Judy/Ann:

  I am jumping in on this thread as I recall many years ago reading ( and i am
sorry I do not recall where) about a man from India who tlaked about how men
would wake, share a story with the other's sleeping near by and then return to
sleep.

 This same man talked about sleeping in the same bed with his father into
adulthood... he had MUCH difficulty with American sleep concepts.

  I think that sleeping through the night is overrated and a) there are MANY
people who do not sleepp continuous from the time they lie down to the time
the choose to get up again... and b) we have no better a definition of
'sleeping through the night' than we do for "breastfeeding"....

  An interesting exercise is to sit down in  a group of people and ask them
each to define "sleeping through the night"....

       Patricia