6 MO waking every 3 hours

[TheresAHuppoInMyHouse]

My DD is 6 months (4 months adjusted age as she was premature and arrived at 30 weeks). She gradually started sleeping for longer and longer periods and I was feeling very pleased with myself! Then a month ago the night wakings began again, for no apparent reason. She would only have been 3 months (adjusted) so too early for a growth spurt I reckon? Anyway it's still going on and I'm starting to think there must be something I can do to get back to my nice long stretches of sleep!

She is awake for 1.5hr-2hrs at a time during the day, so she normally has 3 naps of an hour each at regular intervals. And a little catnap in the sling sometimes. Perhaps this is too much daytime sleep?

She is exclusively bf and has started to be more distracted suring daytime feeds (those maddeningly endearing pulls-off and smiles! are a killer!) but I'm spending more time feeding, so am trying to keep up the daytime calories.

She is generally happy to settle herself to sleep when drowsy - although always after a bf. For a nap, this only takes a few minutes so perhaps I've started an unhelpful sleep association? Sometimes she's obviously knackered so falls deeply asleep a-boobing, and stays asleep when she's transferred to her cot.

Every time she wakes at night, I feed her and she goes straight back to sleep. I'm a bit nervous of trying to settle her without a feed, and tbh I wouldn't know how to do so. Any tips?

She goes to bed at 7ish and wakes for the day at sometime between 6 and 7. Reading this, I feel like I've got nothing to complain about, but WHY won't the little bugger darling sleep for longer than two or three hours at a time, when she used to do so, apparently effortlessly?!

I'm afraid I don't know the answer to your qn but we are in a similar situation with DS (6.5 mo).

At one lovely rosy point in the dim and distant past he used to sleep from 6.30pm until about 5am, then the four month sleep regression hit and we have yet to get back on track. These days he is waking every 2-3 hours, on a bad night it is every 1-2 hours and we are exhausted! He will sometimes settle without a feed at night - a bit of patting and shushing is usually required - but it is all a bit random really.

So I will watch this thread with interest and hope that someone comes along with the answer because I could really do with a decent night's sleep :)

I could have written this post! I'm in EXACTLY the same situation with DS who is 5mos / 3 & a half mos adjusted. Watching this with interest and sending you both lots of luck!

Oh dear, 1.5 hours between wakings last night, including one 10.30 - 12.30 wide awake and screaming period. Uggghh.

Anyone out there know what is going on??

Beela, that sounds horrid, I hope you're getting a better night tonight! Could he be teething? Screaming sounds like there might be summat else going on ....

I got excited last night as DD slept for a blissful 3.5 hours and I thought 'here we go! time for a steady improvement', of course I spoke too soon and from 4am she woke every hour till 7. The good news is that I was able to rock her back to sleep without a feed at 5am. Thank God she's still small enough to fit into her Moses basket which is on a rocker, I must say I'm not looking forward to putting her into a stationary cot but it's going to have to happen soon! Unless I persuade her to sleep with all limbs hanging out of the Moses basket .... hmmm could be tempting ...

Tonight's started well, (7pm-10.30pm, then a feed and now sound asleep again), fingers crossed for later.

I did wonder about teething but calpol didn't help. I then concluded that it was tummy related - lots of writhing and back arching. So..... I cut right back on the food yesterday and went back to fruit & veg & baby rice.

Last night he slept from 7pm - 3.30am, had a feed, went back to sleep until 6.30am! So perhaps that was the problem, or perhaps it was all just a fluke. Either way, MUCH better. Let's hope it continues.

How was your night last night? Hope it was better than previous nights, it sounds like things might be improving a bit from your first post? Well done on getting her back to sleep without feeding, it's hard to keep going isn't it, when you think that you might have to spend half an hour trying and then feed anyway! But if you are confident that she has had enough food then keep at it :)

You're so right, it's a triumph when she nods off again without food. Last night was a major battle of my own making, when I became fixated on not feeding her when she woke, until midnight .... don't really know why I thought that would be a good idea, needless to say it involved a lot of pacing and soothing and doing everything I could think of EXCEPT feeding her to keep her quiet! And after midnight she woke after 3 hours, then 2 hours, then another 2 hours. At least we had a civilised gettingup time. :)

Fingers crossed you have a repeat performance of the other night! Perhaps a more gentle progression with the food is the answer. I haven't started weaning DD yet, despite the fact we've reached 6 months. She's still so little and isn't paying any attention to the food I eat - but I don't think it'll be long until she does. A matter of a couple of weeks at a guess.

I've found some reassuring threads in the Breast and Bottle Feeding area, which have given me a bit more confidence that a) I'm not alone, and b) it's not such a bad thing to feed her when she wakes, if it soothes her back to sleep. And last night's experience has reinforced my preference for an easy life, even if that does mean getting up 3 or 4 times a night for a while.

