6 month sleep problems

[flingleflongle]

Our boy is almost 6 months. He's always been a good sleeper, sometimes sleeping through the night even at about 3 months or at heart just one wake in the night.

Then we hit 4 months - teeth coming through, learning to roll, having to transition from swaddle to sleeping bag, 4 month sleep regression. We had some awful night of him waking every 40mins.

He's now thankfully past the worse of that but he seems to be in a habit of sleeping for no more than 2.5hrs-3hrs at a time.

We put him to bed at 7 and wake him at 10 for milk (unless he wakes earlier). He'll then wake around 12.30-1.30 for milk then wake around 4.30-5 where he can be awake for almost an hour sometimes.

We have just begun weaning but this sleep pattern started before that.

Any advice of how to get him to sleep for longer?

How do you get him to go to sleep?

And what's his daytime sleep habits like?

I introduced a routine at around 8 months , it was game changing. Followed little ones. He won't stick to it at the start but before you know it he should start following

We've had a routine right from the beginning. He sleeps well in the day. About 40 mins in the morning at 9am. Then 1.5-2hrs at lunch time then he goes down at 7.

We rock him to sleep - not started self settling yet.

No teatime power nap? This is an age where I'd be expecting a minimum of 3 naps per day and around 2h awake time, possibly stretching to 3h later in the day. So I'd start with bringing lunchtime nap earlier, adding a pushchair 30 minute nap at around teatime which might then push bedtime later (unavoidably). This should reduce any build up of cortical from over-tiredness through the day.

I'd then suggest reducing the rocking to sleep so that he's falling asleep in the cot. A sidecar cot may make this easier, so you can cuddle to sleep in the cot instead.

I'd also consider night weaning at this age. The feeds in the night are likely more to do with comfort than calories. Really pack milk feeds in during the day (by making them more frequent, rather than bigger) to help with this.

@FATEdestiny

No teatime power nap? This is an age where I'd be expecting a minimum of 3 naps per day and around 2h awake time, possibly stretching to 3h later in the day. So I'd start with bringing lunchtime nap earlier, adding a pushchair 30 minute nap at around teatime which might then push bedtime later (unavoidably). This should reduce any build up of cortical from over-tiredness through the day.

I'd then suggest reducing the rocking to sleep so that he's falling asleep in the cot. A sidecar cot may make this easier, so you can cuddle to sleep in the cot instead.

I'd also consider night weaning at this age. The feeds in the night are likely more to do with comfort than calories. Really pack milk feeds in during the day (by making them more frequent, rather than bigger) to help with this.

We stopped the 4pm sleep a while ago (except when he sleeps really badly at lunch). All we've read says that's the first nap to cut out and we've done so as per advice.

He sleeps in his cot in his room so can't cuddle to sleep.

What is night weaning?

Night weaning means no milk at might. The ususl place to start os to aim for 11pm-6am without milk, for example.

I would say you've not got enough daytome sleep to be without the teatime power nap. 6 months is also very young to be dropping this, so not sure where you've got that from? Usual age is 7-9 months.

You are on the cusp for dropping the teatime nap. The change point comes at 3-4h of day time sleep or 9h awake and 15h asleep Over 24h. Those having only 3h of daytime sleep are mostly for babies sleeping through the night (say, 11h night time sleep total).

I'd suggest you look at a routine which follows 2h awake time through the day.

@FATEdestiny

Night weaning means no milk at might. The ususl place to start os to aim for 11pm-6am without milk, for example.

I would say you've not got enough daytome sleep to be without the teatime power nap. 6 months is also very young to be dropping this, so not sure where you've got that from? Usual age is 7-9 months.

You are on the cusp for dropping the teatime nap. The change point comes at 3-4h of day time sleep or 9h awake and 15h asleep Over 24h. Those having only 3h of daytime sleep are mostly for babies sleeping through the night (say, 11h night time sleep total).

I'd suggest you look at a routine which follows 2h awake time through the day.

One reason we stopped the 4pm sleep is he just wouldn't sleep. We could rock him, go for a walk etc and he'd not sleep. We can't force him to so we stopped and he's been perfectly happy and was sleeping well without it until the 4month regression

One reason we stopped the 4pm sleep is he just wouldn't sleep. We could rock him, go for a walk etc and he'd not sleep. We can't force him to so we stopped and he's been perfectly happy and was sleeping well without it until the 4month regression

Firstly, sleep changes in very irreversible way at the 3-4 month mark. There's no benefit in comparing before 4 months to after because previous to 4 months old is very very different (womb like, not to be returned to) sleep type.

One reason we stopped the 4pm sleep is he just wouldn't sleep. We could rock him, go for a walk etc and he'd not sleep

That is most likely your settling technique, rather than baby not needing/wanting the sleep. What's your settling technique?

Our settling technique is gentle rocking... same as every other sleep