6 months sleep is this normal (with graph)

[Cosmicdreams]

Hi everyone. Ds is 6 months he's going in his own room on Monday so I'm hoping his sleep will improve but hes always constantly tired just refuses to sleep unless breastfed to sleep. He has started to wean (decent amount of breakfast and a little dinner) he still wakes after 30 mins-2 hours at night and only after 30 mins nap during day. We have had a 5 hour stretch once but not regularly. I've attached my graph from the baby tracker app. Any advice of how to change how I help him sleep longer or be more settled thanks. X

I think if he is warm , clean nappy and fed then you just have to stop looking for reasons and just roll with it or it’s mentally and physically exhausting . Six months is still very young and some times it just takes time. At this age my baby was like this , and I was a zombie it felt like it would never end . Accepting some babies just don’t sleep especially very young ones made my life much less stressful. It will get better at some point .

It’s because he’s breastfed to sleep so hasn’t learned how to go to sleep on his own.

@Juicylychee

@Juicylychee sorry pressed post by accident. I meant to put how do I teach him to sleep without bfing him. He normally has his naps on me but should I start putting him in his cot for naps?

@Cupcakegirl13 when did it start getting better for you? I understand he's still young it just seems like everything I read online said 6 months is when they start sleeping better but ds just never has even as a newborn I ended up going 8 days with no sleep as I was petrified of sleeping when he was on me and harming him.

its really normal for them to still wake frequently at this age, and it can often be up and down for a good while longer, cat naps are really normal at this age too. Absolutely nothing wrong with feeding to sleep either, it’s the biological norm and usually the quickest easiest way to get them to sleep. They’re going through really rapid development which affects sleep and the best thing you can do is go with the flow, follow their cues but don’t try and be too wedded to a routine. It’s also unlikely putting baby in his own room will help, you’ll just be up and down more. DS slept with us till 18 months because I got more sleep than constantly getting up and down. Friends who insisted baby had to be in their own room were definitely much more tired than me. Do what makes life easiest for you.

sarahockwell-smith.com/2017/07/24/the-rollercoaster-of-real-baby-sleep/

Also - anything you’re reading that says babies sleep just keeps improving and gets better from 6 months is not a credible source. Read the article I’ve shared above

You need to stop feeding to sleep and teach him how to fall asleep on his own. You need to replace bf with something else forcomfort,eg dummy or comforter.

Then the nught wake ups should get less as he will be able to put himself back to sleep, or just 30seconds for you to replace dummy or whatever.

Yes naps in cot or anywhere that isn't on you. At the moment he needs you to be there for all sleep so he hasn't learnt how to fall asleep himself

@BuffaloCauliflower that link was quite an interesting read and kinda follows the pattern of his sleep. He normally falls asleep at breast but when I'm transferring him to cot he wakes up a little as he turns over on to his side. There's so much different info out there and with me being a ftm I don't really know what to expect.

@Cosmicdreams its understandable, there’s a lot of confusing information out there and it’s hard to know what to trust. Just know that waking and needing comfort to get back to sleep is really normal for babies and how we’re made. We have the most underdeveloped babies at birth in the animal kingdom, to compare even to other apes they’d be born after 18 months gestation - your baby wouldn’t even be born yet.

I always bedshared, which can absolutely be done safely following guidance - feed to sleep and roll away, no transfer risk. DS couldn’t be safely transferred anywhere until about a year or more

@Youcancallmeirrelevant she doesn’t ‘need’ to do any of that. Feeding to sleep is the biological normal and babies will grow out of it in their own time. There is no evidence in research that not feeding to sleep means babies wake less. At all. It’s a myth.

The sleep regression from 5 months was the hardest for us. It lasted until 12 months. We tried everything. In the end it was a matter of survival, with hourly wake ups many nights. So divide and conquer, sleep in shifts so you get 4 hours good sleep each. Don't try to do other things while this is happening, take away all frustrations and just batten down the hatches for a few months and get sleep whenever you can. Surrender - is the best word I was given as a new mum.

Yes, what’s happening is he’s waking up and is confused because he’s somewhere different to where he was before he went to sleep. Contact napping and breastfeeding to sleep isn’t going to help the baby self settle. Best to try and sort this now before you have a three year old sleeping in your bed!

Honestly it just depends on you what you're happy with. Feeding to sleep is fine, not feeding to sleep is fine, it's just about your priorities and what you want. I don't care about DC being in bed with me, I actually like it, so DD slept in with me till just before 3 and then moved to her own bed of her own accord. DD2 is in with me and will stay so till it's not working for either one of us. For other people that isn't what they want so they do something about it.

Baby sleep goes up and down, back and forward, and just when you think you've got it cracked, it'll change again. Worry less about what you 'should' be doing and just focus on what makes life easiest and nicest for you all.

No, he is not confused, this is nonsense. Babies aren't complete dum dums, he knows his cot. He's 6 months old and it's completely normal to need comforting to fall asleep, waking at night to feed and for cuddles. He will grow out of it and you will not still have a 3-year-old in your bed you need to feed to sleep even if you do nothing 🙄

It might get a bit better around now before it gets worse again 8-10 months. But after that it's more of a consistent improvement (until 2.5 years). You don't need to teach him anything except that sleep is a safe place to go to and that you're there to comfort him when he needs you.

@Juicylychee self settling isn’t developmentally possible for a 6 month old. Nothing needs ‘sorting’ here, mum just needs support. There’s nothing wrong with a 3 year old needing their parents at night either.

Self settling IS possible for a 6 month old. All three of my now teenagers slept through (with the occasional very brief soothing pat from me) by 13 weeks. They napped in a Moses basket or cot. Not on me. They were mostly put in the cot still awake so they settled themselves off to sleep.

@CheshireCats that's great - but not all babies are like that. Some need more support than others.
Its biologically normal to be fed to sleep, babies grow out of it.

OP I think I read somewhere the recommendation is now to have your baby in your own room until a year (might be the American guidelines though). Obviously if you're keen to have your own space back do what you need to do and ignore me

Oh and stop logging everything! It'll drive you mad. I couldn't tell you how many times DD2 woke or fed last night and that's probably for the best

@CheshireCats thats not self settling, that’s not needing to be settled. Not the same thing. Some babies don’t wake as much, they’re all different. Those that don’t wake needing soothing, don’t need soothing. Those that do wake needing soothing can’t do it themselves

Eell OP has come asking for help with baby's sleep, feeding to sleep is going to be causing the frequent wake ups as baby never goes to sleep without OP there. You see it everyday on MN, posters with 2/3/4yos still in their bed because they thought they'd grow out of it and suprise suprise fhey haven't because the parents haven't actively taught them how. Yes babies and children still neeed comfort in the night, but its important imo they learn how to be happy and content in their cot and able to drift back off to sleep themselves, not always needing feeding.

A big bottle of formula at 10pm

Jeez. Put him down. He will go to sleep just be patient. 8 days of sleep is no good to anyone least of all him.

@BuffaloCauliflower i completely disagree. You need to help them get into good sleep habits from a young age. How many threads on here do we see from completely broken women with toddlers who are still feeding to sleep or getting up six times a night.

@Juicylychee scientifically though @BuffaloCauliflower is right. It’s not biologically normal for babies this young to go to sleep on their own, it’s completely appropriate to support babies and children to fall asleep. Sleep isn’t a skill that needs to be taught, it’s a biological function that develops when babies are ready. It’s also not linear in any shape or form in the first year. 8-10 months is commonly the lowest point in real baby sleep and will improve on its own after that.