6 month old sleep

[sleeplessinyork]

My 6 month old DD was a brilliant sleeper, sleeping through from 3 months to 5 months. But since 5 months things have been gradually getting worse. She started waking but at first would resettle easily, then only with a feed but only once in the night. Now however wakes every 2-2.5 hours and will only settle with a feed. I'm exhausted. She can self settle for naps and usually for bedtime too, although the latter has been getting worse.

Does anyone have any advice on how to improve her sleep and reduce night feeds? I don't think she's actually hungry every time. Or just some encouragement if you've come through the other side of a similar phase? Feeling pretty low atm with sleep deprivation :-(

I've been in this situation. I think the only way around it is sleep training. Even if you sleep trained before, you have to do it again, I'm afraid. I know it's not the most pleasant experience, but it's for her best interest and yours. As soon as you are both sleeping better you will both be happier and healthier for it.

@whatyousayin thanks for your reply. I'm just unsure whether sleep training would help as she can self settle for naps and for bedtime. What method would you recommend? I'm reluctant to do controlled crying but would possibly try pick up put down. Would I have to do it for every wake up and also at bedtime on the occasions when she doesn't settle by herself?

If she's awake for 2 hours but will settle with a feed, are you giving the feed at the beginning of the 2 hours or at the end?

@PritiPatelsMaker she's awake every two hours, not for two hours. Generally she wakes up crying, I try to settle her but she just gets more and more worked up so I end up feeding her. She then usually goes straight down back to sleep, although not always. Last night she was awake for an hour at 1.30pm 😓

Is she being weened yet? Sounds like she is hungry

Sorry must have misread. There is every possibility that she's hungry or thirsty, I've always found the "they shouldn't need feeding overnight" thing a bit odd. Babies are biologically programmed to wake in the night for awhile host of reasons.

There's also a massive sleep regression at 6 months so she might just go back to sleeping well soon anyway.

If not, there are some good tips in the No Cry Sleep Solution

She just turned 6 months so started weaning, but obviously she's not having much yet. I don't believe she's hungry every time she wakes. Very happy to do one or two feeds but every two hours is a bit much. Last night i managed to settle her without feeding at 4:30 then she slept until 6:30 and even then she wasn't at all bothered for milk.
Thanks, I'll have a look at the No Cry Sleep Solution.

Has the wakefulness coincided with weaning? If so, you might want to stop offering solids for a couple of days or just offer them at breakfast time to give her time to digest them fully before bedtime. Occasionally they can have an immaturity of the gut, even at 6 months, which can affect sleep.

No, it hasn't. Her sleep has started getting worse about 5-6 weeks ago. We only started weaning last week.

There is a 6 month sleep regression, the 4 month one is more common but you can get one at 6 months. My DD was a terrible sleeper but we did a very gentle sleep training method (no cry it out) and once she could self settle it improved loads.

Thanks @LouMoo13 . Glad it improvd for you. What sleep training method did you use?

Really sorry to hear you’re having such a tough time. No advice here but just to say I feel your pain as my 6m DS is also not sleeping well at all anymore :( I’ve actually just done a post about it! Hope things start to improve for you xx

If I was in your position I would do the cry it out as they get dependant on you to go every 2 hours, this is what I found with my son in a similar situation. I was also reluctant to re-do sleep training but honestly it only took 1-2 nights and we got back to where we were before sleep got disrupted. I know a lot of people are against it, but needs must for everyone's mental state - I find sleep absolutely crucial.

@sleeplessinyork we had a sidecar cot set up so we laid next to her and hugged/ stroked her and reassured her but didn't pick her up. She was used to being rocked or fed to sleep before this. She didn't cry much and we were there with her not ignoring her, just helping her fall asleep on her own. We had previously tried pick up put down but it stressed her more!

@sleeplessinyork sorry should add that once she could fall asleep in her cot we reduced the amount of help we gave her until she could do it on her own.

I was going to start a post but then I read yours @sleeplessinyork and my 6.5 month old is the very same. Going down for naps are generally ok (albeit fairly short) bedtime can self settle although this is getting worse. But will wake every 2-3 hours really upset and only resettle with a feed. As the night progresses the waking becomes more frequent, and can be hourly! I BF at night but like you don't think it's hunger that's waking him. I think it's just a bad habit now. He also thinks 4am is wake up time for the day and I often end up holding him as he won't go after this time.
I slept trained my first with the shush pat method but not really wanting to do that again if I don't have to. Do you BF at night, I was thinking of trying a bottle overnight to see if that helps?

Also because of the short day naps I also think he may be overtired going to bed which impacts the night time waking. Trying to work on getting more day sleep but haven't been hugely successful there either!

Think you might find when she has been weaned somewhat more with more food during the day it will stop. Typical behaviour as some babies are reading for weaning earlier than 6 months but the advice changed due to allergies and the thought earlier was too soon

@Aims17 I'm sorry you're having a tough time too ☹️ I think the fact that she used to be a good sleeper makes it harder to cope now! Hope things improve for both of us soon! Xx

@whatyousayin we have got a holiday coming up, so if feels pointless to do it now but if her sleep doesn't improve by the time we come back I might try sleep training. I've not actually sleep trained her before, she just gradually went longer and longer betweens feeds at night to the point that around 12 weeks she would sleep from around 9pm to 7ish, with the occasional exception.

@LouMoo13 thanks, that's helpful. I've done something similar for her daytime naps and she now goes down for naps really well, as long as I put her down at the right time! I used to feed her to sleep at bedtime at night but stopped that and again she settled fine at first but now it's getting more challenging some nights. She's just so inconsistent! Occasionally she wakes in the night and settles herself back to sleep with no help, but other nights only a feed will do every time she wakes..

@potatomonkey your DS sounds just like my DD! We also have short naps and struggle to get her to nap in the late afternoon so I also wonder if she is overtired and that's partly to blame for all the night wakings!
When did the bad sleep start for you? Are you considering sleep training?
Yes I BF at night. We tried giving a bottle but she won't take it.

Could she be ready for her own room? Could be she's getting disturbed by snoring more now?

@Expectingfirstbaby I'm pretty sure I don't snore but I do move around quite a lot in my sleep so could be. We are about to go on holiday for a week, so we were planning on moving her out after we come back. We'll see if that improves things.

@sleeplessinyork
The bad sleep started around 6 weeks ago. Previously was sleeping 10/11pm to 7/8am, no wakings and was settling self to sleep (The good old days). It coincided with a stomach bug, then we went on holiday and then we had Covid, so it's been a rough few weeks. I can also see 4 teeth coming in so that along with the heat won't be helping.

Sleep training is hard and Im holding on to a little hope that things will rectify themselves naturally. But if I have conditioned him to think waking at night = booby time & cuddles then I'll probably have to. Sigh