Still not sleeping through the night and GETTING WORSE (Save me!)

[HeavyMetalMummy]

Hi
This is my first baby and she seems to be on a mission to destroy me. I'll try and keep it brief. She's 6.5 m/o, breast fed, in the process of weaning, naps OK during the day (averaging 2/3 hours over the course of 3 naps), has an established bed time routine (bath, story, fed which she usually falls asleep whilst doing and then put to bed in her own room) and she sleeps in a baby sleeping bag. She USED to be out for the count by 7.30pm and not wake up again until 1or 2am for another feed and then be down again until 4am for another feed then sleep until 7(ish) am. NOW shes waking every 2 hours all the way through the night. She will not go back to sleep unless I feed her and given that usually takes a good half an hour ......I'm suffering people :-( I tried to write it off as a growth spurt but we're now 4 weeks in to this habit. Any thoughts/tips other than chloroform on a rag.

Wish I had some words of wisdom for you but my little girl is 1 next weeks and it still a bad sleeper! Is she developing any new skills at the moment like crawling/sitting?

Sometimes weaning can cause issues as well apparently!

It's a sleep regression. Download the Wonder Weeks app. It'll give you the estimated beginning and end dates of these "developmental leaps". They usually coincide with a new skill being mastered such as rolling over?

For what it's worth I've got a 15 month old who is BF & has STTN twice & typically goes down at 7:30pm, wakes up for the day at 4:30am & still manages to wake 4-6 times in the time period. During sleep regressions she sleeps in 40 min bursts. You have all my sympathy

She's in the habit of being fed back to sleep, because it's so comforting for her. Unfortunately, getting fed frequently in the night will be hampering her sleep because of having to digest the milk, thus leading to ever more frequent wakings. It took me a long time to come to terms with this fact with all three children. I do know how hard it is, I promise. Google the Jay Gordon method of night weaning when you're ready to make a change.

Jay Gordon is not for babies who are 6.5 months! He says at least a year but suggests even that is very young for a BF baby.

Op, she's 6.5 months. These things happen with BF babies. The Wonder Weeks is great for predicting when these phases might come around though!

As I said, tea, when the OP is ready to make a change. As it happens, we did a form of it at ten months (one 3 hour period) and it was enough to make a big difference with no distress caused.

Also, "these things" happen with all babies, not just BF ones. My middle DC was formula fed and a far more frequent waker than the other two (who were BF).

We also have this problem

7 month baby - Breast fed and settled in cot at 7 - sleeps until 9ish then wakes and can be resettled, wakes at 11 and is given a feed [4 hourly feed] then will usually go back to sleep until 1am and then is up hourly throughout the rest of the night and end up starting the day at 5am [if not earlier] :(

I was having the same problem with my DD. I found that when I stopped feeding her to sleep and letting her fall asleep in her cot (with my help initially) she has slept much better. It took a bit of time though and I have only attempted it for the first put down - if she woke overnight I still fed, but have found this has gradually reduced these also naturally.

It's hard at this age too as there are so many things going on (weaning, teething, developmental leaps) and I feel that sometimes whatever you do sleep will be a bit rubbish during this period (I'm hoping we've turned the corner but was a good 6 weeks of disturbed sleep). It sounds like you are doing great with day naps /routine otherwise, so wonder whether breaking the feed/sleep association may help?

Hopefully it might just be weaning related
My awful sleeping baby went especially awful in the weeks when I started introducing solids. Things did get slighrly better after a few weeks and at 9 months she slept through once or twice. but it was only at 1 year she also through consistently. Hang in there xx

There's no solid science behind wonder weeks - I think the popularity of it is because it reassures parents that the regular 'everything is going to shit' phases are purposeful ;)

Before you break out the chloroform try getting your partner to settle her for half the wakings - just pick one when you will feed her. She WILL be pissed off but getting dad means she gets the love and comfort but with no chance of milk

Change the order of your bedtime routine

Pjs
Milk
Teeth if there are any
Gro bag
Book
Bed

Settle her in the cot. Don't use when words and minimal contact. Just the occasional shush and hand on them

'A year of shitness' ha ha love it.

Well, not the magic fix I was hoping for people (kidding, I know that doesn't exist xxx) I'm relieved I'm not the only one who's going through this.

I think, based on whats been said I've got a sleep/feed association coupled with skill learning (lots of carpet humping going on, bloody hilarious to watch) I tried settling her without a feed after her first wake last night.......2 HOURS of constant grumbling, whimpering and spinning around her cot later I gave up and fed her to sleep. So today I'm walking around with a blankie stuffed up my top to make it smell like me to give her tonight for comfort. Lots of great ideas on here, I'll give her bedtime routine a change up too.

Modifying her bedtime routine will already make a difference, you can start with just that. When you're ready to reduce the night feeds, you can either get your partner to settle her for every other feed or you time how long she feeds and then reduce it by two minutes every couple of nights. In any case, night weaning or partial night weaning at that age is possible and does no harm whatsoever, in fact, it's definitely less stressful for you and the baby than having to wean a toddler (providing you don't go cold turkey ). You have to be convinced of what you're doing though, there is no use leaving her to cry for hours and then cave in and reinforce the existing sleep association.