6 month old waking 6 times a night, will it ever get better? I’m so exhausted

[MsBranwen]

My little one is now 6 months old and just can’t ever manage to sleep for more than 3 hours at a time at night. For a while a couple of months ago he got a bit better and was doing 4-5 hour stretches but it’s been getting worse again over the past month.

The frustrating thing is I feel like I’m doing everything ‘right’- he settles himself to sleep at bedtime and we follow the same routine every night. I’m also careful to keep things calm and dimly lit for the hour before bed. He has short naps during the day usually, so tends to be awake 2 hours and 10 mins then has a half hour nap and he settles himself for this too... but in the night he just can’t seem to resettle when he wakes unless I breastfeed him. Last night I tried settling him by just hugging and putting my hand on him but that just led to an hour and a half of crying.

I’m just not sure what else to try. He’s ebf and won’t take a bottle anymore so dh cant help with night feeds.

Does anyone have any advice?

Yes this sounds like my DS. For me 5-6 months was the worst time for sleep (after the newborn phase). Hang in there, it will get better. From 6.5 months we had notable improvement. Had a blip last week which I think was down to teething and now ok again (he is 10.5 months). He still feeds at 4am- I honestly have tried so many ways to drop this feed but he always has it! - so doesn't sleep through but is much improved. Rest when you can and try not to stress! If baby settles easily with bf then just do that - or, if he wants a feed but is then still restless, swap with your partner at that point. Also make sure you are getting lie ins / naps to make up for lost sleep while your partner watches the baby.

I've been through similar and you have my sympathies, it really is a form of torture! DD slept through very briefly but regressed at 4 months and did exactly as your DC (except probably worse) until she was 9 months old. I know that sounds awful BUT it stopped on its own pretty much overnight and from then on she slept through 7-7, sometimes longer, very consistently. She's now 2 and is a really good sleeper, sometimes sleeps until 9! So don't be discouraged (as hard as that is).
I wish I knew what caused the change, I was at my wits end as like you we tried everything seemingly to no avail. It might be you're just unlucky but I hope you are rewarded with brilliant sleep once you've seen this stage through.
Is he in his own room yet? If not maybe he smells your milk and wakes from habit. A bit more separation might make all the difference. Also have you tried white noise? We used the iPad but Ive heard good reviews about a device called Myhummy!

Poor you, you must be exhausted. It will get better. Now he's 6 months he'll be on solids, how much is he eating during the day?

He may not accept a bottle when there is boob on offer instead, but maybe if your husband tried settling him at night he might have more success than you. Get your DH to deal with the first waking as your DS is unlikely to be hungry then if he's having plenty of. I'll and solids during the day. Then you can deal with the next waking and feed if needed.

We tried this with our then 7 month old , and after a few nights the first waking session stopped and we got a 6 hour stretch of sleep.

Just turned 10 month old still doing exactly the same with night waking. You have my sympathy

Thanks everyone for the solidarity. It’s good to know we’re not alone, but sorry to hear others have suffered and continue to as well.

We’ve got a hushh white noise machine, though I’m not sure it helps much!

I think it might be worth trying to get dh to give him a bottle , we used to do that and for a while he wasn’t waking up for a 10pm feed when there was only bottle on offer!

I think it’s just so frustrating knowing that he can settle himself but he just doesn’t seem to be able to do so in the middle of the night. All the books seem to suggest that if you just put the baby to bed ‘sleepy but awake’ then they’ll sleep well at night, but ds obviously hasn’t read the books!!

Honestly all I can say is I’m there for you in solidarity. My son is 6 months and wakes anywhere from 10-30 times a night. I haven’t had more than 2-3 hours sleep a night since he was born and that was in the first couple of weeks. Now I’m lucky if I get 1.5-2 hours.