6 month old waking every 2-3 hours ... help

[RooTwo]

My DD is almost 6 months and currently wakes anywhere from 3-5 times a night and it's really starting to kill me. She has been a very mixed sleeper since the start, with a patch of sleeping 10 hours around 3 months, then more usually waking once or twice, and also more frequently around 4 months. It seems to be getting worse again though and I can't think what to do. She never used to need to feed to sleep and now she won't settle at bedtime without pretty much doing that, and I have to feed her every time she wakes in the night or she goes mental ... I'm sure it's another phase - she seems very good at those, never having been in any sort of pattern ever! - but I'm terrified this one'll last months and/or that we are getting into awful feeding to sleep patterns. I've just started her on solids so she's having breakfast in the morning. Anyone have any advice?? Especially on alternatives to settle her in the night instead of feeding. Many thanks ....

[IShallCallYouSquishy]

No advice but I'll be watching with interest as I could have written your post.

DS is just 6 months, slept through for about a week at 3ish months then all went down hill. I think if he only wakes twice (rare) then it's been a good night.

All I can do is sympathise and offer though not after lunch as I'm paranoid of caffeine in my milk

[RooTwo]

Hi Squishy - gah yes it's pretty awful isn't it! Ditto for me twice a night = a good night. Pretty tragic really. Does yours settle easily at bedtime?

[StillWishihadabs]

How much does she weigh ? Are you feeding her every time she wakes ? At six months she needs 3-4 milk feeds and 3 meals in 24 hours. If she is having this she is not waking from hunger.

[DontstepontheMomeRaths]

Both mine were doing this at this stage but it was teeth. I'd apply teething gel at wake up first and see if they settled without a feed. Most of the time it worked. They seemed shocked at the sudden application of teething gel but after a gripe and a shush pat they'd settle until it wore off again. In fact when it was really bad I'd give them their 11pm feed and a spoonful of calpol to allow me a 4 hr stretch of sleep

Mine were definitely teething though. Maybe they're waking out of habit and a feed for comfort? There's some lovely sleep support threads on here. Well there used to be. Do join one for support late at night when you're truly fed up. Lack of sleep is a killer.

[BendyMum15]

No advice really but I always fed my first to sleep and feed my 3 month old to sleep now and tbh don't think its a problem. My first eventually stopped falling asleep on the boob and went to bed awake and went to sleep no probs and started sleeping all night at about 11 months. Since then if he has woken up in the night I have just cuddled him, popped him back in bed and turned on his light projector/music box. Before then if he woke up in the night I'd feed him and sometimes he would fall asleep on the boob and other times I'd put him into bed awake and he'd drop back off no probs. I decided that I'd rather spend 10 mins feeding him than hours awake trying to get him back to sleep.

Think its fairly normal for there to be sleep regressions during developmental leaps where they also need more milk and comfort and from memory 6 months or so was when this happened with DS.

If you are really struggling then have a chat to your health visitor, she should be able to help. I found my local breastfeeding support group helpful to as you at least know you aren't alone and another mum may have some good tips! Can you get someone to look after baby for a bit so you can rest during the day?

Hope you get some better sleep soon! x

[lisaloulou84]

I too could have literally written this post!
He was sooo good before, woke once for a feed for the first 3 months, then slept 8-5 for 6 glorious weeks and then rolled over, got teeth and its all been downhill from there! he's waking about 5 times a night now, and we're at our wits end. I don't think it's teeth, he's got the bottom too but no signs of more. I feel like its more to do with the ability to self settle and him learning to crawl??? currently googling sleep positioners, anyone had any luck with them?

[NutellaLawson]

My experience was very much like BendyMum15. I don't think feeding them to sleep is itself a problem (unlike what those who are trying to flog you their book would have you believe). They do eventually wean themselves off needing it. You know when that happens because it no longer works.

At around 11 months DS1 stopped relying on the boob. We still had a few nights where he'd whinge at being put to bed, but never for very long and NOTHING like the howling you get from CIO and CC methods (we know because we made the mistake of trying Ferber and it was a disaster).

He just started to sleep longer by himself, despite having been an appalling sleeper up until then (think 45-90 minute sleeps all night long). We did a variation on the pick up put down method. Picking up when he cried soothed him and eventually his tiredness was greater than his upset so he'd fall asleep. After a few nights like that he was able to just fuss a bit before conking out for 10 hours.

