My baby is really unsettled when sleeping!! HELP

[BabyElla]

I have a six month old little girl who i started on solids about 2 months ago as she use to get really bad wind with her milk,as she had chronic reflux and use to cry for 16 hours a day, the only time she would sleep would be night, solids seemed to stop this and for the first month she seemed really better, not crying and a happy baby, she would go 12 hours through the night, she never has really slept through the day apart from about two or three half hour naps. Over the last month her sleep pattern has got so bad and as a single parent I'm finding it extremely difficult, she has the odd half hour nap in the day so it is extremely hard to get things done, then she stays up till some nights 10pm, on different nights I have tried doing different things which are, rocking her back to sleep, making sure she has a full belly,giving her a clean nappy seems to wake her up even more though, leaving her in her cot and comfort her, I have even had her in bed with me just to see if she didn't like her cot, but nothing seems to work, she is not having a growth spurt, she is not too hot or too cold, tried all teething stuff, the only thing i think really works is her swaddle which she is far to old to have now, example last night she went to bed at half 9, woke up at 11.30 wouldnt go back to bed till 3am then woke up at 6.30 had her feed went back to bed for only half an hour, she has more energy then me, any one had the same problem or have any ideas why she could be waking, or how to help her have a full night sleep.

Oh you poor thing - that must be a killer for you! Have you tried asking the Health Visitor? Our DS has always slept pretty badly, and at 81/2 months we are just waiting for him to get over a cold so that we can (reluctantly!) try controlled crying with him. Have you got anyone who can help you with her at night?

Poor thing - I can sympathise as DD1 was like this, dd2 is sooo much better so I think a lot of it is her not you.

Does she sleep in a buggy, would she sleep longer if you walked with her and then left her outside (I only sy this as it seems to work wonders for the childminders)

Also have you tried her in a sling, I know she'll be getting heavy by now, but if she slept, or was even calm in it you might get some things done.

No advice for the night tho' - hopefully someone will come along who does

My mum helps alot, its just so hard, she seems to have soo much energy, always wants attention, I am hoping that its just something that she will get over, she has been unwell quite alot so I am starting to think that maybe she just is soo used to being held, I might just try and leave her in the cot and rock and pat her no matter how long it takes just so she starts to learn that she needs to sleep on her own, and yep the day is getting alot easier as she is getting older as there is more toys for her to keep her entertained, doesnt seem to make her tired though . Thanks for your replies

It sounds very hard to me. I'm impressed you're coping so well.

What do you do when she's awake at night like last night 11.30-3? The shushing/patting sounds like hard work, but realistically, what's the alternative?

I'm sure you've got a good bedtime wind-down routine. Umm...running short of ideas, sorry!

Yep very hard, god only knows how I would cope without my family. Well last night I was trying to rock her, picking her up putting her down, getting her in bed with me, getting her up and playing with her so she gets tired again, I probably made it alot worse last night, by doing so many differnt things, but you get soo frustrated you just do anything to get to sleep, so tonight I think i will try the shushing/patting, or in the baby whisperer book it says about picking up and rocking till she goes quiet then putting down as soon as she is quiet and it may go on for a long time but hopefully she will just realise that its bed time

It is SOOO hard just not to do whatever you think will be easiest. The only thing I would say is that I suspect it is important not to take them out of the bedroom at night if you can avoid it at all, and not to play with them. That way, at least you know you're not creating a situation where they think if they whinge there will be something more interesting than sleep on offer.

I have found the 5-8month age the hardest so far, and our DS slept for as little as 6 hours in total in a 24 hour period from 6-13 weeks ! There is just so much going on with them, from teething, to developing skills, to getting frustrated that they can't do stuff already. That last bit does seem to be passing for DS and my friends' DCs now thank goodness.