Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Sleep

Join our Sleep forum for tips on creating a sleep routine for your baby or toddler. Need more advice on your childs development? Sign up to our Ages and Stages newsletter here.

Original poster

What is waking him up?

45 replies

Pinkchicken85 · 23/02/2022 13:50

I’m visiting both my doctor and an oesteopath tomorrow. And I want to know what medical reasons there could be waking up my DS. Just so I can ask them to rule it out before I go the sleep training route, which I really didn’t want to have to do.

My DS is nearly 6 months, EBF and has a cot in our room. He had zero teeth so far, so none of this has been teething.

Up until 4 months he only woke when hungry during the night, on a good night he could go through. Sleeping in his cot In our room. The absolute dream...Then bam! At 4 months he becomes a sleep terrorist.
At the moment he’s waking every hour or less. My DH and I have split the night in two and take shifts. DH cuddles him back to sleep but very soon after being put into bed he’ll wake up. I tend to just breastfeed him every time he wakes up, this means he spends 1/2 the night in between myself and my DH.
He’s become terrible to nap at home too. I’ve followed the care it out method by kerry secker but that didn’t work.
Thank you for reading,
A very knackered mother.

OP posts:
RandomQuest · 23/02/2022 14:05

It all sounds very normal and like he’s yet to get out of the 4 month regression. I’m no expert but I personally wouldn’t suspect a medical issue. If he’s falling asleep feeding, or in dad’s arms, then he’ll come to end of his sleep cycle, come into light sleep, realise he’s been moved and wake up. Which if you think about it is entirely natural- imagine if someone moved you whilst you were asleep and how you’d react when you started to stir! He needs to fall asleep where he’s going to stay asleep. So to improve sleep your options are really co-sleep or sleep train. If you do go for sleep training then there are a variety of methods- it doesn’t have to be cry based although gentler ones do often take longer. It’s up to you what you feel comfortable doing!

Lemongrass9 · 23/02/2022 14:09

Hi, this sounds tough…however it does also sound quite normal. Although someone with more experience might be along soon.

My DS will be 6 months next week and we are starting to have more good nights than bad nights. A good night for us right now is waking every 1-2hrs until about 3/4am then sleeping through until 7am. Our bad nights sound much like yours, last night DS would only sleep in my arms, I managed to finally put him down without tears at about 4.30 this morning then we were up at 6.

Co-sleeping can help you get some extra sleep, but read up on safety with this. I actually don’t get on with it as I don’t want to ask DH to move out the bed and I’m so uncomfortable squashed between the two of them so we only do this on really bad nights!

We did see an osteopath at about 4 weeks and that really helped with uncomfortable reflux so I would recommend osteopath even though we used it for different issue.

If you don’t want to sleep train you don’t have to - have a look at some Instagram accounts for support. Lyndsey Hookway is really good.

nearlyspringyay · 23/02/2022 14:38

I don't think you need to visit a doctor or an osteopath, probably tail end of sleep regression or, starting the next one. It's what they do. It's shit, so sympathies but save your money on the osteo.

WhatAWasteOfOranges · 23/02/2022 14:52

Don’t waste a doctors time with this. He’s 6 months old and programmed to want to sleep close to you. He only slept well until 4 months because it’s a different type of sleep. Have a read up on it…

Original poster
Pinkchicken85 · 23/02/2022 15:50

The doctors appointment is his 6 month check up and vaccines, so I’m just using this opportunity to ask the doctor a few questions. We don’t live in the uk, not sure if this is routine there too?
I’ve heard cranial massage can help with sleep problems.
Just want us to have more sleep, I didn’t have this with DS1.
Thank you all for reading and replying.

OP posts:
Original poster
Pinkchicken85 · 23/02/2022 15:51

@Lemongrass9 I’ll look her up, thank you.

OP posts:
CMAYF11 · 23/02/2022 20:17

Sounds like a sleep regression. We've all been there. It's a phase. There's nothing medically wrong

StuntNun · 23/02/2022 20:25

Have you tried a white noise machine? Babies wake frequently so they need to learn to go back to sleep on their own. A white noise machine can give them this cue. I fell into the trap of breastfeeding to sleep with my first three - so they end up wanting to feed every time they wake up. With my fourth I always breastfed him as soon as he woke up so he wouldn't rely on it to get back to sleep.

Jingers5 · 23/02/2022 20:28

Sometimes it's hunger, maybe some baby rice/supper before bed. It could be a growth spurt where they wake up hungry during the night.

YoBeaches · 23/02/2022 21:49

Sleep regression --- and baby learning to self sooth and return to sleep after 45 min sleep cycle which is all they do at that stage. Do they have a dummy, would you use one? It is most likely a normal development phase. It happens a lot, on and off for the first few years. And he could be teething, even though you can't see any teeth yet. A lot changes at 6 months.

