Sleep problems with 6 Month Old.

[Poppyyoung18]

Hi everyone, I was wondering if you can help. My little boy just wont sleep on his own. Hes been in his own room now for 3 weeks..we've had about 2 good nights were hes slept from 7-4.30am and then back down until 7am. But it's got to the point now hes waking every 1-2hrs crying! We dont lift him out of the cot unless his wind or inconsolable. This goes on until 10-11pm until he gets a top up feed. He will then go to sleep until 2 and then it's the same cycle all over again. He does know how to self settle but just doesnt do it...some nights I'm desperate for sleep that I bring him into bed with me and he will sleep 6hrs straight without waking. How do I get him out of this habit and to do this on his own. We tried controlled crying and crying it out (which broke me) so stopped that.

Any advice or tips would be so helpful. Thank you!

Can you fit his cot in your room with you? I'd get him back in your room somehow, and try putting him in his own room again in a month or 2.

If a top up feed stops him I would feed him sooner! And if he sleeps better with you I would investigate safe co sleeping and crack on with that.

You say you don’t lift him out of the cot unless he’s inconsolable, but try giving him a cuddle sooner and he might not get to that point.

He’s 6 months old, he’s tiny. Feed him, cuddle him. Most 6 month olds do not sleep through the night.

The guidelines are for children to sleep on their own no earlier than 6 months. If the problems started when you moved him, then maybe he just doesn't like sleeping alone. At 6 months he is immobile and completely defenceless against the lions who want to eat him. We might now live I secure houses away from predators, but babies don't know this. Of course some babies will sleep better in another room with no noises, they are all different! Try moving him back and see if it helps.

My little boy is the same. We just Co-sleep. I don’t like it but I think he’s too young to understand sleep training without tears. I sleep trained my toddler and it was painless because he had the cognitive ability and understanding. I’ll wait until my baby does too.

I'm not wanting him to sleep all night because I know hes still so tiny. All I'm asking was if there was anything I can do to get him to do long stretches at night without waking up every 1-2hrs. He does get plenty of cuddles and loved so much. I guess I'll look up about co-sleeping until he seems ready to go back into his own room. Thank you

Cosleeping is a habit that will be hard to break.

I would suggest bringing the cot into your room, next to your bed. Remove furniture from your room to fit it in, if needs be. A chest of drawers has about the same footprint as a cot. Put the drawers in the baby's nursery for a while, bring the cot to your room until baby is sleeping through in the cot.

Babies and small children are all just so different. None of mine did long stretches of sleep and wanted milk every two or three hours. My two year old asked for milk during the night last night. One of mine as a newborn was sleeping better than a friends two year old so really there isn't a magic solution