So fed up of the nights, am running on empty :-(

[samsmother]

My ds is 6.5 months old and such a bad sleeper. He is STILL waking every 2 hours in the night if I'm lucky sometimes an hour and a half. He expects to be put on the boob each time sometimes he feeds other times it's comfort sucking which doesn't last long but has meant I'm having to get up again. He can go 4 hours on the day without feeding but always give after 3 hours if he hasn't requested it. Have tried feeding every two hours in the day so he needs less at night, it makes no difference. I can 'nap' in the day but don't want to have to keep doing that he's not so young anymore I shouldn't have to surely? I can't do cc, have tried a dummy but if it's not boob he's not interested :-( I don't expect magical answers but any advice is much appreciated. I hate night times as it stands

I would say unless you want to do co-sleeping where he can have a comfort feed as and when he wants it, I would stick to the 4 hour routine and not break it. You can go in, check his nappy, give him a pat and say "night night" and go back to bed. He'll be fine. Around 6 months is really crunch time in terms of establishing things, so you can establish this change or establish the hour-2hr requirements. If he sleeps in your room, you can rock his bed, with a reassuring "night night" put your hand gently on his chest for comfort, but encourage going back to sleep. Its not easy, but if you stick with it things should (hopefully) improve within a few nights.

I have found that my 5 month old is sleeping much better now he is going into his cot at night awake/semi-awake.

Does your DS get himself off to sleep initially - if not, that is where I would start. It has made a major difference to us, before I was holding him for ages until he was floppy and he would still stir, and the middle of the night would take ages to re-settle...

Also although mine doesn't take a dummy, I did have some success in the middle of the night just resettling him by holding the dummy in his mouth for a few minutes until he calmed himself down.

Finally how are naps in the day - if he has enough daytime sleep, he may well sleep better at night and generally stir less.

My ds is 8 months and is like this, we co-sleep and last night for example he woke every 2 hours and after 5:30 he woke every half hour.
Hes shattered this morning so I know its not hunger and I got him to sleep just by cuddling him some of the time.

I dont have much advice but Ive been contemplating CC once hes got over his cold.

I read this at 4:30am, my DS decided he wanted to get up but I was too tired to reply!!
Is he on solids yet? I know it doesn't help them sleep through the night but it did make a difference with us. My DS is 6.5 months and can sleep from 7pm-5am, feed then back to sleep till 7am. But last night he was up every hour! Teething. He got his first 2 at 4 months with no problems. But the next ones are upsetting him.
I make sure every night before bed he has 5mls of calpol. Helps him sleep. Hope u get some rest today, I know I need some!!

Can you get your DP/DH to resettle him each time her wakes for a few nights? This has worked well in 'training' my 7 monther to have fewer night wakings...if it's you doing the settling they expect the boob..

Also, I am not getting out of my pjs today! I will sleep when he sleeps! He usually has 2 hours at about 9am and 2 hours at about 2pm. Sometimes you just need a lazy day, especially after a rough night!!

I agree with jazzandh - to put him in bed still awake so he can get used to going to sleep himself. Key. Sorry I forgot to mention that.

I'm afraid I don't agree you should dose him with calpol nightly though - its not good for their liver especially 5 mls, way too much - should only be used for reducing fever & pain really...

I have just had some success with my 6.5 month old by doing what the others have suggested - putting down drowsy but not asleep so that the baby learns to self settle. My DD went from co-sleeping and crying every time I stirred to now shuffling around the cot until she settles. Naps have drastically improved too.

I basically followed the pick up/put down method. It feels counter-intuitive putting them in the cot when they're about to drop off knowing that they're going to start crying but they do eventually drop off on their own and somehow it reprogrammes them to learn how to self-settle. Hope you get some success this way too!

Like I said anonymosity-he is teething so obviously in pain. My mum is a doctor and she suggested 5Mls, as does Calpol.

Honestly, I wish people would read the post befores commenting. It's not every bloody night, only when he's teething.

Hi everyone thanks so much for all your advice, IMissSleep yeah have started him on solids a couple of weeks ago and it's not made the slightest bit of difference! He has never been a great sleeper and have only had a handful of 4 hour stretches since he's been born otherwise it's 1- SOMETIMES 3 hours at a time only. A couple of months ago I tried the pick up/put down technique which didn't work but will def give it another go. The shh pat doesn't work with him have tried it many times it all just seems to anger him. This in turn makes him cross and hard to settle and eventually he ends up on the boob to go to back to sleep so he wins every time. My dh is going to help out because ds doesn't expect milk from him and hopefully we'll see some improvement. Ds has a cough at the moment which is waking him also so may have to wait until it goes, He has to sleep in our room not sure if that's a good or bad thing! Thanks again everybody

I MISS SLEEP - I read your post, it wasn't entirely clear that the calpol dosing was directly related to just the teething as you said quite a few random details then as an explanation for it - "helps him sleep". Sorry though. I must have been too tired when I read it.