Most parents of older babies have heard the comment “they should be sleeping through the night by now.”

The idea that babies over a certain age, often 6 months, should be able to sleep through the night s treated as fact by many people. However, a look at the research and the normal trajectory of sleep development shows a very different reality.

What does sleeping through the night even mean?

Research definitions of sleeping through the night vary from as few as 5-6 hour stretches to 8 or more hours. As a parent, your definition may be different. Multiple studies show us that most older babies are waking several times a night, and that large numbers are not sleeping through the night, regardless of how we define it.

What does the research say about sleeping through the night among older babies between 6 months and 12 months?

• Night awakenings are normal: 6-Month-old babies wake on average 2.5 times a night and 8- month-old babies 2.4 times (Paavonen et al., 2020). 6-12-month-old babies wake on average 1.76 times a night (Brown & Harries, 2015). At 6 months, 69.5% of babies have nightly awakenings (Hysing et al, 2014).

• In the Pennestri et al. study (2020), 20.5% of 6 month old babies never slept for a 6 hour stretch and only 6.8% did every night over a 13 day stretch. The majority of babies, 72.7%, had high variability in their longest sleep stretch from night to night. Occasional sleeping through the night does not indicate an ability to sleep through consistently.

• 6-12-month-old babies feed on average 1.4 times a night (Brown & Harries, 2015). Breastfed babies fed more overnight in this study, but there were no differences in waking patterns between breastfed and formula fed babies.

• Only 22.3% of 8-month-olds slept through the night in a large study (Paavonen et al. 2020)

• Another study found no association between sleeping through the night at 6 or 12 months (defined as 6 hours) and current or later mental or psychomotor development (Pennestri et al., 2018). They also found no link with maternal mood. They did, however, find an association between sleeping through the night and much lower breastfeeding rates.

• Night awakenings continue to be normal as older babies become toddlers: 12-Month-old babies wake on average 1.8 times a night (Paavonen et al., 2020).

• It’s normal to need parental support to fall asleep, even as an older baby. At 12 months, Goodlin et al. (2001) found that 50% of babies required parental support to fall back to sleep.

The reality of sleep development:

Regular waking is normal, healthy, and common over the first several years. All humans wake briefly between sleep cycles. Whether or not this brief waking results in your baby signaling for you depends on their temperament and if they have a need at that moment. Most little ones go through periods when they wake more frequently interspersed with periods when they sleep for longer stretches and wake less. Sleep is developmental, and this ebb and flow of wakefulness is a normal part of sleep maturity in babies. It is not a linear process.

All humans have brief awakenings throughout the night. Most of these brief awakenings you don’t remember in the morning. However, when you wake up and have a need, you have the ability to meet that need. You can get a drink of water, use the bathroom, adjust the temperature, or snuggle up to your partner. Your baby wakes with both physical and emotional needs. They may need you for a variety of reasons including hunger, thirst, diaper change, hot/cold, the need for connection, fear, the need for touch/closeness, and separation anxiety. They have no ability to meet any of these needs without your support.

Additionally, a lot of development happens between 6-12 months. Sitting, crawling, pulling up, and sometimes walking. Starting solids, first words, and increase social awareness. Separation anxiety and big changes to sleep needs. When you remember how small an older baby is and how much change they are going through, it makes sense that they may need you throughout the night.

Next time you hear a comment about sleeping through, remember that research and development tell a different story. This obsession with babies sleeping through the night is simply one more piece of sleep training culture not based on evidence.

And if you want support optimizing nighttime sleep within a realistic framework, reach out and let’s talk.