Help with 6 month old sleep

[Somethink]

6 month old goes down for bedtime and naps pretty well. But having a real struggle with night wakes (still feeding a few times over night, which is ok, but wakes can be every hour - some fixed by just popping paci back in, some go for hours) and short naps (3x30min is a normal day - sometimes 1 will be longer but not often).

Any advice welcome - it seems like getting rid of paci might help but reluctant to take away a comfort item. Tried Ferber but didn't work - sleep training seems to imply once you sort out bedtime the wakes will be easier, but clearly not true for us!

Can you bed share following lullaby trust guidelines? My six month old wakes every few hours but snuffles about for milk (breastfed) and goes straight back to sleep.

Thanks for the suggestion but bed sharing isn't for me - baby is in cot in their own room. If it was just a feed every few hours I'm happy to get up but it's much more! Not sure where to go next if Ferber isn't working

I was you a couple of years ago. 6+ wakes every single night, despite sleep training. Lasted two months.

For us the sleep training was definitely beneficial (little ones method - we fed to sleep as a baby), but naps were short as he couldn't link sleep cycles and the same problem led to multiple night wakes. He also had 8 teeth coming in during that time (all at once) which didn't help.

At the end of it, he needed to be able to self settle totally independantly. Once he mastered that skill, night wakes stopped and we all slept a million times better.

Thanks @UnravellingTheWorld - the little ones method looks like it's also focused on getting baby to sleep at the start of the night on the assumption that will automatically cut wakes - is that right? So much sleep training seems to assume that! Did you use a pacifier?

I spoke to a sleep consultant when mine was 6 months and still waking twice at night and she gave me the following schedule:

6 am wake - should have milk feed around 180 - 200 mls

8 am - breakfast something like overnight oats (avoid baby porridge), banana, avocado, nuts (if not allergic) - usually all meals should be for 30 minutes and if they’re getting restless in the middle they can play with a sippy cup.

Morning nap at 0900/0915 for 30 - 45 minutes (max)

Milk feed again on waking if hungry

Lunch at 12 pm (again 30 minutes) - carbs like root vegetables, avoid foods like lentils and cauliflower because they can cause gas, protein (suggest fish - salmon is good oven baked), egg, I also use baby pasta (one table spoon cooked)

Afternoon nap (main nap) - 1 pm to 3 pm. Aim for 1.5 to 2 hours. They must be woken up by 3

Milk feed on waking

Dinner - 5 pm to 5.30 pm. Same as above - carbs and protein. Finish meal then play for around 30 mins.

Bath time at around 6 pm followed by half of night milk feed (so it should be 200 - 220 mls in total)

Bedtime at 6.30 (I usually put mine to bed at 6.45 pm) - with remaining half of milk

If they wake overnight try not to pick them up - allow 2 minutes to see if they settle but if not try patting them. Try this maybe 3/4 times. If that doesn’t work or if they’re getting more upset then pick them up. Not sure if you BF but try to avoid overnight BUT if that is the only thing that will settle them then 5 minutes max. Avoid changing nappy overnight.

It took about a week but eventually worked although we are not back to waking once at night (I think it’s because he’s starting to crawl)

Good luck!

It won't necessarily enable sleeping through, but for my son it was his inability to self settle that prevented him from linking sleep cycles. Some babies that age still wake once or twice a night and it's not an issue. But for us it was a serious problem - my husband and I were both getting a broken 3 hours sleep every night, and the baby was also sleeping very poorly. He had been sleeping through before 6 months (not every night, but most nights), so he was clearly ready for no night milk. But when he hit 6 months he needed to be able to put himself to sleep to be able to link his sleep cycles together. Even when we solved the problem, he did still occasionally wake at night. But that was normal baby reasons, and it never grew into a big issue again. He's 2 now and sleeps fantastic - goes to bed at 7:30 and stays there for 12 hours.

He never really got on with a dummy so it didn't serve any purpose in our house. Sorry I can't offer any advice on that area - apparently at around 8 months they can put the dummy back in themselves (not that mine ever did)