"But when will he sleep through the night?", "He's started sleeping through the night!", "I'd like him sleeping through the night by (*some number of weeks*)" - All things I've heard from parents expecting, or after having, a newborn. 

The reality is: No one sleeps through the night.

Evolution has cleverly designed us to wake up briefly between each sleep cycle - 40-50 mins in a newborn baby, to 90-110 minutes in an 'adult'/mature sleep cycle - to briefly check in with our body and surroundings for signs that we are safe to continue sleeping.

Some people may be amazed by this as they genuinely don't recall any of these brief wakings and, in their mind therefore, they fall asleep at bedtime and wake up in the morning...

For others, like me, I'm prone to waking several times in the night and needing to make adjustments: go for a wee, have some water, turn my light off, take my glasses off, move the pillow I was using to lean on and read when I fell asleep reading etc. I'm also very sensitive to the increase in cortisol levels that naturally happens in the early hours of the morning to start our bodies up for the day. In these early hours, if I wake more fully between cycles (more than just to sip some water or adjust the duvet), I often find it harder to resettle as my brain and busy thoughts are starting up for the day.

Now, imagine being me (that is, if you're not already a similar night waker like me) but you're a dependent, helpless baby - perhaps with a particularly sensitive temperament to make things even more interesting. Waking may happen because you're hungry/thirsty, the temperature has dropped in the early hours and you're suddenly a bit chilly, you've not had a cuddle for ageeees, your nappy is really full and bothering you....But you're a baby, so resolving these issues isn't really in your skill set yet...For now, if you wake and something's bothering you, you call out for help. Sometimes, of course, you wake, and actually, having scanned the immediate environments, you're feeling pretty secure, so you just wriggle a little, make some noises but fall back asleep...

Some babies may have a naturally more sensitive temperament to these changes and such babies may wake more often in response to seemingly small things. Whereas others may be much less sensitive and able to assess their situation and decide they're fine. 

With time, and development, lots of love and feelings of security around their attachment to you knowing you respond when they need you, your little one....even if it's several years down the line, may signal for you less and less in the night. For some, this may come within the first few months.

However, no matter how old they are when they no longer need to signal for you so much, this is your gentle reminder that they are not sleeping through the night. They simply do not require assistance anymore when they do wake. Although there are things you can do to help your little one feel more secure and comfortable overnight, your baby/child is also a unique human being with their own sensitivities, temperament and needs. If you want to look at reducing your child's 'wakes' at night, let's look at your child, your situation, together. There may very well be simple things, or more serious red flags, that are contributing to the amount of waking your little one is doing. If that's the case, we can start to make the changes needed to improve the sleep situation for your family.