6 month old - everything ruined

[Tgilaura]

I’d be really grateful for any and all advice about my 6 month old whose sleep routine has suddenly gone all the way back to square one.

Previously she would be asleep around 6 and would wake up around 5/6 the next morning - with wakings to feed but that was fine!
I had a good routine with her - bath, feed, cuddle and put in the next to me awake with white noise and she d go to sleep herself.

We began weaning a couple of weeks ago, and on Monday she had some potato which seemed to really upset her stomach and we had a bad night in which she was in pain with wind and couldn’t lie flat, so she ended up co sleeping with me.
Since that night it’s been a nightmare. She now refuses to feed at bed time, instead repeated latching and unlatching to cry. She won’t go in the next to me, I ve tried rocking her until she’s asleep but as soon as I put her down she wakes up and screams.

She actually worked herself into such a state on Wednesday I convinced myself there was something seriously wrong and drove to A and E! She promptly fell asleep in the car.

She’s also started doing this sort of humming complaining noise, generally in the early morning or late afternoon, but doesn’t actually cry. It almost sounds like a complaining noise?

I m going to call the doctor tomorrow, but in the meantime if anyone has any thought please let me know.

I suppose no one can tell me for definite, but can weaning cause these issues? Or is it more likely this was a developmental thing coming anyway?

Poor thing. Maybe it wasn't the potato itself that upset her tummy but it just coincided with an actual period of being unwell. Which in turn has upset her sleeping habits. All I can think of is just carry on as you were and guide those habits back. Sleep patterns can change around weaning anyway and can be the start of a longer wake/sleep cycle.
But yes see the doctor anyway as she sounds uncomfortable. And leave the potato a while too. 😉

Could she just be teething? The humming moaning sound to me sounds like it!

Teething? Can really mess things up

Weaning can disrupt their little bodies, did for mine, I also have read it many times on here thank god for mn 😃.

Essentially their gut needs to learn how to cope with all these new things it needs to break down. It’s only had to deal milk so far.

@missnevermind

Poor thing. Maybe it wasn't the potato itself that upset her tummy but it just coincided with an actual period of being unwell. Which in turn has upset her sleeping habits. All I can think of is just carry on as you were and guide those habits back. Sleep patterns can change around weaning anyway and can be the start of a longer wake/sleep cycle. But yes see the doctor anyway as she sounds uncomfortable. And leave the potato a while too. 😉

Thanks for replying. I m sitting with her now, and she has been humming away and she’s now gone back to sleep - so maybe it’s a “tired” noise? In the day she’s perfectly happy, no issues at all. After her stomach issue I gave her 3 days of no food at all, just milk to see if it helped reset her system. You know when there’s just so many possible things it could be and you just don’t know where to start?

I am still doing her routine, and the amount of hysterics every night is slowly decreasing. But she has still ultimately been coming into bed with me, after repeated attempts to settle because she’s getting to the point of hysterics and I don’t want to go there.
Thank you for your advice; I ll just have to cross my fingers and hope some consistency will bring her routine back soon.

@helpineedsomebodyhelp

Could she just be teething? The humming moaning sound to me sounds like it!

I wondered this - but there’s no other signs. No excessive dribbling, no red cheeks, no temperature. I did give nurofen yesterday to see if it made any difference and it didn’t.

Of course I suppose lack of these things doesn’t mean it isn’t teeth!
Thanks for replying.

@NotTheGrinchAgain

Teething? Can really mess things up

See my reply above. Like I said I suppose lack of the “usual” signs doesn’t mean it’s not that, but at the moment I can’t see anything in her gums, unless it’s all moving around deeper down and causing discomfort? It’s horrible wondering if she’s in pain but she of course can’t tell me. Thanks for replying

@FTEngineerM

Weaning can disrupt their little bodies, did for mine, I also have read it many times on here thank god for mn 😃.

Essentially their gut needs to learn how to cope with all these new things it needs to break down. It’s only had to deal milk so far.

Tell me about it, I don’t know what I would do without mumsnet! In terms of her weaning, after the break I did because of her upset stomach she’s now only having one meal right in the middle of the day. (Thought it would be better to build up slowly) and this has been fruit the last couple of days as I thought it might go through her system smoother.

Her system did seem to slow right down before as well, which I expected. I don’t think she was constipated because everything was still soft, but like you say I think her system was taking longer to try and process it.
Thanks for replying

It's definitely better to build up slowly with weaning. Hopefully this will make it better!

Re teething you could try to rub her gums gently with your finger and see if she finds that soothing. If she does, or wants to munch on your finger more, it might well be teething despite lack of other signs. Have you got any teethers for her to chew on at bedtime perhaps?

@helpineedsomebodyhelp

It's definitely better to build up slowly with weaning. Hopefully this will make it better!

