6 month old waking at night multiple times for the last 7 weeks !

[mumschat]

Hi there so my 6 month old has been waking on average 6 times every night from when he goes to bed and it is driving me nuts as i barely get 3 hours sleep in a row without him waking.

This has been going on for 7 weeks i am so exhausted and it is really starting to affect my mood and concentration ! It started when DS got his first tooth at 4.5 months and he was unsettled for 3 nights but once the tooth broke through the gums he was back to sleeping 11 or 12 hours with 1 wake up for a bottle. Then the second tooth came a week later and since then his sleep has been awful. He used to settle fine in his cot at night after a bit of whinging but now he only settles if i turn him on his side and wiggle his bottom for a minute or two until he nods off.

He can wake less than an hour after going to bed and at least every 2 hours after that. When he wakes he rolls back on his back and starts crying until i put him back on his side and wiggle his bottom again. It only takes max 5 minutes but it goes on all night he just cannot seem to settle. I end up bringing him into bed with me but it makes no difference to his sleep its just easier to settle him back while im lying down rather than getting up so many times during the night !

I am debating on purchasing the sleepyhead grand to see if there is any improvement though it is very expensive and if it doesn't work it is a waste. Has anyone got any tips ? I am getting desperate now !

[FATEdestiny]

Firstly, teeth tend to cut in 2 pairs (ie 4s). So if the top two are cut, you should be expecting the corresponding bottom pair to cut shortly afterwards. This could be your reason.

Secondly, if you wiggle or pat him to sleep, the gentle way to solve this would be yo very gradually, over time, reduce the ferocity and amount of wiggling needed. This is a slow, gradual process though - several weeks or months.

So in the mean-time as you are slowly reducing his dependence on you, how could you maximise your own sleep?

As you've found, lying down in your own bed to do the jiggling is much easier on you. So how about having his cot next to your bed until you've weaned him off being dependant on you? You could even remove one side off the cot to make a sidecar cot- you then don't even need to move from under your duvet or open your eyes to get him back to sleep!

This is the no distress option. I wouldn't recommend any sleep training that involves baby being left to cry until at least 12 months old.