Six month regression or is there a way to fix this?!

[Helpmegetsleep]

My previously great sleeper who is six months’ tomorrow is suddenly awful. In summary, he’s a reflux baby and has been on omeprazole since about week 7. We’ve had various bouts of not lying down in the cot/waking up on transfer when his reflux has been bad as a newborn and it got better with medication to the point where he was easily sleeping for 10+ hours. He hasn’t needed a night feed for weeks and weeks. He’s EBF milk-wise and just started solids.

the past two weeks the following have happened:

1. started weaning the omeprazole down on the advice of GP. He was already on a low dose but they wanted him off it.
2. started solids
3. he’s been teething and got his worst cold yet
4. hed started waking up after two hours at night and then is a nightmare all night. He’s back to basically only sleeping on me and the transfer is impossible as he will wake when flat.

Daytime naps were too long and sometimes too close to bed according to chatGPT so today I’ve made a real effort to fix that. He’s napped from 10:40am-11:30am (he woke himself up) which was late because it was an hour long battle. This is very unlike him as especially for this first nap he has been soothing himself to sleep for months now. Then nap 2 was 1:30pm - 2:30pm. Nap 3 was 4-4:30pm. I aimed for a 6:30pm bedtime which is early but that’s what the internet said would work better. Unfortunately he woke up three minutes after being put down asleep (fed and then held to sleep).

I am so exhausted from two weeks of progressively worsening sleep. I’m on my own and don’t have help overnight. I can’t co-sleep as the mattress is old and soft and I can’t afford a new one, plus I’m terrified of SIDS/suffocation. Having said that, I’m today trying him in his own room and cot because he really looks uncomfortable in the next to me.

any advice or help much needed! How can I get through the night? I haven’t eaten dinner yet and I was planning to sleep as soon as he does so at least I’d have two hours and now I’m not even getting that.

Also to add I’ve given him more omeprazole today in case that helps. He’s periodically had Nurofen or Calpol for the past two weeks to help with the cold and teething but doesn’t seem to need it tonight.

Hoping someone can help.

my experience would be no, you can’t fix it, it’s just a stage.

can the cot go beside your bed?

I didn’t want to cosleep either but by six months when sitting, eating, I relented.

is there any charities locally that could help with a mattress?

separation anxiety kicks in now as well. So comfort and closeness is my main recommendation.

He’s sick, he’s going to need you more. I don’t think you’re doing anything wrong, you just need to let go and roll with it more. It’s the only thing that’s ever helped me, be responsive and fuck ChatGPT it can get in the bin because it doesn’t know sod all about your babies sleep. Go to bed early with him and I think you should just co sleep with the cuddle curl, I think you’re fighting a losing battle when you’d both be a lot of happier together sleeping

Do not co-sleep in these circumstances. Your gut feel is it isn't safe, don't go back on that because you're shattered.

Is there any chance of allergies if he's just started food. Check with GP maybe but I suspect just unsettled whilst tummy gets used to it.

We had a seven month sleep regression. Nothing worked except sleep training. We mucked about putting it off, it was terrible for DC and us and I bitterly regret not doing it sooner. Please just do it for both your sakes. Consistency is absolutely key. It half worked the very first night. Complete winner in under a week. Baby regained excellent sleep habits which endure sux years on.

That sounds so hard! How are gradually are you weaning down the omeprazole? For my son, I found I needed to go a lot more gradually than the GP suggested otherwise the reflux flared back up. Hope it all improves soon for you!

Thanks everyone. @TwinklyPlumHedgehog the GP suggested a dose every other day but he was only having 5mls for about 3 weeks before that and tbh I do wonder if it’s all linked and that was too low. He was waking once a night during that time I think. It’s a bit of a blur. I’ve given him a bigger dose today.

To everyone that said co-sleeping I just can’t do it. He’s currently hysterical having tried for over an hour to get him into the cot for bedtime. It’s never been this bad before, usually he at least will stay asleep for the first couple of hours.

why can’t you do it? Do you think it’s dangerous? There’s virtually no risk at 6 months.

If I put him down hysterical and he cries himself to sleep will that damage him forever. Currently he’s in the cot and I’m standing with him but my back can’t take sitting or holding him anymore and I need a break

It might be worth having another chat with the GP? My son had reflux and wouldn’t tolerate lying flat at night, needed to be sat up against my legs when it was bad. He was on 15mg but he was older - I think he was on it between 7 and 14months, and we weaned off 2.5mg a week. I obviously don’t know if it is reflux affecting your baby but he was sleeping while on omeprazole, and now he’s not, probably worth raising with the GP again?

