the night starting at about 3-4 months. She would nurse at around midnight and then wake up around 5.30 am - I would nurse her, she would either fall back asleep while nursing or dh would take her at 6 am and I'd get to sleep some more. We never did CIO and won't do so with dd2 either. Right now she just nurses to sleep or falls asleep in sling or carrier. But I think that's par for the course!

[SnuggleBuggles]

They get better wrt sttn at 3-4m, ime. But, you likely aren't out of the woods for a good long while after that. Physical and emotional milestones plus illness, teething and growth spurts all lurk in the background ready to shake up the sleep. I nursed both to sleep and there eventually came a time that they stopped falling asleep nursing. That's when I made them figure things out. Luckily they were almost always happy to play and talk themselves to sleep.

eta- neither boy reliably sttn till around the time they weaned from bf'ing, 16-19m. Ds2 still wakes up from time to time and he is 2.5yo. I plan to move them into the same room when ds2 is done with the crib. Hoping that he stays crib bound a while longer!

Beth

[wendibird22]

My girls don't share a room, so I can't help there. DD1 night nursed until about 19mos when I started night weaning. She's STTN ever sense. DD2 is 6mos. She was in our room in a PNP until about 7wks and then moved to a crib in her own room. She was STTN starting at 8wks, but now at 6mos teeth and wanting to crawl have pretty much blown that apart. For the past week or so she's up usually 2x's a night most nights. Now, not the same as room sharing, but the girls rooms are directly across the hall from each other with doors open and DD1 never wakes up when DD2 wakes up at night. Perhaps a fan or white noise machine in their room would help muffle the baby's cry?