Is it realistic to expect babies to sleep through the night?

Just like adults, babies go through different stages and phases of sleep which fit together in several cycles throughout the night, only little ones' sleep cycles are shorter than those of us grown ups and they are likely to enter very light states of sleep every couple of hours. A baby who has not learnt how to settle itself back to sleep independently is likely to wake up several times per night (each time he or she enters a light phase of sleep). Arguably, the best gift we can give to our troublesome sleepers is the opportunity to learn how to settle back to sleep without being nursed, cuddled, rocked or given a milk feed; in fact teaching your child how to fall asleep independently would be like giving them a gift for life. In theory, this may sound straight forward but parents may need support in finding the right solutions to their baby's sleeping difficulties and each baby and each situation is unique with it's own challenges and barriers to affecting change. Time spent with a baby sleep coach may be valuable for helping parents to achieve a better quality and more restful night's sleep all round, but it would be unrealistic to expect a completely undisturbed night, especially if baby is still very young and still needing milk feeds during the night.