6 month old wakes hourly every night

[belindarose]

Any ideas that might help? I'm utterly exhausted. I have a 3yo DD too, so can't rest in the day. I'm finding it hard to be as patient with her as I need to be!

DS has never slept well. But the two and even occasionally three hours between wake ups seem a distant memory. He usually wants a tiny feed, sometimes has a 'proper' one (BF). He's eating loads of solids in the day and having as many bfs as he wants. For naps and bedtime he can sometimes self settle.

I leave him for a short while when he wakes, in case he gets himself back to sleep, but can tell when it's going to turn into full crying.

He can't go in his own room yet as we have a damp problem in there that needs fixing.

He generally naps 3 times during the day - usually quite short (around 30 mins).

Any ideas please? It's only 9.15am and I don't know how I'll survive the day!

Are you me? I am in exactly the same boat. 6 month old ds who doesn't sleep,3 yr old dd who gets the brunt of my impatience and tiredness.
Last night I tried just picking him up and cuddling him upright till he relaxed, then putting him down again and he resettled without a feed (breakthrough?)
On the third time of doing it, he cried out but then resettled himself!
I've also started forcing him to go without his third, 5pm nap, so he settles for bed at 7.30. It's working so far (3 days). But it's not getting him to sleep that's the problem, it's the constant waking and needing me to resettle him. Not sure what will help with that.
What have you tried so far, maybe we can hold each others' hands?

It does sound similar, doesn't it!

Bedtime itself isn't a problem here really ether, nor are the naps. Tonight I'll make sure I try settling without feeding each time. He soon lets me know if that isn't going to happen. It's not that I don't want to feed him at night - just not that many times!!

I know. Over Christmas I suddenly thought, why am I still on a newborn routine with ds? He's six months old now. Anyway, today we have had another day of naps at 10am and 1.30pm. He fell asleep at 4.45 in the buggy so I woke him as soon as we got in. He went to bed at 7.30 no problem. It's 9.50 now and he has already woken twice but resettled himself once with no intervention. I'm umming and arring about doing a dream feed just before I go to bed.
Let me know how your night goes.

I left him at about 6.45 as he was flailing and screaming, refusing o
to feed. As I was doing teeth with DD, he fell asleep. Can't have been two minutes.

So I have a tentative plan to leave him for two minutes when he wakes during the night. However, I did this when he woke at 9.30 (first wake!) and he then insisted on feeding for half an hour (as if to punish me?). He usually feeds for 5-10 mins.

Don't know what DH will think of this plan. I suppose I usually go for the quietest option (feeding) in order not to disturb his sleep too. He's not home from work yet.

Best of luck with your night!

Me three. How funny (well if it weren't so annoying). Ds2 is 2 days short of 6 months, ds1 is 5yo. DS2 wakes up all. the. time. It's not every hour on the dot, but sometimes it's 20 minutes after feeding. Sometimes it's 2 hours (if I'm lucky). He's still EBF. I will start bl weaning him this week. He settles easily for naps and bedtime. He has about 3 or 4 naps a day that last half an hour. I really don't know why he wakes so often. If he wakes less than 2 hours since I last fed him I don't feed him again and he's normally ok with just being cuddled and then put back in his cot not fast asleep.
I've just read the no cry sleep solution and am formulating a sleep plan. I'm far too soft to hear him cry (did cc with ds1, and it worked, eventually but I've regretted it ever since) but need to feel like I'm doing something constructive. Have either if you read/tried it?
Anyway, I'm going to try to get a bit of sleep now. He's already woken up 4 times.

I have a 6 month old too, she's my only child though. She won't settle if I just give her a cuddle she usually wants to be breastfed. I think she woke up 6 times last night, I lost count. She normally has three naps a day for around 1-2 hours each. Her bedtime is 9:30 though. She sleeps in bed with me and my husband and the last few nights if she hasn't fallen asleep feeding, then I lay her down in bed with me until she's tired and falls asleep on her own, but I have to be right there. Last night I tried to put her down in the cot awake, but sleepy and then pick her up as soon as she cried, settled her and then put her back down. I think I did it about 30 times before I gave up and just let her fall asleep in my arms. After she fell asleep in my arms, I set her in the cot and she woke up 10 minutes later crying, so we laid in bed until she fell asleep. Sometimes she'll take a dummy, but not always.

Wow, these posts exactly describe my DS, also 6 months. We are almost at the end of our tether. He is ebf and just before Christmas we had a fortnight of him waking once or twice a night for a quick feed, but it's all gone wrong now and he is waking hourly if we're lucky, sometimes less.
I feel like it is something to do with food as he seems very windy when he wakes, but can't work out if it's too much food, too little, too late, or if it's not the food at all!! I think we are going to try No Cry Sleep Solution too. Just need to summon up the brain power to read the book!
It's nice to know others are in the same boat though - is there supposed to be a sleep regression at 6 months?!

