Sleep advice needed - almost 6 month old

[CupcakeGirl1]

Hi,

I have an almost 6 month old DD and I am desperate need of a decent sleep! My DD hasn't slept well since birth but she did go through spell of going 6 hours or so at night. However, since 4 months, things have been getting progressively worse and I can be getting up to her 4 times a night (between 7pm and 7am). I have a 3 year old toddler too so I am tired!

We have a bedtime routine and I'm confident she "knows" it's bedtime. Bedtime routine consists of bath, story, milk, bed over a 30 min period. I pretty much feed her to sleep and I suspect that's where I'm going wrong. When she wakes up in the night, I usually feed her back to sleep too and⁰ I'm now also starting to worry about her milk consumption!!!

Naps are poor. 3 or 4 times a day for 30 mins at most.

I've tried crying it out, I've tried leaving her for increasing times intervals. I suspect I've not stuck with either method long enough. But what are you meant to do in the middle of the night when she's crying.. leave your bedroom for increasing intervals!?

My toddler was a dream sleeper and I'm only beginning to appreciate this now!

Any advice anyone can offer would be greatly received X

Hi OP, I'm sorry, this sounds hard and sleep deprivation with a toddler too is tough!
I think breaking the feeding to sleep habit is key. It will be new for her so you have to expect some crying whilst she adjusts, but it does get better. If you don't like the idea of just leaving her, you can start with the shush pat technique and then move to gradual retreat (lots of into on google). The key is sticking to it. It took a couple of weeks for us but after a couple of days we started seeing a real difference.

If they learn to self settle when you first put them to bed, it helps them to self settle during the night and breaks the feed to sleep habit. I think feeding once in the night at 6 months is ok, but 3-4 times isn't needed.

Naps are also important, sleep breeds sleep in my opinion. How long are the wake windows? Don't let her get overtired. Try to have a routine if she's napping at home eg bottle, story -
Similar to bedtime. If she doesn't nap well in the cot, use the car if buggy. Just focus on her getting enough sleep to start with.

Finally, what's the sleep environment like? I'd recommend black out blinds, white noise, perhaps a comforter if she doesn't have one? My DD cuddles her taggy blanket all night and id see her using it to self settle in the early days.

Failing that, I'd recommend a sleep consultant. Having someone working with you can really help motivate you to stick at it and help reassure you that you're doing the right things.

Sorry for the long message! I hope sleep
Improves for you soon!

You haven't done anything wrong and both your babies are normal. Unfortunately, your second is the more exhating type of normal!
6 months is a really busy age to be a baby, lots of physical development happening and that can mean frequent waking. Keep meeting her needs, including feeding and doing what it takes to get her back to sleep. 6 months is too young to be restricting feeds. The benefits for you both are massive.
This will change, honestly. Keep up the good work.

Hi OP. I totally understand this will not be suitable or appropriate for everyone but at 6 months I moved my son into his own room. He was also bf and waking multiple times. From that day on he slept SO much better. I think we were waking him up and he obviously knew milk was nearby!

At 5 months my little one was like this. She's now 6.5 months and her sleep has improved without us changing much.

I started offering her cuddles before a feed when she woke up and sometimes she would go back to sleep without a feed. I have found giving her a long nap or 2 short naps close together in the afternoon makes her happier. It does involve me going on long 1-2h walk though.

I started unlatching her when she went to comfort sucking and rocking and shhing her instead. I leave her close to the nipple so she can latch back on if she really wants but often the rocking and shhing does the job.

Thank you everyone for taking the time to send really thoughtful replies. There are some good suggestions here and I think tonight I'm going to try and put her down 'awake but drowsy' to see how we go. I havent tried shush pat but will give it a go.....and stick to it!

I was thinking about moving her to her own room but then I just assume I will end up sitting in her room 4 times in the night (as opposed to my comfy warm bed!) But maybe we need to go for it.

I will try and work on the naps but they are just so unpredictable in time and length....made even more difficult by a noisy toddler.

What is it they say, this too shall pass!? X

It really will pass! Good luck and keep us posted :)