Re teething you could try to rub her gums gently with your finger and see if she finds that soothing. If she does, or wants to munch on your finger more, it might well be teething despite lack of other signs. Have you got any teethers for her to chew on at bedtime perhaps?

I will definitely give that a try - thank you. I have got a variety of teethers as she went through a bad week about 6 weeks ago where I thought a tooth was definitely coming, and then it all calmed down and nothing since!

My daughter does the humming noise you're describing. I think it's a comfort thing because she's fallen asleep doing it before.

I know weaning can cause constipation, whilst the body is getting used to food, it could be related or not at all.

I probably would go to the GP just for a check up

Just to check back in.
Tonight I decided I wasn’t going to fight to get her into the next to me, I brought her upstairs into a pitch black room with white noise, got into bed with her and offered a feed. She was asleep within 10 minutes.
I came up early imagining another 2 hour battle and she’s now asleep at 17:20.
Makes me wonder if these last few nights have just been massive overtiredness??

Might be worth looking at naps - is she in a routine now or are you doing more go with the flow? If she's under/over tired that can make bedtime difficult!

@KatieKat88

Might be worth looking at naps - is she in a routine now or are you doing more go with the flow? If she's under/over tired that can make bedtime difficult!

Hi. She’s always been rubbish at naps. Generally only ever naps for 30 mins at a time, and usually having three naps a day, pretty evenly spaced.

That said she naps either in the pushchair if I m out and about, or in her rocker in the lounge with me if I m at home. I don’t know if that’s good practice but she goes mad if I put her in the next to me!

I'd definitely try earlier bedtime for a few days and see what happens. How was last night? I think at that age I started getting DD to sleep in her cot for naps as I was moving her into her own room - I was rocking her to sleep at that point though before putting her down so it wasn't like a miracle sleep thing I found the Huckleberry app really helpful for wake windows (and obsessively recording sleep and feeds) but I think a lot of it has been moved to the paid for version now. It did help with avoiding overtiredness!

@KatieKat88

I'd definitely try earlier bedtime for a few days and see what happens. How was last night? I think at that age I started getting DD to sleep in her cot for naps as I was moving her into her own room - I was rocking her to sleep at that point though before putting her down so it wasn't like a miracle sleep thing I found the Huckleberry app really helpful for wake windows (and obsessively recording sleep and feeds) but I think a lot of it has been moved to the paid for version now. It did help with avoiding overtiredness!

Honestly I thought I d cracked it last night. She slept through from 5:20 until 1, and then was awake but quiet for 2 hours, and then screamed for an hour. She NEVER does this. I ended up giving her another dose of nurofen and then she went back to sleep. I ve called the doctor this morning as I m worried there’s so underlying pain or something going on.

Definitely will have a look at that app - thanks. Regardless of what’s going on I think her naps could be improved!

It's so tough when you don't know how to help them. Probably nothing the doctor can do but worth a try for your peace of mind if nothing else! My philosophy has always been leave her to it if she's awake but content, go and comfort if upset. Could be teething if nurofen helped? I think I read that their teeth move around under the gums before they start coming through so could be why you're not having other signs. Also worth keeping a note of what food you're giving her and how frequently she's pooing to see if there are patterns that could point to any issues.

@KatieKat88

It's so tough when you don't know how to help them. Probably nothing the doctor can do but worth a try for your peace of mind if nothing else! My philosophy has always been leave her to it if she's awake but content, go and comfort if upset. Could be teething if nurofen helped? I think I read that their teeth move around under the gums before they start coming through so could be why you're not having other signs. Also worth keeping a note of what food you're giving her and how frequently she's pooing to see if there are patterns that could point to any issues.

Totally agree with you, we have an appointment in an hour. I doubt there’s going to be much the doctor can say but my husband is also getting very anxious and it’s the only thing that will calm both of us down I think! Yes, I gave her nurofen rather than calpol because that’s the only thing that seemed to help when she was having some pain with her tooth last time, but it never emerged and it all went quiet again. Maybe it’s back on the move? In terms of her food at the moment, she’s only just 6 months so sticking to one meal right in the middle of the day to give her chance to digest it somewhat before the evening - hopefully then as you say I can pick up any patterns. I’m also slightly obsessed with her nappies (never thought I’d be saying that!) but everything seems pretty normal there also! Like I say I m not sure what the doctor can say but I m just hoping for maybe some miraculous insight! Even if he feels all her tummy and can tell me it’s normal, I ll just have to settle in to ride out this phase. 😔

Honestly OP there's no point trying to figure it out. Don't feed her food to close to bedtime. Lie with her if that's what you need to do to get her to sleep. Just take it as it comes because she will change again in a couple of months.
It probably was the potatoes that gave her a sore tummy. Avoid them and don't give her food too close to bedtime. If you think she's in pain give her paracetamol and ibuprofen.
It's all a mixture of new experiences and her little brain processing it all while she's sleeping. Probably having dreams that wake her up (my dreams wake me up all the time). Teeth could be bothering her during the night. She's also becoming more aware of her surrounding zo might just be going through a phase of fighting sleep. It will pass eventually. My third has done the moaning thing since she was very young. She does it all the time when she's tired. She can sometimes wake up and do it for up to 2 hours during the night! Thinn it's just a self soothing thing.