Lordy. What a mystery it all seems!

New plan:

stretch daytime awake time to 2 hours min between naps.

restrict naps to an hour max.

Perhaps reducing daytime sleep will mean longer nighttime stretches. Last night was a total of 9 hours but all in 2 hour chunks, and a single hour as a finale!

YAWN

(Simply writing it here I hope will help me remember This Is The Plan, and not get distracted and concocting Another Plan)

Hello,

Can I join you here with no advice but lots of sympathy

Since my DS turned 6mo (he is now 7mo) his sleep has totally gone to pot. He used to sleep from 7pm through until 4am ish, have a quick feed and then go back to sleep until 6/7am BLISS

Now he is waking sometimes nearly hourly (last night ) and often crying for several hours before being able to settle him again. We have tried:

feeding - doesn't seem hungry and doesn't settle any better or sleep for any longer
calpol - still wakes
gripe water - still seems to possible be having tummy discomfort
reduced puree food to only fruit at breakfast - still waking loads

He has also gone off BF, to the point where he was getting dehydrated so I have been feeding him EBM in a bottle which he is happy to lap up

Basically my gorgeous little boy rather gone off the rails over the last month and I am at my wits end trying to work out what is wrong??

I can't find anything about a real growth spurt around this time or a 'sleep regression'. I am guessing that it is just a mix of teething, tummy adjusting to weaning onto solids and general development spurt. I thought it was meant to get easier after 6mo. For us it is possibly our hardest stretch so far.

Maybe we can just support each other through this rocky patch.

Beela, did you get a repeat good night or was it a fluke?

TheresAHuppo, how is The Plan going?

Aah, we've had nights like that too, where I have said 'no, he cannot be hungry, I know it would probably work but I shall not feed him' and then had a battle, got him to sleep eventually, only for him to wake up 30 minutes later and ending up feeding him anyway, and wondering why I didn't just do that in the first place!

It seems that the other night WAS a fluke, and the last two nights have been 3-4 hourly wakings for feeds again.

I have concoted various theories, including (but not limited to):
too much real food
not enough real food
too much napping
not enough napping
teething
growth spurt
developmental leap
missing me desperately in the middle of the night
excitement re royal wedding
....etc etc.

and can't make it work! It's like having a newborn again, isn't it?! except at least then that was what they were 'meant' to be doing and I was confident that he did need feeding. Maybe I need to just accept that this is how life is for a few weeks?

Good luck with The Plan - I know exactly what you mean, as I invent a different plan every day and then when it doesn't work I move onto the next one... perhaps I need to give one plan a fair chance

Today's strategy is to feed him a lot (he does enjoy his food) but make sure it is all easily digestable, and then he will be full up but not having tummy issues, and will sleep all night (hahahahaha).

It's a mystery indeed. Let me know how you get on :)

PS hello agan ellabella2 :)

I agree that this is possibly our toughest time too, just as I thought it was meant to get easier (and all other babies around me seem to be sleeping through!).

We all seem to be in the same boat, let's help each other through.

Royal wedding excitement

Little man has been in a beautiful mood all day to day (he must be trying to say sorry for keeping me up most of last night )

He seemed more settled when he went down for bed so will wait and see [holds breath emoticon]

All this trying to work out what is unsettling them is almost as wearing as the lack of sleep isn't it. I think it is partly because like you say, you feel like you should have them sussed at this age and that things should be getting easier.

I will look forward to hearing the success of both your Plans from today

A new discovery! The first tooth! All of a sudden I feel more inclined to forgive the 2 hr sleeps!

Plan Report: Like a total control freak, I strictly ensured she slept for no more than 3 hours in total during her 3 naps today, in fact it was more like 2 and a half. Waking the poor soul up after an hour feels rather counterintuitive I must say. Who can say if it will make the blindest bit of difference tonight. Come on DD! You can do it!

I hadn't considered royal wedding excitement but now you come to mention it :o

or else she's upset because we've just spent 10 cold, grey, damp days in Sicily and should have stayed in London where the weather has been better than anywhere else in Europe. Pah. Don't fret, DD, it's unlikely to ever happen again

Good luck for tonight, Ellabella2 and Beela. Hope you're catching some well-deserved zzzs while you can.

aaah, new tooth - hope that now that's through she will be more settled. How was last night? and how about you ellabella?

Our Plan had limited success, partly (I think) because we were out and about most of the day and he is sooooo easily distracted when bf'ing that I don't think he got much milk down him, and then needed to make up for it overnight. To be fair I let him give up, as I was trying to feed a) in a room full of blokes, including my brother and a builder, and b) in a pub beer garden, so wasn't inclined to keep my baps on offer whilst DS gazed around.

