Am I being unrealistic?

[caterina]

Hello!
My ds is 6 months old, nearly 7 months and I'm wondering if I'm being unrealistic expecting him to sleep through the night? The reason I'm not sure is because (and please don't hate me for this!) my dd slept 12 hours a night from 5 weeks old.. I had no idea that wasn't the norm until speaking to friends about it!
So, goes down about 8.30 pm, up for a bottle at about 12am, then up again for another bottle at 4 am but it takes about 45 minutes for him to settle at this feed. Then he's up for the day at 7am with his toddler sister. It's been 6 months of interrupted sleep so starting to lose the plot now! He's in a sleeping bag, has a dummy, the room is dark, have tried a night light, playing music..the list goes on but he still wakes up, he can't seem to go for longer than the 4 to 41/2 hours. I'm now wondering if he's just being a "normal" baby if such a thing exists or if he should be starting to sleep through by now?? I spoke to a woman at toddlers yest whose 6 month old was sleeping 12 hrs so I'm all confused now.
He's a big burly boy for his age, he's in 12-18 month clothes and has been getting solids since 4 months as he was just starving (I'm in no way petite and my hubby's family are big built as well) so I wonder if he's just hungry, but I've tried giving him porridge before bed with no success!
Help!
If one more person says 'well you were so lucky with DD' I'm going to scream! I'm tired x

[flobob]

Hello Caterina
Same as you, I had a sleepy first baby who slept through from very early on. Same as you with 2nd baby. Baby girl is 5 months old and has slept through odd nights. Last week she slept through for 3 nights in a row, and I was so pleased I mentioned it at a Under-1s baby group I sometimes go to. Then discovered that everyone else there, mostly with older babies, were still having interrupted nights. So felt guilty for mentioning it.

Anyway I spoke too soon, 3 nights was the lot, she's now back to waking once in the night.

I also spoke to a b-f counsellor about it and she said it was nothing to do with feeds as such at this age. Baby is still very young, etc. That's for breastfed babies, I think it might be different if baby is having formula?

It's so difficult isn't it? Especially when first baby did so well and you really didn't know what to expect!

I'm thinking of you.
FloBob x

[winegirl]

My LO slept through from about 3 weeks, but I know we were lucky, and that is another reason I am nervous to have another one as I am sure we couldnt be that lucky twice - and I am a 9hours a night kinda girl!!

I think they are all just different and will settle at different times. Have you tried going in when he is crying just to stroke him without picking him up/feeding him/talking to him??

WG xx