6 month old, awakens every hour after midnight

[JJ1992]

Hello!

Advice needed!!

Our little boy is currently 6 months old, he is breastfed and we are starting to wean, still only swallowing small amounts. He has never really slept through the night, usually waking to feed 2-3 times from 7-7.
We transitioned him to his own room 3 weeks ago, for the first week he slept better than ever! Woke to feed once at around 4, i also give a dream feed at 11 most nights.
For the last 2 weeks he has been wakening every hour after midnight, and is very difficult to settle back down after. Sometimes i feed when he wakes, sometimes i dont. For example if he woke at 1 and 2 and i fed him both times i will not feed again at 3. Often he falls back asleep in my arms when i pick him up, then wakes up moaning out within 5 minutes of going back into the cot. My partner is very busy with work so i do not leave him to call out for more than 5 minutes.
I am now getting in the routine of taking him into our bed at 4 (although it was earlier last night because i know it works! ) where he sleeps through until morning. Purely because im struggling to manage on the lack of sleep.

Has anyone been through this around weaning time? Im wondering is it a sleep regression or a weaning thing?
Do you think im setting myself up for future problems taking him into our bed? Generally he naps consistently through the day, three half hour naps sometimes middle nap is an hour.

Any advice would be appreciated. From a tired mum 😂

Do you think im setting myself up for future problems taking him into our bed?

Most certainly, you only have to read a few threads on this forum to confirm that.

Possibly regression and weaning needed.

I would suggest formula for bed time and breastmilk digests a lot faster. Get rid of sleep props, and sleep train if you're that way inclined.

Ultimately its up to you, and you'll do what you feel is best. Good luck

Is he teething? My son had exactly the same sleep patterns when he started teething - he wasn't in pain but was waking from discomfort and would need a lot of support to go back to sleep. I alternated between bfing and bringing him into bed, whatever was easiest! I started giving him calpol when it seemed the worst and that really helped.

We did Ferber method at 6 months and it was amazing. Highly recommend reading the book - and then you can decide if it’s something you want to do or not.

Basically the theory is that if the baby learns how to go to sleep alone, when they stir between sleep cycles they are able to just turn over and go back to sleep, because they’re expecting to be alone.

If the baby is being held when they go to sleep, when they stir they’ll wake fully because their subconscious thinks something is “wrong” because their parent has disappeared.

This is so common at 6 months.

No need to do bottles or formula (it's a myth that either help with sleep - no scientific basis for that claim at all)

If taking him into bed works then do it. If feeding works then do it.

I vividly remember both mine doing this at 6 months. It passed and neither of them stayed in our bed long term.