6 month old wide awake middle of the night advice please

[Tommymummyft]

I have a little boy just turned 6 weeks old and he’s suddenly started waking in the middle of the night and taking between an hour to two hours to get back to sleep. He doesn’t cry he’s just wide awake. He goes to bed between 7:30 and 8pm and sometimes the wake is 11-11:30 or the other night it was 1:30 after a feed.

He only has 1 feed a night and doesn’t sleep through but before it would just be a quick dummy in or maybe a pick up and he was instantly back to sleep.

Ive read loads online about nap changes, leap 5 and 6 month sleep regression but wondered if anyone had been through the same thing and had any advice.

He has recently just dropped to three naps a day and is rocked to sleep. He can’t settle himself to sleep yet, I’ve tried leaving him to it but he just gets himself more awake the longer I leave him.

Not being rude but you honestly have no idea how good you have it if your 6 week old baby is only just now waking up once a night. My daughter was waking every 2-3 hours as a newborn and I felt like a zombie pretty much for the first 7-8 months.
she didn’t start sleeping through the night until she was 15 months old.

I remember this well and I know how frustrating and exhausting it is and you must feel.
At this age their little bodies have no idea about circadian rhythm’s so he will have no idea that it is night time and should sleep longer during those hours.
We kind of have to create it for them until they develop it themselves.
I used to keep lighting really low and use a red night light as other lighting can disrupt the brains sleep pattern. Try and keep interaction calm and to a minimum. The only way I got through it was just heaps of cuddles and we got there eventually but it can take time which I know is frustrating when you are shattered.
I found Sarah Ockwell-Smiths Sleep book was an absolute life saver and it made a lot of sense. Understanding what is normal at that age and why it happens in itself helped massively.
Definitely worth a read.
Plus, don’t fall in to the trap of comparing yourself to any other mums with similar age babies who tell you there’s are sleeping through. They probably aren’t (!) and each baby is different.
Good luck xxx

Do you mean weeks or months? Title says one and text says the other.

At about 6 months my DS started a similar pattern and it carried on, on and off for about a year. I used to lie on his floor for an hour and a half in the middle of the night while he was wide awake happy as larry. I tried so much stuff but eventually he grew out of it. Try all the advice as all babies are different but just to say solidarity as I know how hard it is.

This is the best advice!

It isn’t a problem that needs fixing or can even be fixed. Babies wake, it’s normal.

Snuggle that baby in the quiet calm of night. It’s precious. because before you know it, they are growing up.

6 weeks or 6 months??
if weeks, perfectly normal.
if months, you probably don’t have enough sleep pressure and need to adjust naps or wake windows in the day time.
if you have Instagram I recommend you follow ‘sleepy little bubs’ they have been a godsend for baby sleep recommendations

6 weeks or 6 months. Very different

If baby is awake and happy and not crying tbh I'd just leave them to it! My daughter went through similar phase around six months. Used to wake and rock back and forth. I think linked to developmental leaps as starting to prepare for crawling etc... I used to hear her cooing or watch her on baby monitor but wouldnt go in unless crying.

I have no advice. My child is 2 and the lack of sleep makes me deeply regret blowing my life up by having a kid.

you have all my sympathy. It will get easier at some point x

My youngest used to do this. Just be awake for up to 2 hours in the night. I just took her downstairs, low/ minimal lighting. No stimulating toys and lots of camomile tea (for me). She eventually grew out of it and slept through at age 5. None of the conventional sleep training methods worked for her.

The baby is six months not weeks.

Three naps sounds a lot for a six month old. It's been a while since mine were babies but I am pretty sure that by six months they were only having two naps, one in the morning and one in the afternoon and then bed at 7. A couple of them would wake in the night but not for long.

@HappyMummaOfOne i meant 6 months not 6 weeks and he definitely doesn’t sleep through hence the mistake in my post 😴
it’s just that normally when he wakes in the night he isn’t wide awake, that’s a recent change

@MrsSlocombesCat thank you for your reply. I don’t think he could stay awake long enough for only two naps, but I have read elsewhere that 6 month olds are on two. Maybe it’s something I’ll just have to try!

Thank you all for your replies. I meant 6 months 😴 Just knowing others have been through it reassures me it’s not something I’m doing wrong.
@Booklover75 He is definitely learning lots at the moment so maybe developmental.
Everytime I think Ive got this sussed he changes things up again!

Without sounding rude I can't see what the issue is he wakes up but doesn't cry eventually he'll go back to sleep but he seems fairly happy laid there taking it all in.
If you keep trying to settle him back to sleep you're interacting with him and you're best just leaving him if he's OK.
Patterns change but unless hes distressed upset etc leave him be.

What's your nap schedule? I think I'm right in saying you should be looking at 2hr / 2.25hr / 2.5hr / 2.75hr wake windows at this age. My 6 month old seems to get split nights if I do anything less than 9.5 hours total wake time.

P.s. worth adding I've found my LO can handle more wake time pretty rapidly... I swear two weeks ago we were struggling getting to 2 hrs sometimes and now he's easily doing 2.5 hrs, even happy after 3... so yeh I'd have a play with your schedule and see if he's happy to add more wake time somewhere

@Grace050 I’ve just started to follow those wake windows the last couple of days so fingers crossed it helps! Thank you for replying it’s really helpful to know someone else is doing the same. And i agree it changes so quickly!

My daughter went through this, it lasted till she was 9 mths and she was waking every few hrs, it was horrid! She didn't sleep through till 18 mths, it was just who she was! I would say a) don't panic, no 15 yr old teenager gets rocked to sleep or wakes every few hours. It'll end. B) could be teething at that age, so check he doesn't need calpol or whatever is recommended these days c) try maybe dropping a nap or encouraging more awake time - they can play and explore so much more at 6 mths and also ensure youre weaning as i found that helped sleep a lot (they say food is play at that age but honestly my son would eat for england and really needed it even so young) d) try and work on other things to help him sleep/soothe. We loved white noise, she had a little comforter that had her dummies attached to it, so she could always find them. It doesn't work immediately but long term might help (she's 5 yrs old and still takes her dummy bunny, with no dummies, to bed)

You'll get through it and you're doing amazingly :-)

@Ireallywantadoughnut36 Thank you for your lovely message, I’m definitely one to panic and everything always seems 100 times worse during the night. I also had a couple of days last week where I really thought I was getting somewhere and then it all changed again 🥲 thank you for the advice

Could be teething. Every time my little one has been teething we have had split nights. Sometimes awake for 4 hours from 1 in the morning. She did it at 6 months. 14 and 17 months. It was hard. Worse for me when I was back at work. I nap a lot now. 😂

If he’s not crying I would just leave him to it, he may settle back to sleep on his own. I would only do something if he was crying

Just to say I’m in the same boat. Started at about 6m and my LO has just turned 10m. It’s funny, he usually stays awake for exactly 1hr and because I know this I find it manageable. I keep the room dark and listen to a podcast with one AirPod to keep myself awake while enjoying the cuddle and stroking his little face.

I would also love some more sleep (unfortunately the hour wake isn’t his only one), so let me know if you find anything that works!

My DS likes to play the ‘let’s stare at mommy for 2 hours’ game most nights. It’s annoying but quite cute…just roll with it

@Mariespip oh gosh that’s a long time 🥲
I’ve never followed any kind of schedule before but last few days followed takingcarababies nap routine out of desperation and it has the same wake window timings as someone else suggested above, too soon to know if that’s helping.
He’s definitely got lots going on at the mo so could be that, do you think yours could be developmental for all that time?