This is such a hard time and I feel for you (my 5 months old isn't a great sleeper either - 1-5 wakings a night) but I feel sure it's temporary and it's a case of grit your teeth and wait it out. Like I say, 11 months was a turning point (and 7 months we saw some longer sleeps of 5+ hours).

I never stopped feeding him back to sleep, he just stopped needing it after a while. He never wakes in the night now.

[annamitchell]

Also in exactly the same boat! my DD managed a fairly good stretch at 3 months (although never a great sleeper) and then all has been downhill since with approx 2-5 wakings each night and on most wakings am feeding or re settling with dummy. Also just started weening. Can't offer any advice- sorry, but watching this post with interest!

[Tangoandcreditcards]

Snap also. Exactly. Watching with interest.

[Tangoandcreditcards]

DS is 6.5 mo - he got to sleeping til 7/8am with a feed at 4/5am at 4 months. Thought I'd cracked it! foolish

Between 4-6 months he added another feed at 1/2am, in the last 3 weeks (have been weaning & started crawling) has added in 1 (sometimes 2) more and is up for the day at 5.50am without fail (usually wakes up with 5 mins of sleep shouting/screaming).

In the last 3 days he's started refusing milk, struggling to get 10oz down him in the day, but he'll take 5oz a go at each night feed (so 15-20oz). Eats 2 meals a day.

So have nothing to add except sympathy and hopefulness that it's a short developmental phase!

[lisaloulou84]

Tango - I'm not great on the advice on this thread as I'm in the same boat, but the only time my DS has ver refused that much milk was in the 3 days prior to the bottom teeth coming through about 4 weeks ago . Might be the case...

[Tangoandcreditcards]

Oh thanks lisalou - he's been threatening teeth for weeks now (soooo dribbly, soooo chewy) so I hope we see them soon.

[lisaloulou84]

It was much better when they came through Tango! And now it's all gone to pot again - I blame learning to crawl

[feekerry]

yep my 6.5m old wakes every hour or so...has done for months. again, don't think its related to feeding to sleep as my ds rarely feeds at night. he just faffs, rolls around, grunts, pulls at things with his hands whilst half asleep. i have given up now. he sleeps in with us in our bed. it doesn't stop him waking more but i am not getting out of bed every fecking hour. i just give him a cuddle and he usually falls back asleep. my now toddler was like this too and she is an amazing sleeper now so i know it won't last forever this time!

[RooTwo]

Thanks all for advice and thoughts ... so many in the same boat! I am sure it is a developmental leap that's causing it - she's so busy learning to sit up, starting to eat, generally being extremely chatty and mad in the daytime. I KNOW that she can self-settle, as she's done it lots before, so I have to hope that she'll get to grips with it again. Am trying to get her to nap in her cot in the hope that that'll get her happier about being in there and settling herself at night, and it seems to be working so far (naps at least) - she squawked a lot on and off when I put her in there yesterday but eventually settled with me going in and out a lot.

[DontstepontheMomeRaths]

Fingers crossed. Baby steps, she'll get there.

[tertle]

My 5 month old dd is the same. 2 wake ups is a miracle! And I'm getting fed up with other mums raising their eyebrows or telling me their baby slept through a 6 week so it's a relief to read this thread.

Dd doesn't feed to sleep all the time - she will do sometimes and feeds back to sleep when she wakes in the night but bed time can often result in screaming. So I am now (on advice of DD's pediatrician) feeding before bath and then offering milk again before bed. This seems to help as she's not hungry hungry after the bath for a feed so the before bath feed is calm. Then she has time to get any burps out and if she is still hungry she'll have a quick feed before sleeping. We have noticed an improvement - she's sleeping a much longer stretch once she goes to bed.

Good luck everyone. Oh to have an uninterrupted night of sleep...!

[Beebii87]

My 6 month old baby also sleeps poorly lately. He falls fast asleep between 7 and 8 am but wakes up spitting afterwards and becomes fussy for a while before falling back to sleep an hour or two later. He already has grown a pair of teeth and no amount of feeding can stop him from waking every 2 hrs afterwards. I am totally out of tricks here!

[FeelLikeTheresNoGoingBackNow]

Zombie thread OP.

maybe start a new one?

[FATEdestiny]

Beebii87 - how do you get baby to sleep? What is baby's daytime routine like?

(Starting a new thread would be a good idea)