6 month old regressed in sleeping

[mollysmum82]

Please help! My baby went from waking up every hour through the night at 1 month old to sleeping through at 4 months old. I happily thought "aaaahhh this is it, blisfull nights from now on..." STUPID EEJIT! She started to wake once in the night again..then twice...then three times. I would always go to pick her up but my (well-meaning) friends suggested not doing this, and to try leaving her for a minute and then try stroking her belly to settle her... and now she is refusing point blank to go in her cot! What have I done?! What is happening?! Help!

Haha I sound hysterical, many apologies - that's sleep deprivation for you!

Is she teething? And ignore your so called friends. At 6 months she is crying for a reason.

For right now I would try to get her to sleep elsewhere, i.e. fall asleep in your arms and then place her in her cot. And also ignore everyone who is going to come on here and tell you that if you do that you 'make a rod for your own back' which I think is the silliest thing I have ever heard.

My DS, now 8 months, never used fall asleep in his cot, but in my arms. Nap time, bed time, all times, until he was about 7 months. And then I started to put him down awake. And now he falls asleep in his cot 99.999% of the time.

So that's what I would do, if I was you.

maybe waking from hunger?

she is too young to be left to cry, she might be teething, hungry or just needs a cuddle

crying is hte only way she can communicate, so you need to respond to tht

if she started waking at 4m it could well be hunger - there's a well-documented growth spurt around that time

what do you do when she wakes up atm? if you feed her does she go back to sleep?
has she recently started solids? sometijes constipation / indigestion can mke them uncomfotable

Agree she is far too young to be left to cry

Thanks so much for your replies.

I totally agree too she is too young to be left to cry! Just to explain in a bit more detail.. up until a month or so ago, she was sleeping thorugh the night. If she ever did wake up, I would go to pick her up straight away and she would often feed from me. Then she regularly started waking up once in the night again for a feed, then twice, then three times. Again I went straight to her each time and fed her. She settled down quite quickly after feeding so I was happy to do this. For the last week though she would wake up 5-10 minutes again after feeding - this is when my friends said to just stroke her belly rather than picking her up. I found this really hard to do though and only ever lasted a couple of minutes before picking her up! I just love her to bits and I'm a complete softie - I've heard the "rod for own back" expression before!

I think the other night when I posted I was just in sheer desperation mode! She'd completely refused to stay in her cot after feeding and I was blaming myself for stopping picking her up straight away. But last night was much much better and she only woke up once for a feed (I ran to her that time haha!) and settled again straight away. So I think it may have been a little growth spurt, combined with teething uncomfort?

She's 6 months today (whoohoo!) so due to start solids.

Thanks again for sharing your experiences and for your ideas and support.