Help! 6 month old suddenly terrible sleeper!

[poppymatilda]

Our DD has been quite a decent sleeper most of the time. we obviously had the chaos of the newborn phase but she settled quite quickly into a nighttime routine after that. By 8 weeks she was down to one night feed and she first slept through at 3 months (although has never managed to do this consistently). She generally woke at 3/4am for a feed and then straight back to sleep. We had a brief regression at 4 months but it was mercifully short-lived.
We moved her to her cot from her Moses basket at 5 months and she settled fine.

Then suddenly in the last 2 or 3 weeks she has started waking multiple times a night. Well, sort of waking. Often it's like she's crying in her sleep because her eyes are closed. Nothing settles her - we've tried the usual patting, shhhing, Ewan sheep etc and she gradually gets more upset until she does wake up then is hard to settle. I've tried leaving her to cry and that doesn't work either. The only thing that works is if you give her the dummy, she'll settle straight away. Sometimes it works for several hours, sometimes only for a few minutes so it's not a perfect solution and I'm worried about creating a dependency on the dummy that will be hard to break. Any which way DH and I are exhausted and need to try to do something so we all get a better night.
At first I thought it was a cold she had but that's now long gone. Then I wondered if it coincided with us starting to dream feed her. The dream feed works in the sense that I don't now have to feed her at 3/4am but I think it's rather do that than have the multiple night wakings!

Has anybody experienced similar? Any tips on how to solve would be much appreciated - she woke up 5 times last night 😭 Wondering if I just bin the dream feed tonight and see what happens.

Help!

This happened to my first DC when she started getting teeth. Is there any sign of teething? You could try Calpol.

It could be a few things. Does she start crying and roughly the same time each night? You could try gently rousing her just before this time to break her out of the pattern. I don't know if 6 month olds can have night terrors but it may be worth looking into coping methods.

She may have just hit the six month sleep regression which you'll pretty much just have to ride out until she finishes her development leap. Download the wonder weeks app to help you track where they'll be. The 10 month sleep regression hit my little one hard and he went from a Perfect sleeper to a little nightmare but is now back to somewhat regular sleep.

Don't worry about dependency on the dummy just yet. If it works then give it to her. Save it for naps and night time and she'll associate it with sleep. When she's a bit older you can introduce a toy for her to cuddle and chew on instead and slowly wean her off the dummy. You may get a few broken nights from it but she'll soon adapt!

Good luck, hope she settles for you soon

No advice but just to say we're in the same boat. A few days before he turned 6 months old he suddenly started waking loads in the night. He'd slept through the night since he was 4 weeks old, waking once in the night at most, so this was a shock!! We've had this for a month now. He had a few days of good sleep but otherwise he's woken up a few times each nice. We never gave him a dummy at night before but have resorted to it recently at his first wake. Then he wakes cos it falls out so I think its doing more harm than good. the only other thing that settles him is a breastfeed. He will go back to sleep straight away but the interrupted sleep is driving us crazy!!!

Thanks all. Anyone got experience of a dream feed disrupting sleep? I'm still wondering if it's that

I always found dream feeds helpful so I wouldn’t have thought it was that, but I am as far from an expert as it’s possible to be!

Have you started weaning? I found DS started to wake up more as we transitioned to solids.

It was helpful for us but now seems to make no difference so we've stopped it. I think most people find it helpful but for some it does disrupt their sleep.

Dreamfeeds were definitely disruptive for DS although it took me a couple of months to realise it. It seemed to break his nice deep sleep cycle and caused more wakings than if we didn't bother. This was a while ago now though. He is 8.5 months and I stopped dreamfeeding when he was about 4 months

Thanks rosebud, interesting. It does seem a suspicious coincidence that the troubles started when we introduced the dream feed. I have a job interview tomorrow so did it tonight but think we might drop it tomorrow night and see what happens!

So we've tried dropping the dream feed or not and neither seems to make any difference.

Last night was the worst yet. DH at work until the early hours so on my own with her. She had a massive cry as I put her to bed. No idea why, nothing would soothe her for ages and she refused her bottle in spite of not had much in the day. Completely out of character. Eventually I calmed her and she then had some of her bottle before absolutely conking out to sleep. I think she must've been overtired (even though she'd had several naps during the day).

Then I went to dream feed her at 10.30 and she woke up completely and then refused the bottle again. I gave up and put her back down then she wouldn't settle. Eventually i picked her up and she really went for the bottle when I offered it (only drank about 70ml but it seemed to settle her down). She then went back to sleep ok.

Then for the rest of the night she woke up every couple of hours. Not hungry, just whimpering and wailing. Nothing I do settles her - me going to her makes no difference even if I pick her up and cuddle her, she just keeps crying. It makes me feel like a terrible mother and my heart breaks to see her upset.

Also I need to go back to work soon. I lost my job whilst on mat leave so will be going back to a new company and going to interviews at the moment. I am starting to panic because I have no idea how I'm going to manage a new job whilst the nights are like this. I expected the newborn phase to be rough but I wasn't prepared for things to fall apart so suddenly at this stage. She's definitely worse now than as a newborn.

It feels like everyone else's babies are long since going through the night and I'm just so frustrated I want to cry. Why is mine like this? When am I ever going to get a night's sleep again? I feel like a zombie today, I'm just at my wit's end

Okay so my little boy turned 7 months old today and last night was the best nights sleep he's had in a very very long time. For no apparent reason. He slept from 7pm until around 12:30am then woke at maybe 4ish then again at 6ish and was hars to settle back to sleep then so got h8m up just before 7am. I know that doesn't sound amazing but compared to him being up approx every hour or two as he has for the last month, this is massive progress and I feel so much better today for some sleep! Who knows if this is a one-off or what, but we did nothing different last night whatsoever. And when his good sleep deteriorated at the 6 month mark we did nothing different then either. I think sometimes we might need to just ride it out... 😖 hope you get some naps in today at least!!