So anyway, last night he woke at 10.30 / 2 / 3 / up for day at 6.20. So the refinement to The Plan today is to make sure he doesn't give up and stare at the surroundings after 5 minutes of sucking. Not sure how I am going to do that - bf in darkened cupboard pehaps?

Good luck with your plans today :)

TheresA, ooh first tooth showing is so exciting
Bad luck with the weather for your holiday. I have always fancied going to Sicily.

Beela, I have almost given up on BF as DS barely feeds. He will happily glug EBM from a bottle though so that is what we are doing to ensure he has enough milk each day

We had another terrible night

It started well but then he woke 11, 12.15 and then despite having a poo and some calpol cried until 1.30. He woke again 4.45 and then 6.

I don't know how long I can keep this up....

My 6MO DS2 is exactly the same....since 12 weeks, was at one feed a night prior to that. It is driving me insane - he is such a chilled baby during the day! I had to feed him 3 times last night, nothing else would work. Also had the added delight of one of those times being awake for more than an hour, which is especially annoying! Nothing seems to make any difference and he's now on 3 meals a day. He slept through til 6am about 4 weeks ago, and not even come close again since! No sign of teeth. No illness.

beela, I did wonder whether he has been having too much food too soon as well. We have had a couple of middle of the night poos. I generally feed him in my room, on the bed due to distractions and his preference. I don't think this helps the general message about night-time and feeding, but he won't feed properly anywhere else. Argh!!!

I was thinking of smaller meals today as an experiment, but it's not going to make any difference as he was like this before we started on solids. But it might help his tummy if he is feeling a bit uncomfortable.

Hi no fix here but my DS born at 35 weeks eventually started sleeping through (most nights) without the need for night time feeds at 10 months, it felt like hell until then but now (he is 15 months) seems ages ago. It also coincided with him going into his own room.
Before sleeping through he did the waking up at 3/4am for 2 hour thing for a good 2 months.
I quit BF at around 7 months and only if he had taken his quota of milk during the day we then watered down the overnight milk to almost nothing.
But I find the sleep goes awry with every tooth and growth spurt but afterwards the sleeping gets better by leaps.

I found that playing about with daytime nap duration made absolutely bugger all difference, just made me more anxious the one exception being that I never let him sleep past 5pm
Hope it offers some hope, hang in there, it should get better...

I am joining too! If I can write through my bleary eyes that is....

Last night was horrible. Up at 11pm, 2am and 4am where as soon as I got into her room she just looked at me, grinned and went back to sleep again!

I too am worried about daytime sleep because DD wakes at 6am, I don't dress her, feed her in bed and then about 1 hour later we both go back to sleep until 9.30am ish. Then sleeps 11.30-12.30pm and then 3pm-5ish. I too am worried she is getting too much sleep in the day and that I should be up for the day at 7am clothed etc.

Saying that she got a grand total of 20 minutes between the hours of 9am and 7pm yesterday so that could explain it.

Lots of my friends babies are now sleeping through the night too....it's not fair! Am going to try and not feed on any night wakings past midnight soon and see what happens although even the midwife told me she reckons I have a feisty one on my hands (great!). Saying that I had the worst temper tantrums when I was little so I guess this is just karma (sob!)

Ahh thanks for letting me get that off my chest!

I'm joining the band wagon! My DD has just gone 6mth & for last couple of weeks is waking every 3hr without fail...can set your watch by her!! The only way I can get her off is to BF, which like you've all said you try not to do then 30mins later think bugger it & get the boob out!!! She also only naps for 40mins tops 2 or 3 times during the day ( during the day I never feed her to sleep, it's either a cuddle or it the timing is right a little pat/shush in crib). What scares me is she's just like DS who is now 4 & it is still hit n miss whether he sleeps through....history repeating itself! HELP!!!
Every night I sit there thinking about what I'm going to change to her routine in the morning, then when morning arrives I've changed my mind & usually end up deciding it must be her teeth, even though calpol, teething granules, bonjela make no difference!! She's as happy as larry during the day which is a blessing, but also makes nights even harder as I convince myself she's being naughty & just wanting comfort!! But in the light of day is wanting comfort at such a tiny age such a bad thing......oh who knows! All I know is that I look like poop & hope dark eye circles & bags become fashionable because I'll be right up there!!!

sdotg thanks for the reassurance, it's certainly good to know that time will help and inevitably there will be an improvement, which is hard to remember in the long dark nights.

So last night was after the Shorter Daytime Nap regime, well there was certainly an improvement but God only knows whether it was the reduced naps or the coming of the tooth, or something else entirely. She went to sleep at 7.45, then woke at 11pm, 3.30am and then a truly teenage 9am!!! Needless to say, I was awake at 7, waiting for her to wake up, while tapping DP and demanding tea and toast in bed! That is by far the best night we've had for six weeks. I feel like the pressure is on for a repeat performance, and experience tells me it's highly unlikely.

