There is no way to know ahead of time, at least with any degree of certainty, when a baby will start to sleep through the night. Two babies even from the same mother may not sleep through the night at similar times. One baby may start to sleep through the night within a couple of weeks after being born, while another may take months to sleep through the night. There is not “right” time that babies should sleep through the night.

One of the things that keeps babies from sleeping through the night tends to be hunger. Babies, that are breastfed, for example will typically need to eat somewhere between 8 to 12 times in a 24-hour day. This means that, at least once during the night, your baby is likely to become hungry, and will need to be fed.

Having said all of that, it is not unreasonable to hope that your baby will be sleeping through the night by about six to eight weeks after being born. The vast majority of babies should be able to sleep a good stretch of time by this point, needing maybe one feeding during the night, if at all. If a baby isn’t sleeping through the night at this time, it doesn’t necessarily mean that there is a problem of some sort, it just means that the baby isn’t ready yet to sleep through the night.

One technique that new moms can do in order to maximize their sleep time and to keep from being fatigued is to try to nap when the baby does. Getting an extra hour of shut eye during the day can help with those nighttime trips to the nursery. In addition, many couples prefer to share the workload of getting up with the baby. Even if you breastfeed, there is no reason that you can’t use a pump to produce some milk that your spouse can then use to feed the baby at night.

If you believe that your baby is not sleeping through the night due to a problem of some sort, you should speak with your health care provider. She should be able to rule out any negative causes, such as an illness.

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