OP refusing a bottle and being very hard to settle suggests it could be teeth maybe? Does she cry when laying flat? If so could be an ear infection. Or just one of those "lovely" phases of developmental fun that mean sleeping is not something they want to do

The crying doesn't seem to be linked to laying flat. No sign of teeth but I guess they could be rumbling beneath the surface. Is teething just troublesome at night? She's a happy smiley girl during the day.

We've recently started her on solids so wondering if it's connected with that.

Ps. Also could be developmental leap as PP said. Wonder weeks suggests she's mid leap

If she’s mid-leap, then ride it out... she should be back to normal in a couple of days.

Like PP, refusing the milk to me also sounds like it could be teething. It is indeed often worse as night because I think pressure in the gums can build when lying down, plus there are no distractions so the baby can really focus on the discomfort! No harm in giving a bit of infant ibuprofen before bed and seeing if that helps. Any other signs of teething? Drooling? Chewing on fingers? Flushed cheeks?

This will pass soon, OP, whatever it is! It always feels like it will go on forever when you’re in the thick of it, but this won’t ruin your return to work (...I’m PRETTY sure... gulp!) Hang in there!

Yes normally worse at night as PP said they have nothing else do focus on and distract from the pain! If you are mid leap could very well be that. Leaps normally affect my boy's sleep. Just ride it out I know it's easier said than done but whatever it is will pass

No advice, just posting for solitary. Mine was 6 months yesterday, has never been an amazing sleeper but has done a few 7 hour stretches and I thought we’d turned a corner since she learned to roll over as she was sleeping so much better on her front.

For the last week or so her sleep has gone waaaay downhill, to the extent that last night I was up every 45 minutes, all through the night. It was bad earlier in the week but like every 2 hours, then every hour and a half, now this. I’m dreading tonight.

Like I said no advice, just wanted to let you know it’s not just you, misery loves company and all that. I’m just hoping it’s to do with the WW and she’ll get back to normal sometime soon. 4 hours sleep in a row would be magnificent.

Thank you all for replying. Husband on another long shift so on my own all day and evening again. Shes really refusing daytime naps today. Never been a great daytime napper but barely managed an hour all-day. She's drunk her bottle but refused all solids and is now a whining overtired grump.
Not a chance of 5 minutes on the sofa for me. God I feel so miserable, I feel like she's torturing me. Thank you for all being out there x

Hi again

I’ve been doing lots of reading and have seen quite a lot about how introducing solid foods can totally mess with a baby’s sleep as their little tummies hurt overnight while they try to get used to digesting solids.

How is weaning going for you, have you tried a lot of different foods?

My DD has been doing so well, loves both purées and finger food and I’m thinking maybe I’ve been getting a bit carried away with giving her lots of different things to try and it’s all been a bit too much for her little tummy to deal with. It pains me to say it as she has an aversion to milk due to previous issues with silent reflux, and really seems to love solids, smiles and giggles loads, but I think I’m going to go back to just formula for a few days, see if that makes a difference, then introduce one thing at a time and see how that goes.

I’ll let you know if it helps!!

Oh yes please MrsMaow, do let me know. I think I've I might have done something similar to you. We only started solids a couple of weeks ago and it has been going really well for us too. I've been enjoying introducing her to lots of different things but I wonder if I've not taken it slow enough and overloaded her digestive system 😬 Last night when she was upset at bedtime I realised that yesterday afternoon I gave her quite a lot of food and probably too near bedtime to give her time to digest before bed. Oppps bad mummy! Today she's refused all solids and it could be coincidence but she went down much better tonight so it will be interesting to see how she does overnight. Going to skip the dream feed and get some sleep now!

Morning poppymatilda, how did last night go?

My DD slept way better last night, 8 hours solid til she wanted her dummy at 5ish. I barely slept at all as I was waiting for her to wake up! So now I don’t know what to do as she had some of our roast chicken and mashed potato last night at dinner time (before I did all my reading and thought I’d figured out the problem) and I’d have thought that if anything would have upset her digestive system her first bit of meat would have done it.

I wish babies came with a trouble shooting guide.

Oh if only they came with a hand book! So DD has no solids yesterday, in her grumpy mood she refused them. Then last night she went down at 7 and slept pretty solidly until 5 when she woke and I put the dummy in and she slept until 6. By far the best night we've had in weeks! No idea if it's the solids or coincidence. Going to just give her milk today and see what happens tonight!

You havent mentioned how your baby is during the day, in respect to naps. Does she go down easily for a nap and sleep well/ Does she need any interventions to drop off? cuddles, bottle, breast? similarly at bedtime. These things are key at this stage. I dont think dream feeds are helpful. and its unlikely her "tummy hurts" due to weaning. Sometimes we spend a lot of time looking for causes that arent there. You need to consider her whole 24 hours and how she is around sleeping. Also, if sshe is not really waking during the night as her eyes are closed, you may be a creating a problem that isnt there. Murmuring and moaning can be quite normal and you may be disturbing her by shushing and rubbing her back. Does she still sleep in the same room as you?

OP I’m in exactly your situ - previously good sleeper waking loads all night (after starting solids). How did u solve?