Sleep help suggestions please? For 6 month old

[Lindalove]

My 6.5 month old has never been a good sleeper but seems to get increasingly worse. He now wakes up as follows:

Goes down easily at 7pm
Stirs/cries when dummy falls out at around 8.20ish
Wakes & cries & often needs milk at 9.45ish
Wakes & cries & often needs milk at 11.30-12 - at this stage often comes into bed with me
Wakes and cries at at least 3am, 4.30 & 5.30am. I always feed as comfort takes ages & boob easier to just get some sleep

I'm really rather at my wits end now. He naps 3 times a day but only for 30mins.
He is weaning now but has been for a month & now on 3 regular meals a day at 9am, 1 & 5.

Any ideas what to do? which thing should I stop/start doing first.... Dummy doesn't always work to comfort, often not these days. It's like he wakes because he wants t be with us & wants boob for comfort more than anything.

To top it all he also wakes additionally if he rolls onto his tummy- he can roll back during the day but seems to get stuck & cries at night. During the day he can also put his own dummy in! But again... Not so at night

Is he getting enough daytime milk?

Remember that during early weaning (through to about 9 months or so) then m=baby's milk intake needs to be maintained at the same level as before being weaned. Then the solids are on top of the milk.

It's just it sounds as though baby is getting his milk intake at night. I remember those first few weeks after weaning being a logistical nightmare fitting in meals, milk feeds and naps. It was back to the newborn days where baby was spending pretty much all its time feeding or sleeping. Wake, full milk feed, bit of a play, solids meal and drink, nappy change and clean-up, milk top-up, nap. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Suddenly meal time is eating into awake time, while milk feeds still don't reduce.

I could have written this post. I'm exhausted! Ds is 6 months old and just started weaning. He used to do a 4 hour stretch but note I'm lucky to get 2 hours straight. I think he is definitely hungry at night and am hoping as his protein intake increases as he starts eating more meat etc it might help. I feel your pain!

Hi - I try to get more milk into him during the day but he's often so distracted he can't drink much. I often try & get it into him sneakily by mixing it with his mealtimes which he will eat.

It's knackering. I just caved & hired a sleep consultant as there seem to be so many possibilities as to what could be causing it - comfort, hunger, teething, separation anxiety.

We try and give him a big feed lately at 10ish but he'll never eat more than 2-3oz. I think breatfeeding teaches them to be snackers.

Scarlet let me know how you get on. I gave baby his first beef stew from Ella's tonight hoping a bit of meat might help....

I've decided to roll with it and see where we are in a month once he's more established with solids. I am going to continue bf on demand at night until then...though we already cosleep so it's not so disruptive. If I don't see any improvement in a month I might offer water instead of some of the night feeds. I don't think I'm at the point of sleep training at the moment but I might feel differently once I'm back at work in a couple of months! He has seemed a little better the last couple of nights. ..a few 2.5 hour stretches! God thats depressing

I also think that the rolling is a big contributer and he's just worked out how to get back off his tummy. So now it's practice practice practice!

Lindalove I would be interested to hear what a sleep consultant suggests.... :-)

It is quite normal for babies not to sleep through the night at 6 months.

We were like this a few months ago. I can really recommend the sleep lady shuffle by Kim west. We were Co sleeping and feeding constantly through the night and now at 8 months he only feeds once and is a good sleeper, and I am a different women entirely!

I could've also written this post. I have a 6.5 month old, who literally will not sleep. Started weaning at 5.5 months as was bf literally every hour day and night and it got ridiculous.
She's waking for feeds every 1-2 hours through night. Up to now I've been giving purée but yesterday started giving full fat milk in food, and also gave her some meat. Hv said that will help her to sleep through. But I'm not confident about that.
She usually bf to sleep and that's the only way I can get her to sleep. I don't want to let her cry as I don't agree with it, but she just refuses to sleep during the day. I don't know what to do.
Yesterday she didn't sleep from 6.30am to 6.30pm.

Just now I bf her to sleep then transferred to cot but she woke up on the way and cried, and now I can't get her to nap. She's in cot and I'm going in every time she cries to try and settle, but she just gets so stressed out, it upsets me.

Should I just let her stay awake? She's just permanently shattered, as am I.

Does it improve with weaning?

My sympathies go with any other sleep deprived mummies, it's such a struggle, wish these babies came with an instruction manual!

When I go out I see other babies that nap anywhere, or who are calm and settled. My lo never seems calm. Ever. She's hyper. I'm so worried I'm doing sthg wrong. She is usually happy I think but just so active. I see how much daytime naps are recommended and she's never had proper naps.