is her sleep going to go back to being as good as it was?

[tenar]

DD is 6 months. She seems to have lost the ability to sleep for a long stretch of time.

She used to be able to sleep for about 6 or 7 hours in a row, generally from about 7pm to about 2am. She'd wake for a feed and then go back to sleep until about 6am. It was great, and she did that for about 6 weeks or so, when she was about 3-4 months old.

Then she hit the 4 months and 5 months "wonder weeks", and most of the time since then, and still, she's been waking anything from every hour or so all night, to, at best, having 2-3 feeds in the night (at about midnight, 2am, 5am, or similar). I don't think she ever sleeps for longer than about 3-4 hours in a row now, and many nights she doesn't even do that.

I have taken to feeding her in bed, and sometimes we both fall back to sleep together in the bed, before I remember to put her back in her cot. She's definitely more relaxed sleeping with me, but there isn't really space for all 3 of us in our bed, and I'm not so happy about the co-sleeping thing because I'm not sure if it's safe for her: I'm overweight and DH sleeps very very deeply. Her cot is right beside me, right next to the bed, so she's always within arms-reach of me, and a lot of the night I am holding her hand. so she knows I'm there. What I mean to say is that she's basically co-sleeping us me, whether she's in the cot or in the bed.

Now, I realise that she isn't as bad as some babies. But I feel that we have lost the plot a bit with her sleeping. I don't know if it's just the stage she's at, or whether I am making it worse by readily feeding her through the night rather than trying other settling techniques. I have no intention or letting her go hungry, but not sure whether she always really needs a feed, or whether I'm just feeding her because it's the fastest way for me to be able to get back to sleep. I'm getting very tired with all these night-time feeds, so if I could teach her how to get that one longer stretch again it would make a difference to both of us because I wouldn't be so very tired.

We are in the process of starting solids, using BLW. Nothing much going down yet, though she's sucking her veggies with enthusiasm. Maybe when she's actually eating some more solids that will help. I have wondered whether giving her a bit of rice cereal at night, just a spoonful, would help her to sleep better. Is it worth a try?

I have the NCSS, and have read it. I plan to try some of those approaches in a few weeks, when we return from our overseas travel. Too much going on to try that stuff now, as I can't get into a real routine with her when we are moving from place to place all the time.

Any suggestions for a tired mum?

[Junglemum]

It is so hard when you're not getting much sleep isn't it? When you are in the middle of a bad sleep phase it always feels like it will last forever. But i can tell you from experience that everyone of our bad sleep phases has been just that, a phase, and soon enough your little one will be sleeping longer again.
It seems that 6 months is a very common time for sleep disturbances, but i have noticed that solids is always mention but never really solves any sleeping problems. So keep up the BLS you are doing a good job. Sure there is a chance she may sleep better with some food, so give it a go if you like. A spoonful of something isn't going to ruin your BLS path. But if she is like my 7 month old she might turn her nose up at anything pureed!

I have no intention or letting her go hungry, but not sure whether she always really needs a feed, or whether I'm just feeding her because it's the fastest way for me to be able to get back to sleep.

I don't see the problem with this. If she is hungry and takes a full feed then she probably needs need it. I do exactly the same thing, i immediately feed her because it means i am back in bed quicker. Don't beat yourself up for it. If i am not too tired i will give her a cuddle and see if she settles first, or i get DH to try as i find she sometimes settles immediately again for him. (Prob because he doesn't lactate!) But feeding to resettle her is ok in my books!

Have you considered that it might be her teeth? You could perhaps try the brauers teething relief or an amber teething necklace?

[Sterla]

Tenar - you sound like you're in the exact same situation as me. Around that age my DS started waking up more frequently... and at 8 months he is still doing it.

I agree with Falguni - there's nothing wrong with feeding every time - that's what I do cause it is the quickest and easiest way to get him back to sleep.

Sorry - not much help, but you're not alone .

[tenar]

Thanks both,

I don't mind feeding her to sleep at all. But I wonder whether she is currently accustomed to feeding more often at night (and maybe less often during the day as a result). Which means that we both get less sleep because she wakes more often. That's why I wonder whether I'm doing the right thing to feed her when she wakes. Problem is, it's often easier, and in the moment I'm generally too tired to think clearly about whether it might be better to see whether she would re-settle without a feed.

I do know that she used to be able to do at least one "long" sleep, of several hours, without a feed. Maybe she can't at the moment, but gee it would be nice if she'd get back into doing that sometime soon...

[Junglemum]

I usually find that after a period of time, my babies go back to sleeping longer without any prompting from me. Although i did try and resettle and cuddle rather than feed my DD1 at about 10 months when i was hoping she'd sleep though, it took a little bit of time, but i found it helped.
It is so hard to cuddle, rock, pat, sing or even get out of bed when you are exhausted though isn't it?

She'll go back to long sleeps soon.

[Arcadia]

Hi tenar. Sounds pretty much what happened to us. We have had several good and bad patches of sleep since then, related to teeth/illness/development. I always found it best to just run with it and feed her back to sleep. She's still so, so tiny in the scheme of things.


it will pass.

[Heaven]

Could have written your post tenar, still waiting for it to end. Solids hasn't helped, NCSS didn't help, so I've just given up and am going with it!!

Don't look at the clock during the night, it really does help, promise!

[lovelycate]

Hi Tenar

you're doing a great job! I think the message everyone is saying is basically "this too shall pass".

The only other things I can think of, other than perhaps a bit of baby rice, would be to express (or use formula) and maybe give her a bottle before bed or as a dream feed. Is she uncomfortable? - nappy too tight or wet? Buttons down the back of her clothes? Maybe it would be worth visiting a paediatric chiropracter? Also I don't know what you do during the day but perhaps look at how much and often she is sleeping during the day, and making sure you get out of the house for some nice, tiring fresh air

good luck! Try to catch up on sleep yourself during her naps so that you can deal with things with a clearer head.

[~*Niadalla*~]

This is exactly like my DD.
She was sleeping 10-12 hour nights from 4 weeks of age but once we hit the magical 4 month mark, it all went away. She was then only sleeping 2 hours max at a time, and feeding much more often.
It was HARD. Mainly because we were so used to getting some sleep. My DS was one of those babies who woke every 1.5 - 2 hours until he was 12 months old, so he was much worse in reality, but it did not feel like it at the time.
DD is also doing BLW and not getting a great deal down.

This last week, she's had 3 good nights where she's slept 7-8 hours straight. It was brilliant. We didn't do anything to change it, it just happened. She's started getting up on her hands and knees and looks like she's about to take off, and she rolls everywhere... so maybe this is wearing her out a bit.

As others have said, this too shall pass. I like to keep thinking about DS who was horrible up until the age of 1, when something finally clicked and we started getting 14 hours out of him a night!! He is still a fantastic sleeper now at just over 2, with the occasional night here and there where he wakes up from a bad dream etc, but 90% of the time he gets an entire nights rest.

I know DD won't do this forever, and while it feels horrible right now, I know it will improve.
I hope your little one starts sleeping again for you soon. Sleep deprivation is the pits!