BF baby waking six or seven times a night

[KKKKaty]

Please help me! My DS has just turned six months old and has never been a particularly good sleeper. He did however go through a patch where he just woke maybe three times between bedtime and morning wake up, which was fine, as he just fed and then went straight back to sleep.

Over the past couple of weeks however he's been waking a lot more, maybe every hour and a half. Sometimes he has a good feed, which of course I'm happy to provide, but sometimes he just sucks for a minute or two, then goes straight back to sleep i.e. he's just using me as a dummy.

We tried introducing a rule whereby if I've fed him less than three hours ago then his dad would go in and give him a cuddle, but all that happens is that he shouts and shouts for upwards of three quarters of an hour before I give in and feed him. Also have the problem that if the last "feed" was just a little suck, then he may be genuinely hungry when he wakes up an hour and half later.

I'm really rather tired now. Please help me!

Sorry, forgot to mention that I do put him down awake at bedtime and he either moans for five minutes and then goes to sleep or occasionally shouts for a few minutes, then moans and goes to sleep, so he can self-settle. Same for daytime naps.

i am in a similar boat, but whenever DD woke more than 4 x a night it never lasted for more than a week or two, so hopefully he will settle
i am just about to try the NCSS approach

my ds is a week over 6 months and he was exactly the same until last night! he ate alot yesterday - was munching on brocolli and houmous last night for tea. He seems ALOT more satisfied, and only woke twice last night! I had resorted to co sleeping over the weekend as I was soooo utterly dog tired. Anyway, he has gobbled some fish pie tonight, we had scrambled egg for breakfast, and veg sticks at lunch. His poo is already different. I think he was genuinely hungry. I always fed him as he would not settle. I think he was just very ready for food!

Saying all that we will see what he does tonight. He has passed out in his cot now so fingers crossed!

Thanks for your replies. We started him on BLW about two weeks ago and he's already doing quite well - perhaps when more starts going down he'll settle a bit more. My worry is that he's waking and calling even though he's not hungry half the time, so maybe more food won't make a difference. We're going to try being firm and not feeding him more than every three hours again, starting tonight, so fingers crossed.

Astoundingly, tonight was the first night he went down at bedtime without even making the slightest peep, so maybe this phase IS coming to an end. I bloody well hope so.

Babies go through those phases and they are not always easily explicable, ime.
I remember dd having odd few weeks here and there during her first year where she would be waking up much more. I don't think she was even teething.
Could it be a growth spurt?