The noise you described reminds me so much of my ds who is now 13! He used to make this noise ALL. DAY. LONG! It wasn’t a happy noise, it wasn’t a particularly sad noise oh was just a noise! I saw my gp, health visitor etc who all just said he had discovered his voice and was using it but my god that noise drove me round the bend! Just all day long “mmmm. Mmmmm. Mmmmm. Mmmmm” I felt like I was dragging a phone with a faulty vibrate function with me all the time! Bless him, I feel awful when I look back now because it was only a noise but he made it consistently for about 6 months! Once he started babbling/talking he stopped. So just wanted to add you’re not alone with “the noise”. It might be just like my ds she has discovered she can make a noise and likes it! He’s a happy healthy loving teenager now. With the sleep it can be so many things that disrupts them, try not to worry it will be resolved again.

@Thatsplentyjack

Honestly OP there's no point trying to figure it out. Don't feed her food to close to bedtime. Lie with her if that's what you need to do to get her to sleep. Just take it as it comes because she will change again in a couple of months. It probably was the potatoes that gave her a sore tummy. Avoid them and don't give her food too close to bedtime. If you think she's in pain give her paracetamol and ibuprofen. It's all a mixture of new experiences and her little brain processing it all while she's sleeping. Probably having dreams that wake her up (my dreams wake me up all the time). Teeth could be bothering her during the night. She's also becoming more aware of her surrounding zo might just be going through a phase of fighting sleep. It will pass eventually. My third has done the moaning thing since she was very young. She does it all the time when she's tired. She can sometimes wake up and do it for up to 2 hours during the night! Thinn it's just a self soothing thing.

Thanks for your message. I think you re right. I ve spent so much time trying to figure out what’s going on with her but it’s likely to be one of a million small things that to me seem totally inconsequential but to her seem massive.

Last night she slept 6-5! Obviously with wake ups to feed but none of the drama of the night before.

@KatieKat88 I thought about what you said if she’s content to leave her so even though she was thrashing around I just pretended to be asleep 😂 she did eventually settle back down and go to sleep herself!

The doctor couldn’t find anything wrong with her, as expected. He said it sounded like colic but she’s too old for that basically. I showed him a video of the mmmm noise and he was just like 🤷‍♀️

@Prettybubblesintheair I m so glad to hear it’s not just my baby being a weirdo. I hope it’s something that will stop sooner rather than later as it drives me up the wall!

The only other thing I did different yesterday was when she woke from her naps after 30 minutes I rocked her chair again and she went back to sleep! I was shocked. I ve always thought she’d had enough sleep but clearly not. I think I will try to continue to try to extend her naps where I can.

Thanks for everyone’s excellent advice! Onwards and upwards I hope, but Sod’s law means she will be a nightmare tonight now 🤣🤣🤣

Glad you had a better night @Tgilaura! It can definitely help to give them chance to settle themselves when they're happy, it doesn't always work but it's worth a go! Interesting about the naps, might be worth doing what you can to extend first or second nap and hopefully that will help (I wouldn't worry as much about the third as that'll be the one that gets dropped in the next few months anyway so it ends up being a catnap!)

Not surprising from the doctor - mine tried to print me the NHS website page on colic even when the infant feeding team had seen me feed and told me the issue was silent reflux

I vaguely remember both of mine having a bit of rough spell around 5/6 months. I weaned both of mine at 4 months under medical advice. So it wasn't the weaning. Teething is a big issue at that age. It can also be developmental. The advice to just go with the flow and do what you need to that night is best.

@KatieKat88
Definitely right about the naps. Will see how it goes today. Interestingly, after getting me up at 5 this morning after 30 minutes she went back to sleep downstairs so maybe I need to ignore her at 5 as well! It’s more difficult though because she’s more noisy.

That’s terrible about the doctor! I read so many posts about babies suffering with reflux or allergies that aren’t picked up by doctors - no wonder it’s easy to become paranoid that there’s something wrong when the doctors miss stuff as well.

@TimmyNook
Going with the flow is the way, I agree. Something I find really difficult as I like my own routines and ways of doing things - I swear having a baby has forced me to become much more flexible than I ever would on my own!