Even though I bf through the day, at night I give DD a bottle of warm Aptamil Hungry Milk. It's really filling and she sleeps for hours.

Have you read 'the no-cry sleep solution' by Elizabeth Pantley? Fab book.

retro, we did think we might try that tonight. It's not something I particularly wanted to do, but think it's worth a try. how long has your Dd been having it? did it take her a while to get used to?

I'm in the same boat too. We had a magical period over Christmas where ds woke only twice a night. It's now ranging from every hour to every 20 minutes and I'm at my wits end. He's never been a good sleeper but this is worse than when he was newborn! I don't feed him to sleep and he goes down well at 7pm every night, but the carnage starts about 8pm and doesn't let up all night. Co sleeping does help (as in I don't have to get up constantly) but doesn't stop the waking and I worry it's creating a whole new set of problems.

I haven't read the "no cry" book but only because a lot of the reviews said it rehashed lots of common sense stuff that people would normally try anyway. If it offers any excellent new insights let me know and I'll try to get hold of a copy.
When I had dd, who was and is a good sleeper (13 hours a night without waking up, currently), I used to think other people were just doing it all wrong and really ought to teach their child to sleep properly for their child's own good and for their development . Now I know it really is just the child, you can do everything the same and they still won't sleep.
Last night was really bad again, I fed him at 10, 12, 3.30 and 5.30 but he woke up plenty in between times. He has just cut his first tooth so I often wonder if he's in pain.
He's eating well, but his sleep has got worse since weaning not better, and he's also now refusing a bottle so much as I'd like to fill him up with any sort of milk, I can't .
I read somewhere that in a study people were randomised to sleep training vs not, and although the parents said it worked, actually after 4 months, there wasn't any difference in the sleep between the two groups. Made me think its just a developmental thing and I have to wait it out .

Thing1and2 the NCSS is a lot of common sense but it breaks problems and possible solutions into understandable chunks rather than just being one confusing blur. It also has FORMS and CHARTS to fill in. Now that is a sure fire way to get to my heart. I love filing in forms. It makes me feel like I'm achieving something. But yes, the author does say that night waking is very normal at this age (a couple of times, not as often as our little sleepless darlings) and that around 10 months their sleep patterns change again and quite often this is when they will naturally start sleeping better (although she still emphasises some night waking is normal until 2).
It's interesting what some of you have said about food. DS is cow's milk protein intolerant, abd i get the impression he is quite gassy and has a delicate digestion so I am going up take weaning very slowly. Wind and trying to poo are definitely some of the reasons he wakes up.
Although last night he woke up wanting to play at 1am. He hasn't done that before and I can't say I enjoyed it particularly!

part of me also thinks this is just him, and how he sleeps and that eventually he'll work it out. but in the wee small his all I can do is try and think of solutions.
I have been taking weaning pretty slowly too, Lucy. DS definitely seems to have a sensitive digestive system and was tested for cows protein intolerance a few months back, but it came back negative. his dad is lactose intolerant since birth, so I am still keeping an eye on it though. he has been having dairy, so perhaps I will cut that out and see what happens. just been out and bought some formula, but I'm really in two minds about giving it to him...

My baby is combination fed and has been pretty much since birth, but I only breastfeed her when she wakes up at night and I think that's part of the problem because she loves that cuddle time with me. I haven't taken weaning slowly and we are using baby led weaning, which she absolutely loves. I haven't noticed it really having an impact on her sleep. I always finish off the night with a bottle of formula and sometimes formula and breastmilk, but I don't find her being full helps her sleep longer. Last night for dinner she had chicken, peaches, and potatoes and then some baby rice right before her bath and she had a pretty bad night last night because she wanted to breastfeed constantly. I personally think it's because I tried to put her to sleep in her cot and then once she fell asleep I put her in her cot and she woke up screaming 10 minutes later. I think she was afraid I was going to leave her again so she kept waking up and searching for me.

I hope everyone has a good night tonight. I may pick up that no cry sleep solution book and see if it helps.

How did they test for it char11? My GP told me they couldn't test because it's an intolerance not an allergy -? DS had reflux until I gave up dairy (it's responsible for about 50% reflux apparently). Now if I have dairy he gets a tummy ache, constipated and his pops become green and mucusy. Nice. Does your DS have any symptoms? It's a pain that all formula has milk in.
Samralee, the book might not solve all (or indeed any!?) of our sleep problems, but I can recommend it as an encouraging and supportive read

Poos not pops

they did a stool sample (that was fun to collect!). he said it could test for dairy allergy and lactose intolerance, but when it came back negative to said they aren't actually that accurate and the only way to know was to cut it out of diet. he had reflux initially and I did cut out dairy but it didn't seem to make much difference. he's been having dairy himself about 10 days now and his poos seem alright (although he is a bit refluxy again). it just feels like a constant puzzle, but if we struggle again tonight with him I might cut dairy out of his diet and see what happens.
currently trying to wear him out before need - fingers crossed for a good night everyone