Not sleeping through the night - pls HELP!

[Madissun]

My DS has just turned 6 months old and has only ever slept through the night maybe 5 times. I know not all babies sleep through the night by this age but the majority of them do and i was just wondering if anyone has ideas for me on what i might be doing wrong or something new to try.

His night time routine has been consistent for the past 3 months. He has veges around 6-7pm, bath around 8pm and last bottle for evening around 8.30-9pm. He will sleep from 9pm til around 2.30am without waking once and then after that he will wake up at 2.30am, 4am, 5am, 6am and then 7am which is when i give him his first bottle for the day.

When he wakes around 2.30am, i go in and give him his dummy. Then he'll go back to sleep for an hr and then wake again an hr later and so on and so on....

I've tried leaving him to cry for 5, 10, 20 mins as i figure the only way anything will change is if i stop going in to give him his dummy every hour. I've tried panadol when he wakes up at 2.30am but i cant give him panadol every hr! I've tried using the Brauers calm mix before he goes to bed. I used that consistently for about 4 weeks but he only slept through 2-3 times on that. I've tried keeping him up a bit later, around 10pm, but he still wakes up at the same time.

Because he HAS slept through several times before, i figure he knows how to do it! But there is nothing different during those days or nights to make him sleep through.

Sorry its so long guys!! I'd love any ideas

[monnie]

Hey Kasi

Sorry to hear that things are tough at the moment.

Your little one sounds very much like mine...

He hit the 4.5 month mark and after weeks and weeks of sleeping through, started waking every few hours.

I read in the BabyLove book that it is actually quite common for babies around the 6 month mark to do exactly what your fellow is (waking every hour from 4am onwards)

It's exhausting, but from what I've read and heard...it's just a stage that many babies around 6 months go through.

They have become a lot more aware of the world around them as well as having lots going on for them at this time (e.g. teething, learning to crawl, learning to sit, having solids). There is also a stage at around 26 weeks where babies have a big developmental leap...and for some reason, become a lot more fussy and clingy (and awake) at that time.

I don't really have huge amounts to suggest...but just hang in there.

I wouldn't keep him up any later...I've actually started trying to get our DS in bed earlier and it makes no difference to his wake up time. We try to get our DS in bed between 7-8pm. He will wake for a feed at around 11pm. He was then waking for a feed every 2-3 hours, but I decided to just feed him every 4-5 hours and settle him the other times. This seems to have helped with less waking. Last night, DH went in to him at 2:30am when he woke...had him back to sleep in less than 10 minutes!!! (Usually takes me a lot longer!)

Anyway...hang in there...it will get better...just try and get some sleep during the day (easier said than done, I know!)

[melissa.r]

Night waking is really tough - but COMPLETELY normal... Your baby is doing what normal 6 month old babies do, wake up at night and look for comfort. What about bringing him in to bed with you? Just remember that you can't 'spoil' a 6 month old and you just need to do the thing that will provide your whole family with the best nights sleep. If re-settling is not working, then walk, rock, swaddle, sing, play music, give him a middle of the night bath etc etc, anything that will soothe and calm/re-assure your baby. This will not last forever and just between you and me, most babys don't sleep through the night!
This phase will pass, my mum always tells me that when my two girls are teenagers I won't be able to get them out of bed - so somewhere along the way they will sleep through the night.
Good luck.

[Madissun]

Getting him back to sleep/re-settling isn't a problem. It's the waking up in the first place! I do take him to bed with me at about 4am cos im just too tired to keep getting up every hour!