Thank you, yes I did send them a message today but haven’t had a response yet. I’ve gone ahead and given a 1mg/kg dose myself which is closer to what he was having when it was bad before. It probably needs a few days to kick in though.

Ok so what ended up happening is that he wasn’t settling on me at all, nothing I was doing was helping. So I put him down crying and stood there watching him next to the cot and after a couple of minutes he stopped crying and has fallen asleep.

I appreciate this is some kind of sleep training so can someone tell me how bad this is and if I’ve done it all wrong? I haven’t looked into this at all because I’ve never needed to, but tonight I’m desperate and need some food before he’s inevitably up all night again.

sometimes I do feel he gets worse with stimulation. For example, a hand on chest whilst he is in the cot or next to me literally never works to soothe him, he just cries and cries even more.

If he fell asleep within a couple of minutes, that’s great and don’t worry at all. 6.30pm is far too early when he’s having those naps.

Let me be really clear on this - THERE IS ABSOLUTELY ZERO EVIDENCE THAT SLEEP TRAINING IS DAMAGING TO A BABY'S HEALTH IN THE LONG OR SHORT TERM.

It will NOT damage him forever. He won't even remember it. He's a baby.

What we DO know, for a scientific fact, is that poor sleep is linked to poorer health outcomes, mental and physical. That applies to babies as well as adults.

Parents are increasingly reluctant to do what is hard but necessary. Sleep training is hard on you, but it is your job as a parent to teach your child how to sleep.

@bouncingblob thank you, he’s pretty good at self settling for daytime naps or at least the first one we get in the cot. I’m typically out and about for the rest so only really get to practise the morning one. It’s just at night he will wake and be countering to himself for an hour if I let him and/or it will escalate to crying.

But anyway I’m now down to 1-2 wakes and he has a feed and then will fall asleep on me and then can be transferred 9/10 times with just a quick reshuffle and he will go back to sleep. No idea why it was so bad before but it seems to be better again.

You just need to relax and accept it more; I don't think you're doing anything wrong. https://blox-fruits.io

Sleep training is not harmful and is a totally appropriate thing to try at the 6 month mark, provided he is not unwell, any pain has been managed and has an appropriate sleep space - ie a secure cot.

look up the sleep wave and pick up put down methods.

you will be hammered by advice to co-sleep online; it is not the only option.

do not take advice on schedule and nap timings from chat gpt. 2 hours is not long enough between the end of the last nap and bedtime; an undertired baby will resist going to sleep. Keep him awake for at least 3 hours before bedtime.

Thank you for saying this.

Yes, because it's impossible to do proper research on it. It's not possible to isolate sleep training as the only factor. It's impossible to prove it's not damaging, ask anyone who knows how scientific research works.

The burden of proof lies with those who claim sleep training causes harm, not those who say it doesn't. If it does, the evidence would present itself in SOME form, even with the caveats you present.

But it doesn't, and it hasn't. Not a single study has shown anything of the sort.

@Helpmegetsleep my baby has been doing exactly this for a couple of weeks. Waking upon every transfer and needing to be in beside me to sleep. She is 6 months tomorrow, we coslept for 4 months, i really don't want to do it again. Did your little one just grow out of it?

@Eagerlywaiting1990 sorry I’ve just seen this. Unfortunately I think it was a combination of things - teething, a reflux relapse because we had tried to wean him off the omeprazole and a few colds all at the same time. We never coslept with him but I just persevered putting him back to bed and eventually around 4am ish he would drop off. My husband got up with him a few mornings around this time so I could get an extra hour of sleep. It just got a bit better day by day until a week or so after this he was back to 1 wake up again.

I think because I knew he could sleep well in his cot it helped me to think of it as probably just an (admittedly miserable!) phase.

@Eagerlywaiting1990 one thing I did do was persevere with making sure he could still self settle for naps during this time, so I knew for sure he still had the skills.

My son didn’t ever sleep through until 12 months and co-slept for 2 years.

all children are different, if I was you, I would just go for the path of lease resistance and let him sleep in the bed with you, It will be that way forever.

DS is a teenager now I’m very well adjusted confident and happy. You just sometimes have to sacrifice early on. X