6 month old just won’t sleep

[Anon120055509]

It’s probably my fault, I’m a first time mum of the age of 21 and I took every opportunity to hold my LO when he was younger, I’m certainly paying for it now!
My LO, 6 months has never really been a good sleeper, he sleeps about 40 mins (if I’m lucky) for naps of a day and 2 hours /4 (if I’m lucky) of a night.
He will only sleep an hour at most IF he’s being held, he would happily go all day tired and grumpy than just giving in and going to sleep.
He will fight going to sleep continuously until he’s red in the face, screaming until the bed or your shoulder is completely soaked with tears, it’s heartbreaking but also over something so small as napping! 😩 I can’t do anything, I’m tired and frustrated as I know it’s partly my fault,
He’s teething which doesn’t be help but nothing a power can’t fix and he’s right as rain with the teething but by the time we’ve finally got him to sleep it’s been 2 hours or whatever and he’s doing due a feed so awake again, if this does happen, he will fall asleep during the feed but again only for 30-40 mins which is no where near enough for a little bugger who has been weak for 2+ hours!! 😩😩

I’ve been tried controlled crying but he will go for hours just point blank refusing to go, I’ve tried white noise / lullabies which help soothe him but eventually he’ll get bored of it and kick off again, controlled crying isn’t the best for us of a night as my partner work so in an airport so has shifts that require him to be up at 3am and it’s hardly fair to let him listen to a crying baby for hours when he’s up for a day at work 😓😓

Has anyone had this situation themselves and have any advice? It’d be much appreciated

been awake for 2+ hours
Not weak, my phone is awful when typing.

Can anyone offer advice?😭

Have you tried cranial osteopathy? If you had either a c-section or an assisted delivery (forceps or similar) it's worth a try. My DS was the same as yours with sleep and although it didn't fix the problem it improved it significantly.

What is it exactly? 😮 I had a completely natural birth

Is he weaning? You've said 6 months so it might be something to think about if he's still waking a lot for feeds. It's not a silver bullet and won't necessarily make a difference straight away but once he gets going it does help. It might also help to establish a routine if you haven't already? By 6 months they are moving out of the whatever whenever stage and start responding to regular cues. Might be worth making a note of what he does each day and when, you might start to notice a pattern which you can nudge along into a routine. I know it's hard... DD was not a good sleeper at all for the first 6 months! Best advice I got was to just focus on naps and bedtime to try and get those more established and then trust the rest will resolve in time.... took to 8 months but she then just suddenly got it and started sleeping through. Good luck!

One of the reasons I suggest routine is some babies (like DD) are totally FOMO and will just fight sleep to the bitter end because something more interesting is going on.... once they get into a regular pattern it's easier because they are expecting to go to sleep and don't feel so much that their being dragged away from something exciting!

Thank you I think I just have to bite my tongue and just try and focus on his naps! I know he’s a baby but I just keep thinking I’d kill to be asleep right now, sleep is amazing why don’t you sleep😂 babies are hit and miss and I just need to keep telling myself it gets better!

Yes hes weaning, he loves his foods & he would probably much rather have food than bottles because he is just far too nosey to focus on his bottle. He’s teething pretty bad so I don’t think that is helping him the poor thing 💙 thank you for responding x

I feel ya! It's like if all babies really do for the first few months is eat and sleep why is that so bastard hard..... surely they should just be born knowing that right?!!!! Learning to walk I get, that's hard.... but sleep should be easy! Hang in there, it does get better!