6 month old night waking then not sleep for hour

[jhs2zz]

Hi

My 2nd boy is now 6 months old and recently he has been waking up 1-3 times every night for feeding, but every time he would not go back to sleep, but stays awake for 1-2 hours. He also does not seem to be sleepy as he usually just turns around all the time, patting etc does not work until 1-2 hours later he gets tired again and falls back to sleep, sometimes with crying.

He's well, no illness, and he naps about 3 times in the day, usually with 2 30-40mins then a longer one between 1 to 2 hours. He's been teething for a month but it's been like this just over a week ago. I am not sure what I should do to this? If he's not sleepy any sleep training methods will not work?

Thanks in advance for any advice

What is happening during the extended period baby is awake in the night? As in, what are you and baby actually doing throughout?

Also - what's baby's daytime sleep routine like and what about daytime milk feeding and weaning?

Thanks for your reply. While he's awake, we kept the room dark, not talking to him, and tried patting on his tummy though we have to constantly put him back on his back as he constantly rolls all over the place. we also tried putting him in the pushchair and rocking, which works a charm during the day, but not in the night. Whatever we do, he just stays awake for 1 hour or 2, usually ends up being too tired and crying to sleep.

During the day he usually naps every 2-2.5 hours, for 3-4 naps depending on the length of each one. usually they are around 40 mins. He feeds about every 3-4 hours. He has started weaning 2 weeks ago, and it has become more regular lately as he weans 3 times, morning, noon and dinner time.

My 7 month old recently went through this. I figured it was a developmental leap as she is teething and trying to crawl and all sorts. Didn't last long.

Thank you catlady, hopefully that's what it is

I'd be trying to move calorie intake to the daytime now. So more milk feeds per day (closer together to give more feeds per day) and also focus strongly on weaning. Include all of the food groups, especially protein (meat) and carbs (bread, pasta).

If you are only BLW then milk intake in the daytime will need to be greater for the calories. I did a mixture of both puree and BLW early in weaning. So meals always involved four courses:

• spoon fed a meat-based savoury baby food jar
• offered a selection of the meal that the rest of the family was eating, as finger food
• spoon fed yoghurt
• sliced fruit as finger food

The first and third courses to ensure calories went in, the second and third courses increasing in size as time went on. Plus at 6 months old I was still offering a full milk feed every 2h-2h30m.

It really was a time when it felt like having a newborn again - spending all baby's waking time feeding.

By making a concerted effort to move calorie intake to the daytime, it's reasonable to expect fewer night feeds. I might expect one feed in the night occassionally, but up to 3 would indicate to me that baby needed more calories in the daytime.

When baby is then not needing so many night feeds, teamed with having a settling method that isn't feeding, hopefully should start to wake up less often.

@fate thanks so much for the detailed feedback, it absolutely makes a lot of sense. I think we started slow on weaning, he's still on rice cereal and not coping very well as he gets constipated. Fruit/veg are fine though. I'll try increasing weaning and hopefully that works

thanks again

It's worth bearing in mind that fruit and veg are low calorie - these are the stuff dieters eat for exactly that reason.

They end up filling up babies tummy, but providing fewer calories than an equivalent milk feed would have done. It's calories baby needs, not 'volume' - the fiber in rice cereal is fine to a degree, but really it's just filling tummy without vast amounts of calories.

I'd keep daytime milk feeds frequent because they are really easy calories. Then significantly up the ante on weaning. I had a about a week of 'tastes' and then went fully into 3 multi course meals per day.

thank you. my boy is such a bad eater especially in the day. He only drinks milk when he gets very hungry, and wont stay drinking for long either, usually just 80-100mil (when using bottle). And if he drinks, he weans little, vice versa. His night feeds are better, which altogether makes the problem worse. I guess I'll have to focus on his milk feeding in the day first.