MGee123 · 23/02/2022 23:00

Controversial potentially but our 4 month regression ended after 11 weeks when I swapped to exclusively bottle feeding (some expressed milk some formula). In hindsight I think she wasn't getting enough volume in during the day resulting in frequent night waking due to hunger. In 2 weeks she went from waking hourly to sleeping through, having night weaned herself. It could have been coincidence but I do think the change in her feeding regime helped.

pinkcattydude · 23/02/2022 23:08

DS slept far better after six months but it was also after he moved into his own room. Not sure but maybe we were waking him or if it was a coincidence. Oh and I used the wonderweeks website it was like a manual to when and why DS suddenly went out of sorts,

Original poster
Pinkchicken85 · 24/02/2022 02:37

@YoBeaches no dummy, he’s rejected it from the get go, I even tried it yesterday but he keep on spitting it out or gumming it, then getting frustrated.
Feels like the world’s longest regression!

OP posts:
Original poster
Pinkchicken85 · 24/02/2022 02:40

@MGee123 that’s interesting, my mum did the same thing with me with similar results... maybe it’s history repeating it’s self. I feel a bit gutted to be stopping breastfeeding.
I’m typing this as he breastfeeds for the second time since midnight.

OP posts:
Original poster
Pinkchicken85 · 24/02/2022 02:42

@StuntNun I have a Ewan the sheep, but nothing that plays continuously... could look into that.

OP posts:
Original poster
Pinkchicken85 · 24/02/2022 02:46

@pinkcattydude was your LO waking hourly too? I’m haven’t moved him yet as I don’t want to be sat on a chair in his room 1/2 the night. My DH would love this though!

OP posts:
olympicsrock · 24/02/2022 02:48

At a similar age my DS was like this. Health visitor suggested putting him in his own room as they can be woken by parents . We all slept much better

Footnote · 24/02/2022 02:48

He’s not linking his sleep cycles. There’s nothing medically wrong though there are plenty of snake oil merchants who will try and take your money to fix it. You can give him a gentle push to join up the cycles with sleep training (it can be no-cry sleep training) or you can wait until he does it on his own.

AutomaticMoon · 24/02/2022 02:54

[quote Pinkchicken85]@StuntNun I have a Ewan the sheep, but nothing that plays continuously... could look into that.[/quote]
Do you have a laptop? There’s great many hour long videos with songs/sounds for babies to sleep to. There’s even stuff for anxious pets to listen to! Or whisper ASMR videos could be soothing? Have you tried probiotics? Babies with colic or GERD have success with probiotics but you haven’t mentioned digestion issues. It could be as PP said that your dc needs more food, does he not accept a bottle?

Lemongrass9 · 24/02/2022 08:30

[quote Pinkchicken85]@StuntNun I have a Ewan the sheep, but nothing that plays continuously... could look into that.[/quote]
We switched to an all night long white noise machine around the same time DS’s sleep started getting better so could be worth looking into. Our sleep challenges started around 11 weeks (he was actually sleeping around 8/9hrs straight before this) and it’s been 13 weeks now since then, I think we started seeing some improvement after about 10 weeks of hourly wake ups. It really is so hard going, you are doing an amazing job 💕

If you do genuinely feel gutted about stopping breastfeeding then you don’t have to, it might work or you might just end up without the one thing that settles your little one. But obviously if you want to stop you can and should do if that’s what is best for you and your family.

My DS is a fellow dummy refuser so I totally get your frustration on that!

pinkcattydude · 24/02/2022 08:50

@Pinkchicken85 not sure if it was hourly but it felt constant. We found out by chance as stayed at my parents for a night. No way for him to sleep in the same room (I was v nervous). But omg we all slept so well so tried it at home. Just got to figure out what works for yours good luck

Original poster
Pinkchicken85 · 25/02/2022 21:54

He doesn’t accept a bottle either... And at the moment he’s refusing to eat as well.

OP posts:
Tee20x · 25/02/2022 21:56

Nothing medically wrong happens to most children. We had a phase where she was up every hour it was awful and I wanted to die.

We have a panda that plays white noise/lullaby it is noise activated so starts playing if she stirs or cries. I didn't do any sleep training and sleep has just improved on its own with age.

MixedCouple · 25/02/2022 22:30

We did cranial osteopathy for silent reflux and sleep issues. Bubba screams whether held or not from when he was 3 weeks old.
He is now 16 weeks old and sleep regression getting worse.

The osteopath helped with his posture and movement did jack all for his sleep or his reflux. It's so over rated.

After 1st apt thought he was fired as we got home and he self soothed in mins nope just one off. We were discharged as osteopath said nothing else she can do.
Apparently some swear by it but never worked for us.

Original poster
Pinkchicken85 · 26/02/2022 06:38

@MixedCouple interesting. The osteo said nothing was wrong with him, just a bit of tension in his forehead and that he should do more exercise on his play-mat . But it’s good to know nothing is wrong physically with him. LO slept well(ish) the night of the appointment but he was reset back to frequent wake ups last night.
Sleep deprivation sucks, hold in there! You’re not alone.

OP posts:
Swipe left for the next trending thread