6 month old not sleeping at night

[Melbs6]

My baby is 6 months old and for the last week he has been waking every single hour at night time and I am really struggling. The moment I fall asleep he starts crying again which wakes me up and it feels like torture. I am so so tired. Is this a 6 month sleep regression? His 4 month regression was nowhere near this bad.

Just in case it’s relevant, he’s exclusively breastfed and we’ve just started weaning which he hates. He doesn’t have any teeth yet so could be teething but I tried calpol last night and that didn’t help. I usually put him straight on the boob when he wakes up but last night tried to soothe him without feeding him because I don’t want him to become reliant on increased feeds in the night.

Does anyone have any advice? Is there anything else it could be if it’s not a regression?

Could be be feeling under the weather for whatever reason? When my babies have gone through phases like this, I've just co-slept and let them feed whenever they want, and I can sleep whilst they feed. It's never formed bad habits for my children, just got us through a difficult phase, after which they have always settled down again. If its only been for a few days, I would suspect baby is perhaps not feeling well. For example, if he has a sore throat, he may wake up and want frequent drinks as well as the comfort that BF brings.

Additionally, babies often wake up more frequently at night when they are on the cusp, or in the middle of learning a new skill.... Eating solids in his case perhaps? Either way, it won't last, so try not to worry about forming bad habits. It will all settle down again!

Weaning made my DS's sleep worse (he was already a crap sleeper at that stage). I moved his meal times round so he had more digestion time but usually needed help with his night farts (bicycle legs) for a good few weeks once he started eating solids.

That’s good to hear about the increased feeds not causing a bad habit for your children @Somethingsnappy. It feels really natural to just put him on the boob because it soothes him instantly but I read online that he could form bad habits. I think I’ll just continue to do it if he keeps awakening. It feels cruel to deny it to him. Yes he could potentially be feeling under the weather, although we had covid a few weeks ago and that didn’t seem to dIsrupt his sleep. He is struggling with his solids, he doesn’t seem to like anything, so perhaps it’s that that he’s learning and making him wake up lots. Good thinking.

@Potterythrowdown he did do an absolutely ginormous fart in the middle of the night which is unusual for him so it could be starting solids that is upsetting his tummy. I’ll try feeding him earlier in the day and do lots of bicycle pumps, thank you

My advice would be not to worry about feeding to sleep, you can tackle that when he's a bit older. Just do what you've got to do to get through this, don't make life harder for yourself. The only thing that got me through in your situation was cosleeping and feeding lying down.