6mo won't settle in his cot

[StealthPolarBear]

My 6mo has been a really good sleeper since we put him in his cot at about 10 weeks. He'd wake in the night for a feed, be asleep by the end, I'd stick him in his cot and leave him. There would be the odd ocassion where he wasn't asleep / tired after his feed. Also, when he learned to roll a coule of months ago he'd do that in his sleep & wake himself up but he grew out of that.
For about a week this has all changed. He's still asleep at the end of his feeds, but when i put him in his cot he fidgets, rolls and wakes up. I rock or pat him back to sleep but as soon as it stops he fidgets again. This is also happening during the day and he's exhausted. Does anyone have any ideas why this might be happening? Noise / light levels haven't changed significantly.

forgot to say he falls asleep fine in my arms!
off to try putting him down now so can shower

bump
although he has just slept for almost 2 hours Must have really needed it, and is full of beans now! What did I do right this time??

Recently my dd absolutely refused to sleep during the day (she's 7 and half months) so I loosely swaddled her and now she sleeps beautifully and I have to wake her up! If your son wakes up does he cry? I think babies become much more 'knowing' at 6mo ish so that might be it?

was just coming to bump, didn't actually realise I had a reply, thanks!
Yes, he wakes up seconds after I've put him in his cot and tends to roll over, fidget, lift his head up, then he's awake so cries (or makes noise)
Haven't tried loose swaddle, don't think he'll go for it but it has to be worth a try thank you.

arms in or out?

i'm so tired i actually spotted this at top of active conversations and thought wow - someone else having the same problem, would you believe it??

Sounds similar to what we've been through, my DS is 9mo and has always fed to sleep, but we've ended up the last few months with him only sleeping 90min stretches on average, resulting in me bending over the cot for what has seemed like hours in the middle of the night, or him sleeping in with us.

I've been trying to teach him to self-settle this last week (I've got a recent thread on here this week on it), but you don't say if he goes down awake at bedtime or if he also feeds to sleep at this time too? If he feeds to sleep it might be that you need to start putting him in his cot awake at bedtime, so that he knows he falls asleep there and doesn't wake up thinking, hang on a minute, fell asleep on mummy, where is she??

I've been BF DS at usual time, then keep him in my arms having cuddles, but put him in his cot awake and stay next to the cot to soothe him. - The first night it took 2 hours!!! next 2 nights it took an hour for him to fall asleep, but tonight and last night took just 5-10mins so we're getting there.

however, this won't be useful to you if he already does this, and it's just the middle of the night wakings, so sorry if I'm telling you stuff you already know.

hi choolie, thanks for replying
I don't think it's what you mention, as he wakes as soon as he's laid in his cot, while I'm still in the room iyswim. ALthough I do tend to feed him to sleep, he (usually, apart from now obviously!) is really good about that sort of thing, and if he only looks sleepy at the end of a feed I can just put him in his cot - 5 mins later he will be asleep. Until recently he would sleep 9-6 without waking, or 8-8 (say) with one feed.
Your self settling idea seems a good one, it's probably something I should do during the day (when I think he needs to sleep more than he does).
The ONLY thing I can think of is that we stopped putting him in a sleeping bag and started putting him in a giant furry sleepsuit, so like a bag with legs. I've changed back tonight in case it feels different. Someone on another thread mentioned that he might be suffering from milestone waking as he's just learnt to cral and sit up, that might explain why he's up 2 or 3 times a night rather than 0 or 1 but I don't think explains the fidgeting as he's put in his cot.
Well, sorry for that mammoth post!

hi stealthpolarbear

can't help you, sorry - my ds (7m) went through a couple of wakeful nights but I think it's coz he's cold. You said light/noise hadn't changed, what about cold? If he's nice snuggy warm with you, then going into cold sheets...?

hmm could be. I don't think he's cold in himself, but yes, lying on a cold sheet could be the problem
might have to try lying him on a blanket I've been sitting on instead
I'll let you know, thanks!

hi, have six month old too and same as you describe. He is asleep now but has woken twice since going down at 7pm with quite a lot of crying and is likely to wake about 3amish i reckon. This is new and has only started in the last week or so, prior to that no problems at all. I think it is the milestone thing plus might be teething too as he still cries after i pick him up to cuddle him (pain?). I gave him some calpol last night just in case and he did settle again after about 10 mins.
My daughter now 4 went through similar thing at this age so i do think it is just a phase! x

Thanks molly
I really hope it is just a phase and I can get my lovely excellent sleeper back! Hope your DS's teeth come through quickly and without too much pain.

oh yes, that's another thing Stealth, ds was dreadful just a few nights before tooth #1 appeared. (dur!)

ooh if it's a tooth I'm quite excited
(PFB )

yeah I rang all my family to tell them

for a while there he was having baby paracetamol when we went to bed at 11 and bang! waking up the second it wore off at 4:30 (having been up at least once, usually twice, in between, for feeds.) A couple of nights he was so fretful, couldn't sleep but was trying, fidgeting and kicking me and tossing his head side to side, I too tired to think of giving him another dose, ended up sobbing at 5am kind of thing.

All teething, he's settled down a lot now. (#1 is through, #2 and #3 showing but not yet through!)

Hi there. My dd2 is six months old today and i have been having EXACTLY the same problems that you describe. I have posted about it on the weaning pages. I think it might be connected with not yet eating enough to be totally satisfied to be honest. When did you start weaning- how is that going? Aso their digestive systems are getting used to different foods all the time etc. It is sooooo hard. I have been plunged back into depression as a result of her crying every time i put her into the cot. we have had days on end with no sleep at all during the day and some with little at night too. it does seem to be improving slightly as i am increasing the amount of solids she is having. keep in touch on this one! i think other poss causes are indeed teeth or frustration at not being able to sit/ roll the other way (rolling is a big prob for us as she cant roll back again yet) and she is v v wanting to crawl. All makes for a v hard stage of babyhood i reckon....

hi nowwearefour
good to know i'm not alone
goood point about the weaning, have been doing it for about 6 weeks but he still eats very little
did scoff 4 carrot sticks & a baby corn tonight though so hopefully it's getting better
your nights sound very hard I was in tears last night but felt ill as well otherwise it's not too bad, i get plenty of sleep just very broken. Hope you are managing xx

Hey SPB - as you know I'm having the same problem. I can't think why it would be. Must just be a phase.. hopefully one that passes soon! My ds

• goes to bed sleepy but not 100% asleep
• goes down fine after 10.30pm feed it goes tits up at the later night feeds (1am, 3am, 5am, zzzzzz)
• wears a grobag so can't be cold sheets
• knows how to roll both ways so can't be that
• not convinced that for me its teething as we had that and it was horrible, screaming and crying in pain even when we held him and until the calpol took effect. Now he will settle as soon as we pick him up and rock him to sleep.
• maybe the whole milestone thing? He's in the process of sitting up on his own etc but I'm not sure why that would interrupt sleep?
• not food because some days he eats loads and others not but the sleep thing is the same.

That was all so unhelpful, just want you to know you are SO not alone

T also goes down fine after his 9(ish)pm feed, it's during the night he struggles
weird