What sleep books would you recommend? (6 month old sleeping nightmare)

[Bartiimaeus]

Ok I've been in and out of this site as DS is a pretty bad sleeper but then he'd get better again (only waking once or twice a night!) and then he'd go through a loooong bad patch again.

I've read the No Cry Sleep Solution - and although some of the things have worked, especially for getting him to go down at night, he's still waking frequently.

Usually after 1am he self-settles with no problem (until 5am when he often needs help) but before 1am it's a nightmare - last night he woke every 30 minutes in hysterical crying

He's not brilliant at napping during the day but we do our best (I'm now back at work and his grandparents look after him and they know to focus on the napping and keep a close eye on him after 90minutes of being awake). He eats well, especially last thing at night (and often during the night).

He is bottle-fed during the day, and breastfed in the morning, evening and at night.

What books or techniques did you find useful? I'm seriously struggling atm.

He sounds overtired which you're probably already realising as you mention his naps are not great during the day. Does he have a routine during the day and if so, what is it?

WRT books, I think it's a personal choice. I used Gina Ford when DD was 11 months old and it worked for me. Have you heard of the baby whisperer?

I've had similar problems with my dd. I'd recommend Good Night Sleep Tight by Kim West. This is the only book I've found that I wish I'd read before dd was born. Gentle techniques and minimal crying. Good luck!

He also sounds like he's got into a habit of feeding lots at night? Is he fully weaned? It can be tricky esp when bfing to reduce night feeds in line with weaning. There are prob a few issues at play here.

No real routine as such but a general pattern for the day.

He's not fully weaned (not sure what that means) in that he takes milk in the morning, purees and milk at lunchtime, milk again around 4ish, babyrice around 6ish, breast from 7pm onwards (twice before going to bed and 2 or 3 times a night).

The naps tend to be two short ones (30mins) in the morning, a longer one after lunch if we're lucky (1 1/2 hours max) and then if we're really lucky another 30 minute nap around 6pm. He goes to bed at 8.30pm - I've tested many different bedtimes and this is the only one where he'll go to sleep for longer than 30minutes (except for last night! bloody hour change). He'll go down for his 8.30 bedtime whether or not he's had the last nap. All that changes is whether he's been grumpy all evening or a happy baby...

I don't feed him everytime I get up. Sometimes I manage just to cuddle him to sleep but last night he was rooting and crying loads. Sometimes DH can get him back to sleep but more often than not he gives up after 20minutes and sends me in. Less than 5 minutes on the breast and DS is fast asleep again

His naps are getting harder to take too. Before I could sling him until he was sleepy then put him down sleepy but awake. He'd go off to sleep by himself. Now he has to be properly asleep and even so he woke 5 times when I put him down yesterday (had to keep putting him back in the sling to send him to sleep).

He's starting to try to crawl as well which means he's all over the place in his cot and keeps banging him head...

I would work on making sure he's getting enough food during the day. Baby rice and purées are filling up to a point but not long term. By 7 mos, my DD was eating our food, eg shep pie, pasta, mash and veg etc, just puréed or mashed up. She was on three meals a day plus three milk feeds (7am, 2.30pm and 7pm). We'd also feed at 10pm.

The other thing is helping him to self settle at night, there are lots of techniques to help with this so one of the parenting books mentioned might help.

Finally, IMO, I think 8.30 is too late for bedtime unless his wake up time is around 8.30am. I know you've said you've experimented with this so feel free to ignore me, but I used to find 7-7 schedule at night worked well for us. We'd put her down at 7, dream feed at 10 and that was mostly it until morning. Waking frequently during the first half of the night is a classic sign of being overtired when going to bed.

In all honesty if he is only sleeping for 1.5hrs at say 12.30-1pm, then an 8.30pm bedtime is far too late. Its my guess he's crashing through exaustion, and the wakeups every 30mins or so after bedtime are a surefire sign he is overtired. Your comment that he can be grumpy all evening is also a sign that he is tired & needs more sleep. At his age he's getting to a point where he may no longer need a 3rd nap so I would be aiming for something along the lines of this:

Wake: 6.30/7
Nap: 9-10
Nap: 12.30-2.30
Bedtime: 6.30/7

Obviously if you want him to wake up later & go to bed later then you might need to move the nap timings 1hr later. The crucial bit is not allowing the time awake between his PM nap and bedtime to become too long or he will be overtired & sleep restlessly.

Some babies of his age still have a 3rd nap, a short catnap at teatime, but if he won't take one then again the much earlier bedtime is crucial.

HTH.x