Nearly 6 month old will not sleep at night, really need help

[JennyBeanR]

Hello everyone, I'm really struggling with my DD. This has been going on for at least 4 weeks and is getting progressively worse.
She's going to bed at about 7, self settles (usually) then up again at 9, then it's hourly waking until around 2 or 3, then she's wide awake for a couple of hours.
When she wakes shes crying and will not settle unless she has a feed (bf) or on the occasional desperate night my partner has taken her downstairs to watch a movie.

We believe recently she's been teething but none of the pain relievers have worked consistently and tbh we don't want to rely on those anyway.

It seems that she needs a distraction or comfort at night, the problem is, I need sleep and my partner works full time with a 1 hour commute.

So sorry if this is a rambling long post. I've been reading so much on this trying to find help, I think at this point maybe I just need the comfort of other mums :)

Thanks in advance for any advice.

How was her sleeping before OP? What are her naps like?
My DS was a fairly good sleeper and starting from 5.5 months we had a really bad month with him. It was teething, he had one after the other coming through and we’re only just getting back on track with his sleep. It was a killer, but seems it was a phase. He was in pain and needed the comfort in the night so I ended up co sleeping for half the night with him as he was more settled. Have you tried this?

She was sleeping really well. Slowly worked towards waking 1-3 times a night for a feed then back into the cot with no problem. As far as napping goes, she hasn't been great since about 2 months. She sometimes will nap on my lap after a feed, but this is sporadic.

We're pretty convinced it's teething, but because it's been several weeks now with no tooth poking through I've been getting worried (and a bit desperate for sleep).

I sometimes sleep with her in the bed, however we only have a double to generally there's not enough room unless my partner gets fed up and sleeps downstairs! :(
When she sleeps in the bed with me she is still unsettled.

So far we have tried the Ashtons granules, gel, calprofen and calpol.
We are both worried about giving calprofen and calpol too often. Last night I gave her calprofen but it didn't work at all.

Maybe a dummy might help if she is sucking for/seeking comfort? Is she still in a room with you? You could try moving her into her own room as you may all be disturbing each other and she may go longer if she can't smell milk. What ever you do just be consistent and give it say two weeks before you decide it hasn't worked. Pick up put down may work at this age. There are a few sleep consultants on Instagram who will answer questions for free, ive always found that helpful for a bit of reassurance.

It's hideous when they hit a sleep regression, and no comforting words really help but it will get better. I never co slept either, it never really settled my DS, we just woke each other up and I was so nervous I never slept properly. That is the most common advice offered here though for any night waking/sleep issues. I put DS into his own room at 9/10 months and sleep trained around the same time, he's slept through 90% of the time since. I know it's not for everyone though.

She used to have a dummy but lately she's been refusing it. In fact, she gets furious if we even put it near her lips.

It might be an idea to put her in her own room, except we don't have one free. There is a travel cot downstairs, so once her siblings are in bed we could try putting her in there. It hadn't occurred to me that perhaps she could smell the milk.

Thanks for the advice guys.