6 month old sleep

[Catarinah]

Hi all. So my little boy will be 24 weeks tomorrow, and still wakes up numerous times at night. We've had a good bedtime routine since he was 3 months, he's breastfed and we cosleep. He usually goes to sleep between 6:30-7:30, sleeps until 12/1am, then wakes at 3am ish but after 3am he wakes up every hour which is what's getting be extremely tired and I'm getting run down (sore back from feeding him and picking him up etc and woken up today with a sore throat). I don't think I've slept longer than a 4 hour block since he was born in January. My OH does what he can to help but LO will only fall asleep by nursing so he can't do a lot really (rocking sometimes work but takes so much longer and if its done at night it just wakes him up even more so the night it even more disturbed and we get even less sleep). Any advice? He's only started solids the last 5 days (he's only had porridge with my milk so far).
Very tired mummy

Oh and to add, some days he's wide awake at 5am...like today, never sleeps past 6:15...tried pushing bedtime later but hes just really tired by 6pm so gets very cranky and cries a lot. He only naps 3 or 4 x 30 minute naps a day, major cat napper, even if I go in before he wakes to feed him through to the next cycle he just wakes up 15 minutes later... So I can't even nap when he naps!

I could have written your post OP! My baby is also 6 months old, EBF and gradually weaning these last 3 weeks or so. Albeit very slowly and has only had the basic things such as porridge & purée so far. She has a good bedtime routine and goes down to sleep very easily. She wakes numerous times in the night for little feeds. She does go straight back off. I also bring her into bed with me when I'm feeling extra tired, so I can just feed her on my side and we both fall back asleep.

I'm afraid I don't have any advice as such. It's what some babies do especially bf ones. They use it as a source of comfort as well as food/drink so I anticipate this will be the case until she is ready to sleep through.

I wanted to let you know you're certainly not alone in this. Babies often have their own schedule going on and you're right it can be rather exhausting, but eventually they do sleep for longer periods.

@thefamousfiveplusone sorry you're also going through this but I have to admit it makes me feel better I'm not the only one... He will do a long first stretch as some night he'll sleep from 6/7 until 1am so he can sleep a block of 6/7 hours, but for me to get the same I'd have to go to bed then too (which I have done a few times but I struggle to fall alseep at that time even when I'm exhausted... Typical... Plus that's the only non baby time I get to do stuff... like bathe... Haha) Zzzzzz!

My 9 month old still does this
He was a lot worse at 6 months though waking every 2 hours so now I get 4 hour blocks of sleep I feel happy! My husband gets up early with him when he wakes around 6/6:30 so I sleep in until he goes to work at 7:30/8 which I feel makes such a difference.
Also his naps will get longer soon and he'll start doing a long afternoon nap which will give you a chance to nap hopefully

My DS is almost 7 months and EBF - we’ve been weaning since 22 weeks due to reflux - made no difference. I know it may not be helpful but I think this is normal. Try to rest when you can - always feed lying down so you can get back to sleep. Tbh DS doesn’t really wake me up for very long - just enough to get latched, he doesn’t even open his eyes.
Are you still off work? Could you both go back to bed for a daytime nap?
If not perhaps your OH could get up and do breakfast etc in the morning so you can have an hour uninterrupted, if you fed before maybe longer?

Yes im off work and will be until end of the year hopefully. He doesn't really wake up fully for his night feeds wirher he just moves his head from side to side as if looking for my breast, if i just leave him then he does fully wake up and takes longer to settle so i quickly give him my breast and usually within 10 minutes or so he's asleep. Although he will sometimes wake at 4/5am and wide awake laughing away. I've tried just putting my hand over him when he roots in his sleep but it doesn't work. Trying to nap when he naps just makes me feel worse because theyre only 30 mins and by the time i start to drift, he wakes up!

Do we share the same child. Same here. 6 months, sleeps until midnight and then can be up every hour.

Solidarity.

The short day time naps make it hard. Try to get your other half to do some of the baby care when they’re around. Even if you still have to wake to feed you can atleast be in bed past 6am!
BF is hard but be proud of all you’re doing for your baby. You’ll cope. This will pass.

Mmm probably not what you want to hear, but get him out of your bed? At six months he's old enough to be in his own room, and if he's having lots of milk during the day + solids I doubt he asks for milk because he's hungry.
Before the anti CIO crowd crucifies me, there's in no need to let baby cry on his own for long periods of time to get him used to sleep for longer stretches on his own. Sometimes all they need is a chance to do so and some reassurance. Try settling him in is own cot rather than picking him up or giving him the breast every time he is upset.
Again, probably not what you want to hear, but if what you are doing is not working, just try something different :)

Not my thread but I had exactly that suggestion from the health visitor. If I did that, my baby would cry all night meaning less sleep for all.

Some babies just don't sleep well. I didn't sleep through the night until I was three years old. Sleep perfectly fine as an adult.

I agree with a previous poster who suggested trying him in his own room. We moved DS in to his cot in his room at 7 months and he was a lot more settled because we weren’t disturbing him. Maybe try it for his naps and see how it goes? Might not work at all but worth a try!

Also does he have a soother? If he’s eating well during the day he might only be feeding for comfort.

Hi this sounds so similar to my baby! He is 6 months old and breastfed, we started solids at the weekend. We have actually moved to his own room this week and it's not really made a difference yet but it is early days. We didn't co sleep as I never got the hang of feeding laying down so he was previously in his snuzpod at night, attached to our bed. He also mostly feeds to sleep although I'm now trying to feed until almost asleep and then put him down to nod off completely... This is producing mixed results!

@3rdtimelucky2019 haha oh really?
Own room? No chance... He won't even go in hia own cot, and believe me, we have tried everything - even 3 different cots and a sleepyhead! I can only manage to put him down for his naps 20% of the time... We're a long way away from his own room...
I think i could manage the nights better if i had even 1 longer nap in the day so I could squeeze in a nap for myself when necessary. And I'm not an advocate for CIO (I agree, I'm sure it works in the end, but it's not the route we'd wish to take in order to get there). He won't take a dummy either
... Might just have to ride this one out!

This was exactly the same as us! My LO is 23 weeks now and I honestly feel your pain. The past month his sleep has drastically improved and the thing that helped was stopping feeding to sleep. We put him down awake and he did cry a lot but we just went into him every few mins to give reassurance and it took maybe 3/4 days and he was used to it. But I did cry every time we left him to cry for those few days but it was worth it.
Naps have started to now lengthen to a hour or over and only up around 3am for feed. We're still working on the 5am wakeups though...