I added one other item to the plan, which was startlingly unsuccessful - tried giving her cooled boiled water at the 3.30am waking. What a laugh, she looked so disgusted, and then just started smiling at me as if to say 'funny joke, mummy, now get on with the real stuff please'. Then she got angry and I gave in and fed her after 10 minutes of fury. Hers, not mine . Tonight I will try again with water after midnight and see what happens.

I did a straw poll at the baby group this morning which was also very reassuring. Even those little angels who've been sleeping 7pm-7am for ages have gone backwards at some stage, many others have never slept through, and all have experienced quite a lot of inconsistency and exhaustion.

bubbakin it is tempting to think they're being naughty isn't it. DP thinks I am too soft on her and should leave her to cry for longer. I really can't do it. Like you say, they're so little that I think it MUST be right to offer comfort when they need it.

TheresA - oooh, 9am fantastic.

ellabella I hope you have a better night tonight. It must be really tiring expressing all day as well. I got DS to take some longer feeds today but it was probably 50/50 feeding and gazing around the room. The pump might have to come out soon.

I spoke to our HV, who is usually quite pragmatic, about the sleep issues. She diagnosed teething and said that the first bout can disturb sleep for some time, from before the bottom two emerge until after the top two have come through - DS's bottom two are through and there is a small bump on his top gums so this could last some while longer.... gah!

I have followed The Plan today and stuffed him full of milk and easily digestible food today. He went to bed quite happily at 7pm, so we'll see what happens next...

Thereahuppo - I tried cooled boiled water with DS, he refused it in the night but would take cooled herbal tea, we used fennel as good at settling the tum, but could try any of them.
TheresaA- wow 9am is a treat!!

Waiting to see how everyone's nights went & which plan worked the best!! My night was a disaster.....again!! I decided to BF at every waking rather than battle to nurse her for ages then end up BF as I'm just too tired. DD went to bed shattered at 6.40, up 9.40,11.40,1.40,5.00 then 6.30 and up for the day! So this morning I sat in bed in a daze & realised that she's getting as much if not more boob in night as day! How did that happen???? Where is my 10.30 dream feed then 4am feed baby gone????
My DD won't take a bottle, I've bought everyone going & tried them all & also got DH to try her with them. She also won't take a dummy...so it really is just the boob!! My DH also works away from home so I'm on my own most of the time so being up for hours with a screaming baby every night really isn't an option.
So today I will keep chanting to myself TEETH, TEETH, it's her TEETH....
On the plus side we're back on with the BLW as she is refusing to take any puree veg/fruit now. Last night she thoroughly enjoyed some grated cheese & risotto! So that's a positive!
Off to see how good the Touche Eclat really is....can I bluff the mum's at playgroup!!!

Glad you had a better night Huppo, I must also confess to some mild cc when DS went into his own room, I couldn't contemplate it before 10 months but by then I felt it was more cruel that the poor soul couldn't self sooth himself back to sleep.

I also found those people whose babies who did the night sleeping at 12 weeks went through utter hell when they started teething, whereas it's nowhere nears as bad for those of us that never knew a full nights sleep!.
Just don't stray onto threads about long term sleep problems....it will depress you.

An idea is to get partner to do deal the early wakings at the weekend?
Obv if ebf then your'll need to express them some milk, now I'm back at work if DS has a bad night, one person does till 5am and then the other takes over.

Hang in there

More confessions....
We calpol, tooth powder and teething gel liberally when DS is teething...
Calpol is your friend....

Oh goddddddd a terrible night.

After going to bed as full as a boy can be at 7pm, DS woke at 10.30pm. He cannot possibly be hungry I thought, so I cleverly put his dummy in and got him back to sleep. Then he woke up again at 10.45. I cleverly got him back to sleep again without feeding. Then he started crying again at 11pm. Went in but he wasn't really awake. Then he woke up at 11.15. I took him out of cot (had been still in it until this point), gave him some calpol, and rocked him to sleep. Then he woke up again when I put him back in the cot.

At this point DP said he would take over, spent the next hour trying to get him back to sleep only for DS and DP to get more and more frustrated. So then at 12.30 I fed DS and tried to calm down DP. Why didn't I just feed him at 10.30?

Anyway, then DS woke again for food at 3.30. Then he woke again at 5.00. DP went in to try and get him back to sleep, DS screamed. DP got annoyed. I went in, picked him (DS not DP) up, put him into our bed and he went to sleep almost instantly. Woke up at 7.20, fed and dozed until 8.15.

Not sure how much more of this I can take, I just want to cry I am so tired DS is such a happy and lovely soul during the day, it's hard to believe he could possibly cause any trouble....

Will persevere with The Plan but then I am out of ideas and my next Plan may be to just get through it, it can't last for ever.... can it?