What 'Sleeping Through the Night' Really Means
The truth about what sleeping through the night means for babies, realistic expectations by age, and how to support longer sleep stretches.
The phrase "sleeping through the night" is one of the most misleading concepts in baby sleep. For adults, it implies eight or more uninterrupted hours, but for babies, it often means something very different. In many cases, sleeping through the night refers to a stretch of five or six consecutive hours.
Night waking for feeding is biologically normal well into the first year of life. Babies have small stomachs, high metabolic needs, and developmental reasons for waking.
As babies mature, longer stretches of sleep tend to emerge gradually. Focusing on overall sleep quality rather than chasing a specific number of uninterrupted hours leads to more realistic expectations and less stress.
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