6 mo still waking 2-3 times a night - am losing my mind

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I know this is not a major problem in the grand scheme but I just reached the end of my tether this morning and would be grateful for any advice!

My 6 mo is exclusively bf - we are doing blw but not much is being swallowed yet so I can't claim she is on solids yet. For several months now she has been really brilliant in the evenings - without fail she goes to bed at about 6.30pm after bath and a feed - I don't feed her to sleep, she settles herself in her own cot with no problems at all. I am so SO glad that this bit of the evening goes well! I then dreeamfeed her at about 11pm and she usually has quite a good feed at that time. And then DH and I cross our fingers.... but she is still waking up in the night - last night is was 1.45am and then 5am and then totally awake and ready to get up at 7am. Each time I offer her a breast and she takes it but doesn't feed for very long - just enough to send her off to sleep again.

In the day she sleeps about an hour in the morning and another hour in the afternoon so I don't think she is sleeping too long in the day.

I'm wondering, should I try just soothing her to sleep? or offering her a drink of water rather than breastmilk? or (really don't want to do this) giving her a formula feed at 11pm? I don't want to do controlled crying either but if it works I'll give it a shot! Anyone any advice?

Thanks!

This is not going to be what you want to hear, but she sounds really normal to me.

A good sleeper, in fact.

Are you sure you want to start tinkering with a pretty good set up? She wakes, but briefly, x3, and goes straight back off to sleep with a feed, is that right? I'd be looking for ways to cope (daytime nap for you? Moving her into your room so you don't have to wander around the house in the night?).

But then, my DS was waking 8 times a night at that age, and well beyond it, and I tried everything to change it - nothing worked - so feel free to ignore my advice cos I'm just an old cynic now.

Hmm, sorry to second Captain Karvol, but if my DS would go back to 'just' waking briefly 3 times a night I would be well happy.

I have tried a few things but he just goes his own way. It only results in a headache for everyone including the upstairs neighbour!

I know sometimes you feel desparate but it will pass.

Try to relax and enjoy Christmas with your DD

Congratulations, you have a perfectly normal 6 month old.

what happens when she wakes up, do you give her a chance to get back to sleep by herself? She may just lay there awake, chatter for a while and go back to sleep. She may just cry for 30 secs/1 min just because she's woken up rather than crying for a feed.

Can you ask your dp to comfort her during the night instead of feeding her?

BTW I am NOT saying leave her to cry!

my 18 wk old does this nearly exactly the same although sometimes does last til bout 3ish and then 6.30/7. have already tried ff at 10.30/11 as this is what i did with my 1st, but it doesn't make ds2 go any longer than a bf. ebf babies do usuallt take longer to sleep through.

would agree that this is perfectly normal and possibly whatever you tried, she would be the same.
My dd was the same and I do remember her waking more often between 6-8 months at the time of weaning and me going back to work etc.

She does sound normal, honestly! It does get better and soon you'll have uninterrupted sleep, I promise.

Sorry but I agree you just have to get through it. Sorry but this is what 6 month old babies do. I know it is hard but it will end!

If you are really tired then try and have a nap in the day, or express some milk so somebody can take over for a night, if she will take a bottle.

Ditto above. The fact that she drops off quickly after waking for a feed is a real bonus IME.

Sorry but I am just so jealous.
Sounds like a great routine and a great sleeper to me.
My 6mo goes to sleep after an hour of soothing and then wakens every half hour until about 1am when she cries and cries no matter what we do until around 5 when she falls back into a fitful sleep until DS wakens at 7.
Well done on doing so well!

yup good sleeper
don't mess with her, she's doing well
why are you losing your mind? what time do you go to bed? if you're tired and she is asleep for the evening at 6.30 pm go to bed then and catch up on some sleep! or even 9pm, you could get loads of sleep in by the morning
co-sleeping would probably help if you find it hard to get back to sleep after each feed
this stage doesn't last long in grand scheme of things and you have to kind of grin and bear it

thanks everyone - I know I have a good sleeper really, it was just a few bad nights in succession which made me lose it a bit.

since i posted we have been offering her water when she wakes in the night and amazingly, after a little drink and a cuddle she will go back to sleep! I think the weaning thing has a lot to do with it. We've been doing blw and not much has been getting swallowed but over Xmas she suddenly got the hang of it and s now eating for Britain, and has dropped one of her daytime feeds. Feel a LOT more positive!! thanks for all the support and understanding, even though I appreciate my LO is a lovely sleeper compared to others!

it sounds good to me, since my five month old is difficult to get down at night, usually has no more than one 20 minute nap during the day, and is up at least two and usually three or four times in the night.

But is this really normal? If so, why are so many babies sleeping through the night at this age?

I am also exhausted and I don't think it's normal to give up ever seeing my husband by going to sleep at 8:00 pm or whenever DS finally goes down.

My DS feeds 7 to 10 times a day - the same schedule since the day he was born. I see no end in sight, but the only advice given here is: it's normal.

It is so difficult when your sleep deprived to see the end in sight.

My DS1 slept through the night at 4 months old and even now at nearly 4 years old he has a nap most days and does a clear 12 hours at night.

BUT

My DS2 didn't sleep through the night till he was over a year old - and at 6 months old regularly woke at 2am and 5am he thought mostly at 5am was a good time to start the day - it has taken him till now (at nearly 2 years old) to mostly sleep till 6.30am.

They are all different - I did nothing different they were both BF till 18 months old - it's tough but even now if I'm not working I try and get a nap in myself as a coping stratagey.......

My 5 month old, used to do this. But one fateful night, 2 weeks, 1 day ago (yes i counted), she came back from my mil with a sore bum, she had changed her once all day. so put her to bed at 7 as usual, but instead of giving her the dreamfeed as i always did, i woke her at 10pm, in order to change her bum, as i wanted to see if it had got any redder. Lo and behold i gave her a ff, she went back to sleep about 11ish, after the bum was given a good airing, and woke up 7.30 ish the next day. Ive done the same ever since, wake her at 10pm, and now i only spend half hr just rousing her, changing bum quickly, and back in bed by twenty past 10 and she wakes at 8.30 on the dot. i dont usually agree with waking babies to feed etc, as im not big on the whole routine thing, but when a good nights sleep is laid on a plate my principles go out of the window. Im not saying this will work for you, but i think trying different things may help.

My DD is 22 weeks and wakes for a feed every 3 hours so Im up 2-3 times a night too.

Some nights it really gets to you and I wake racking my brains of new things to try. But so far nothing has.

Thankfully like the OP she "usually" goes back off straight away after a feed but often only takes a few oz's. Thats annoying as you think... Is it really worth waking for that!

Agree that its quite normal and compared with some got it easy but cant help but yearn for that full nights sleep!

i am sick of normal - i want some bloody sleep!! he's gone to every two hours after 4:00 am.