When can your baby sleep all thru the night? It varies from infant to infant, of course. However, babies can start skipping feeds in the middle of the night around the second month and give sleepy moms and dads 6 to 8 hours in a row. Can they sleep longer? Sure, I have some infants sleeping 12 hours in a row.
How can you help your baby sleep thru the night? Well, consider the powerful habit of sleep associations. Humans love sleep associations. These are the ‘right’ pillow, the ‘right’ blanket, or the ‘right’ amount of light. If all of these conditions are in place, we sleep like a baby! However, if our pillow falls of the bed, then we wake up and go, ‘Hey, where’s my pillow?’
Now, consider your infant. What are his sleep associations? Is he falling asleep while breastfeeding, being rocked in a swing, or with a pacifier? If you want your infant to start sleeping longer as they get towards 2 months of age, then you will need to change these associations. Try laying him down when he is semi-awake, without a pacifier. As he gets used to this new sleep association, he has a better chance of falling back to sleep, instead of screaming, ‘Hey where’s my paci??’
