Baby learning to fall asleep more independently but waking far more

[Sleepygrumpyandnothappy]

My 6.5 month old is waking every 2-3 hours at night. For the first 5.5 months we had a consistent but exhausting regime or feeding/rocking to sleep, eventually putting him in the Moses basket with DP and then co-sleeping with me from 1am ish. Once asleep, he’d stay asleep until 1/2, sometimes as late as 4am, and have 2 feeds a night.

We’ve been trying to get him to fall asleep more independently and have made decent progress. “Drowsy but awake” now works (after months of me hating the phrase) and he can fall asleep with the dummy and a hand on his chest to start. And this week we’ve started getting him down in his own cot rather than in my bed.

But the length of time he can sleep has gone to pot. Last night he went down at 7.30. Up at 8.30, up at 11.30…gave up and brought him from the cot to my bed, whereupon he was still up every 2-3 hours.

Is it normal to feel you’ve taken one step forward and two steps back?

Falling asleep independently and not waking at night are unrelated, regardless of the noise from everywhere that this is the secret to uninterrupted nights. Babies at that age wake for so many reasons, and they will sleep longer when they’re ready. How they go to sleep at the start of the night (or indeed after any of the wakes) doesn’t really influence that.

The whole first year is just a rollercoaster. There’s some periods of better sleep and then worse again, then some improvement and a regression right after. New skills, teething, illnesses, separation anxiety, all affect sleep. 6 months is a common time for a regression, and the next one is right around the corner at 7-10 months too!

Falling asleep independently doesn't mean they have learnt to self-soothe. That's essentially the issue.

They can learn to self-soothe but its not an easy process that requires a lot of patience.

Thanks. Do you both think it’s worth persevering with his own room right now, or wait until we’re in less of a regression?