Nearly 6mo NW's, help please!

[Jobug]

I have problem with my nearly 6 month old. She's always been an angel and slept through the night 7-7 more or less since about 6 weeks. That's with no dreamfeeds etc.
Suddenly in the last couple of weeks she's been waking at night, crying  - at one point every two hours! We manage to get her back to sleep without a feed but she'll start up again. I've resisted breastfeeding her but gave in a couple of nights as we were exhausted and it seemed to settle her.
It's a real shock to the system as she's always been so great! Is this it now or is there perhaps a known change around this time and she's just unsettled and perhaps teething (her gums are very hard). 3am seems to be a regular waking time but it varies. When do you decide she's having a growth spurt and should be fed and when do you just grin and bear it and shush and pat all night?!
Advice greatly received.

[~inbalance~]

I have a very similar situation with my 5 month old.  Previously he slept well, often waking but not for long.  The last month has been a complete change, waking every 1-2 hours, sometimes less, and difficult to put back to sleep.  Sounds similar to yours, sleeps for several hours initially but is then awake often throughout the rest of the night.  He is teething as well, and has gone through a growth spurt recently.  It sounds like both our situations might possibly related to teething and developmental reasons.  He was also previously a 45 minute napper, but I used PU/PD to increase his nap time and he is gradually starting to nap longer which I think is helping.  Perhaps longer naps may help your LO too?
I too often feel that I will not be able to fix his bad habits, but I keep at our routine with the knowledge that things should improve if we are patient and consistent.  I hope the same for you as well!  Good luck!

[lilac83]

Have you started solid food yet? There is a growth spurt usually around the 6 month mark. So her initial waking and needing to be fed could very well have been from that. Normally though, gs only last a few days so by now it's over and she may be waking out of habit vs need. Teething is also a problem around this time. Have you tried giving her any pain reliever before bed? The other possibility is that around 6 months routines tend to need a bit of tweaking as A times have lengthened and the LO is gearing up to drop the catnap in a month or 2. If you would to post what an average day looks like, we can see if there's anything that could be changed there to help her nights.