Sleep association?

[Sunnyx]

6 month old currently going through leap 5. He’s started waking up during his naps and at night more frequently with a really sad cry but still has his eyes closed and needs boob to get back to sleep.

Does this sound like leap behaviour or sleep association? He’s only started doing it in last week or so...and I’ve always gently encouraged self soothing.

He does sooth himself about once a day (always at night and one nap if I’m lucky) but recently this is becoming less.

As babies have very short memories, is he maybe forgetting he can self sooth and think he needs milk? Do I need to push self soothing a bit more? I really don’t want to create strong sleep associations as I want him to sleep through the night eventually (don’t we all!).

Mine did this when she was teething.

Just sounds like normal baby behaviour! Was he sleeping through before? One wake up at 6 months is really good!

Have you recently started solids? Mine had quite sad cries in the night at 6 months and I realised her tummy was sore from new food and getting used to digestion.

I thought it was maybe teething too but shows no pain during awake periods.

Crazy cat lady he used to wake between 1-2 times, now more like 3-4 and yes this has been since he started solids roughly. It could be tummy pain but I’m giving him tiny amounts! How long did it take to get used to the solids out of interest!

I guess it could be due to so many things!

Gum/teething pain increases while lying down.

There is a very common growth spurt around 6 Months. Some of this could be to do with this? My son was doing exactly this a couple of weeks ago. He’s now stopped waking upset mid-nap, and is only feeding twice a night (I’m enjoying it while it lasts ) x

I’m giving him tiny amounts!

Is his milk intake increasing then?

@Fatedestiny - I would say overall yes, because of the increased wake ups at night...

But why would giving him tiny amounts increase his milk intake?

Because baby is significantly growing and developing, so needs extra calories week on week. Baby is likely to need more calories this week than last week, and more calories next week than this, and so on in a continually increasing way. Such is the level of growth and development in the 6-12m age range.

It is usual that come 6 months, milk is maintained at pre-weaning amounts (at least) and solids food start adding in extra calories in an increasing way. Within a week of 6 months, I'd aim to be on 3 two course meals including carbs and protein (remember fruit and veg are low calorie foods and it's calories baby needs).

So if you are taking weaning very slowly, you need to expect milk intake to significantly increase. If you cannot keep up with baby's calorific needs through feeds and solids in the daytime, then night time feeding becomes an absolute necessity to allow for baby to get enough calories for growing and developing.

Fatedestiny - I see what you mean. His milk intake has not increased at all. I do offer and he’s not interested sometimes and he’s just had a couple of really good nights - only waking once for a feed. I’m sure if he wanted more milk, he’d let me know about it! But I will up the solids. My health visitor said I really should be getting a move on too.