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6 month old suddenly clingy

2 replies

knockeduplockeddown · 22/01/2021 10:27

Hi! My 6 month old had gotten into really good sleep habits over the past 2-3 months. He has always catnapped rather than doing long naps but this was improving, and we were in a pretty good schedule where I could put him down for naps whilst awake and he would self settle- same at night. He was tending to go from about 8pm to 5am, quick feed at 5 and then back to sleep until 8am. If he woke other than that he would either get back to sleep himself (with the help of Ewan the sheep 🙌🏻) or just need me to pop his dummy in.

In the past week he has become increasingly unsettled and won't fall asleep on his own. He either needs me almost inside his cot with him, or else to be in my arms, and takes 30-60 mins to go to sleep (which is sad when he then only naps for 30-45 mins sometimes 😂). I have read about the fact that at this age they develop an understanding of the fact that you can leave them and it can cause then to be clingy. Is that what this is? Is there anything I can do or do I just ride it out? Any advice appreciated.

For info, he has had the same bedtime routine since he was a few weeks old (bath, pjs, feed, cuddle, lullaby + sleep sack and then bed in dark room with white noise) and for naps we do cuddle, sleep sack, feed, bed with white noise in dark room. He wakes up well rested and happy, it's just getting him to sleep is the tricky bit!

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Ohalrightthen · 22/01/2021 10:32

I have read about the fact that at this age they develop an understanding of the fact that you can leave them and it can cause then to be clingy. Is that what this is? Is there anything I can do or do I just ride it out? Any advice appreciated.

Saw the title and came to say exactly this! Your baby has just developed "object permanence" - the understanding that things still exist when he can't see them - so he's now got the brain capacity to miss you! And you're his mummy, he loves you more than anything else, so when you go away he wants you to come back!

You can't really do much about it, tbh, he'll likely be a bit off until he works out that you always come back.

When DD went through this, we tried telling her where we were going and when we'd be back EVERY time we left her eyeline. V annoying. And sorta popping in and out - so saying you were going to the loo, leaving the room, then going back in straight away, and then leaving again, so she saw that when we said "I'm coming back" that we actually were.

Sleepwise, I don't have much advice, except that we found at around this age that DD really needed us to just bugger off and let her get on with it. Us being in the room stopped her getting to sleep.

knockeduplockeddown · 22/01/2021 10:43

@Ohalrightthen thank you for your response! Yes, it has definitely coincided with the object permanence development as he now looks for toys when he drops them and looks for us when we leave the room. I like the idea of telling him we are going and coming back, thank you!

Annoyingly, he absolutely used to need us to bugger off and let him sleep but now gets really upset when he's left. Might need to reintroduce that gradually maybe. Just when you think you have it cracked they show you what's what don't they!!!

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