Sleep training my 6 month old

[Dey83]

Hi all,

My daughter is 6 months old and due to circumstances a number of sleep associations were developed. She suffered with reflux which wasn't diagnosed till she was 4 months old, therefore I had to rock her to sleep each time she needed breast feeding. She has always woken up every hour, so due to this we co sleep.

She's getting much bigger now and getting up every hour to settle her back to sleep through either rocking or bf is taking its toll. So much so that I now weigh 7st12lb!

I've tried the pupd method but that just wound her up, so currently I am doing the gradual retreat method. We are on day three, she still cries for an hour before falling asleep and continues to wake up every 1.5 hours. I'm concerned she is hungry through the night so I feed her after 6 hours and then every four hours as the night goes on.

Should she be behaving like this with this sleep training method. She has recently had a cold, although she is well, she does still have a snotty nose.

In dont know if I'm doing his right :(?

A friend of mine once recommended pottering around upstairs doing jobs and occasionally going back in to give a reassuring pat? I think there are lots of different methods, it's about finding what works for you and your baby. (Personally I mainly went with "Baby Whisperer" BUT I did adapt when pupd didn't work on my DD.)

The feeding sounds quite a lot for a six month old overnight though - she could well be hungry. Might be worth upping her feeds in the day since you're getting so worn out? Are you weaning her on to solids now?

And yes I am sure the cold won't help - it might just be breaking up her sleep, so I probably would wait to try any major sleep training till she is 100%. And very good luck to you, hope things improve soon!

As hard as it it I just wouldn't sleep train a 6mth old. If you don't want to rock her during the night stop rocking her but feed & lie with her instead. Shushing & patting etc. At least she will be comforted then & know she's not alone.

I'm on my third breastfed ds, he's nearly 7mths and Wales frequently too. I think it's quite normal really.

If you just go with it, they do eventually start sleeping longer at night. They get more mobile & eat more during the day & naturally start to sleep better at night.

Have you tried white noise? Our 5 month old breastfed baby would wake every hour and a half until last week when I put a fan on in the bedroom. Now it's only twice a night.
Before last week feeding was the only thing that would settle her but on night 1 of fan noise she would settle herself within 2 minutes.

Thanks all for the advice. She's on three solid meals a day, plus 4/5 times breast fed. She eats really well.

I've been thinking about putting a fan on, but have been worried that it will just be another thing she becomes dependant on.

I've tried not rocking her and just laying down with her. She gets so frustrated that she can't get to sleep and will kick me and just shout out in anger. During the day she is so good, hardly cries at all, but doesn't nap too well.

I'm wondering weather I should only feed her once during the night? And maybe this is why she keeps waking up- to comfort feed?

If she has a cold she might be getting dehydrated, so needing to drink at night - maybe wait til she is better?

What you describe sounds very like my ds who has always been an awful sleeper/napper. He has though suddenly started only waking twice a night, which I think is age. He's just over 7 months.

On white noise, you could use an untuned radio and then slowly reduce the volume over several nights when the time comes to wean her off it. Ds always sleeps much longer when I have used it.