Oh dear. Six month old seeking to destroy mother

[plentyofshoes]

Dd is six and a half months and was sleeping all night.....
I moved her to her cot bed and it went fine for a few nights, but that has stopped.
She was 7 weeks early but has met her milestones on time and caught up to the 50th centile. Ds was prem and very different so I am aware she has done very well.
She is on three meals a day and her milk intake has not decreased too much.
She has been having a bottle around 10.30 at night but is still waking for a bottle anytime between two and 3. She is taking around 100mls. In tge advice of the hv she has been having a small meal before bed plus milk. This has made no difference. I dropped the dream fed but she woke at midnight. I offered water at 3 but she screamed until a milk was given. Shr wakes between 7-8 and is not hungry.
Dh works shifts and I have no family support so I am shattered. Any ideas, any hope?

she's just waking once for a feed? I'd say that's brilliant!

Waking once at that age is great.

Can you nap at all in the day when she does?

But she was sleeping fine.

No naps as I have ds to look after. Last night she did not settle until 5 am so three hours between feeds is not great.

My DS is a little older and doesn't sleep anywhere near that well! I know that doesn't help but I'm v jealous!

The helpful bit...I think I read somewhere that they have a growth spurt at this age, hence the requirement for an extra feed, or his teeth could be playing up!

she's clearly hungry though if cuddles and water don't settle her. if she used to sleep fine it'll probably be a growth spurt and not last too long

How much sleep do you get? I remember walking on air when after 8 months I got one night of 7 hours continuous sleep.
I would try to move the timings early personally, as I'd rather get up earlier and have the middle of the night feed earlier. So can you wake her in the morning a bit earlier? Try to make sure you are sleeping as much as possible with her.

I am getting very little sleep unfortunately. I also get woken up by dh coming back/going to work at all hours too. I know she is'nt really bad at night but I guess the lack of sleep is getting me down.
Mummy what time would you try the night feed?

I'd start from the morning - so wake her earlier so maybe 7, and move everything 1/2 hour earlier. Then try to move it all 1/2 hour earlier again, after a week and so on until she is hungry on waking, and hopefully the middle of the night feed is closer to midnight and can be done half asleep.

I think you also need to talk to DH, so he doesn't wake you coming to bed or getting up, including sleeping on the sofa if needed (certainly clothes sorted the night before and in the bathroom, no lights, no noise).

But lack of sleep is hard - I felt like I went through about 9 months of jet lag.

Stop feeding her at 3 AM. She will eat/drink more during the day to compensate, forget about 3 AM as a meal time, and stop waking up.

It will take a few nights of crying as you (DH?) put her back to sleep without a feed, that's all.

Her corrected age is only four months which for most babies is a prime time for growth spurt and sleep regression. If you compare her to a four month baby, just one middle of the night feed is bloody brilliant. Even at six months it is not at all unusual.

I would advise you to drop the dream feed and go to bed as early as you possibly can. Hopefully you will get a sleep between 9 and 1 and then another sleep between 2 and 6.

I found this stage to be quite hideous, I was also very sleep deprived. You need to get your dh looking after both kids for several hours on his days off so that you can sleep uninterrupted and ideally to do one night per week of dealing with the baby.