6 month old sleep difficulties

[Boymom90]

I'm struggling to get my nearly 6 month old to sleep at night. I don't know what is going wrong. I wait until I see tired cues (eye rubbing, yawning, general grumpiness, disinterest in toys etc). Then at night we complete a short but consistent bedtime routine which ends with a feed (BF). I'm happy to feed my baby to sleep and some nights this works well. However there are a lot of nights he gets to the point of sleep (eyes rolling back, breathing slowed) then decides that he doesn't want to go over. He then pulls of the breast and will lie on his back (we have been co-sleeping) eyes wide open and come back to the breast for very short periods (literally seconds) before pulling away again. While doing this he will also kicks his legs forcefully against me and flap his arms around. He will do this over and over again. I try walking him around, rocking him but this doesn't work for me as he will search for the breast but then won't stay latched on. I also try switching sides as sometimes this works but mostly it doesn't. If I put him in his co sleeper and leave the room he will be fine for a brief period before the crying starts. When I go in to settle him we just start the cycle all over again. Eventually I ask my husband for help and he can sometimes get him to go over by walking him around but this involves a lot of hard crying and then him waking again when he is put down. We eventually get him down between us but mostly I then feel like shit that I don't know how to help him be more relaxed at bedtime. Day sleep is the same but I find it easier as I can put him in his pram and he will generally fall asleep during a walk.

@Fatedestiny can you help?

I used to have a similar problem with my son. I BF to sleep for months and it was fine while it worked, but eventually it stopped working.

I started following lucy Wolfe’s ‘baby sleep solution’ which involves settling them independently in their cot, but you stay with them and soothe them to sleep. Then when they have the hang of that you gradually reduce the soothing until they’re falling asleep independently.

It has made a huge difference to us and has really helped my baby. I’d recommend buying her book, but she also has a really useful Instagram with lots of tips etc.

Idk what the cause or solution is but mine does this too sometimes. These days I get her to sleep by a combination of BFing/ rocking in arms/rocking in chair. Usually 10 mins or so of one then move to the next tactic and eventually something works. It's not ideal but idk what else to do 🤷‍♀️😕

@Cloudninenine thanks for the recommendation I'll definitely look at buying the book!

@Pigeonorcoot I am the same I just move between a few different strategies until sleep wins and he is too exhausted to fight it anymore, I just wish I could find a way that doesn't involve so much crying!

I had the same - bf to sleep for months, worked perfectly until about five months until I could no longer successfully ever transfer him to his own bed without him waking up.
The solution is to get your baby used to a different settling method and for them to learn to go to sleep independently. You might also have an overtired baby if you wait for tired cues instead of preempting them and this could be preventing baby from going to sleep. Am sure someone more experienced will be able to advise in more detail. Good luck - it's stressful but babies are very adaptable!

@user1471518119 your right I definitely think he is overtired. I've downloaded Lucy Wolfe's book and have been reading it so I think I will give her method a go to help him learn to fall a sleep with a little less help from me.