6 month old waking through night

[Lor]

Hi there,
Can anyone help me?  My daughter (now 6 months) was sleeping through the night from approx 7.30pm until 6.00am at about 3 1/2 months.  In the last 2/3 weeks she has started waking during the evenings and through the night niggling and if not attended to escalates to crying; typically she goes to sleep at about 7.30pm then wakes around 8.30pm, goes back to sleep by about 9.15pm.  I dream feed at approx 9.30pm then she might wake at about 11.30pm, 1.00am, 4.00am (not necessarily the same times every night).  There is no pattern as such but she is normally waking between 3 and 5 times from her bed time until morning.  I go into her room and sometimes my hand on her tummy is enough to settle her then after about 5 mins I remove my hand, sit for a further 5 mins by which time she's back to sleep but sometimes I have to cuddle her on my shoulder to settle her.  The evening wakings take much longer to settle her, sometimes up to an hour, whereas the 1am's generally only take about 5-15 minutes.  I have no idea why she suddenly can't get back to sleep by herself and needs comforting.  I'm worried that this is becoming a habit as it's been going on for about 3 weeks now.  A lot has happened in her little life recently, e.g. solids have been introuduced, she has moved into the big cot in her own room (however, the first night in her own room she slept from 7.40pm - 8.00am) and she has started teething but if at bedtime she shows signs of 'teethy chops' as we call it, then we give her some calpol to go to bed with.  Any ideas or suggestions would be greatfully received.

[teezee]

i have had the same issue since around 6 months and i have a couple things for u to think about. 
1 it could be a growth spurt...try upping her calories (more milk) during the day
2 could be getting too much daytime sleep(naps)...maybe try lengthening A time - i didn't do this until recently and wish i would have tried it sooner b/c it has made a world of difference!
3 is lo overtired or in the need of a late afternoon catnap? when it is time for bed??...

[teezee]

just another thought.  have u started cereal or solids??  if u have maybe to get lo to take more milk u want to cut it down a little or just leave it at one small meal a day so u will be able to get more milk in...just a thought.   

[Lor]

Hi, thanks for your suggestions.  I have tried cutting the late pm nap out and i've tried letting her have it again but neither have made a difference.  Regarding 'E', she rarley finishes her bottle but this has always been the case since she was born, i.e. iv always offered more than she wants.  I always offer a top up after 45 minutes to see if I can get a bit more into her too. She's not particularly hungry first thing in the morning either so although I wouldn't rule it out completley, my instinct doesn't tell me it' a hunger thing.  My partner thought LO may be afraid of the dark (we only have a dim light on the landing at night) so last night we left the big light on, she needed settling twice rather than 4+ times.  It may have been a fluke but we're going to try it again tonight.

[teezee]

how many times do u feed your lo throughout the night?  i have started decreasing the amount of time that i feed dd for her two night feedings...this way she will take more during the day.  i too have a lo that is a small eater/nurser in comparrison to other lo's altho she is growing strong and is healthy, and she was taking the smallest feed first thing in the morning.  as soon as i started cutting back on night feeding she has been eating more..not just in the morning throughout the day!  it's worth a try!

[Lor]

Hi there.  Her last feed is 9.30pm (that's the dream feed) then I don't feed her until 8.00am.  Do you think it might be time to start dropping the dream feed down (takes approx 4 oz)??

[teezee]

i'm sorry i am not the one to give u an answer about the df.  i give dd a df and a feeding about 4 am so u are doing way better than us inthat aspect.  u could try cutting the df down and see if lo eats more in the a.m but that's all i can think of.  sounds to me that maybe lo needs to go to sleep earlier (even 15 min can make a world of difference) or get a nap in late afternoon and go to sleep at the same time.  when my lo was overtired or too excited before bedtime she would wake often for the first couple hrs too.

[Lor]

Thanks for your latest comment; it sounds like the evening wakings could be due to being overtired.  I'll try putting LO to bed 10-15 mins earlier.

[Lor]

Hi,
So I tried putting LO to bed earlier and it still made no difference.  After reading another post regarding similar problems, today I am trying feeding bottle b4 solids (I've been doing it the other way round) to see if this makes a difference.

[teezee]

i have always nursed before solids and it still really hasn't made a difference.  i am still giving a df but have shortened the amount of time that she feeds at 4am and it seems to be going well...she'll then sleep til 8-8:30   

[Lor]

Hi,
It made no difference to us either (apart from the fact that she did take a couple of extra ounces during the day).  In fact last night was worse - she woke at 8.30pm then DF at 9.30 and woke again at 11.10 and it was 1.40am before going back to sleep! Then woke again at 4.30, went back to sleep at 4.55 and slept til 8.05am.  I'm getting to the end of my tether with this; it seems to be getting worse not better.

[colenliam]

Hi Lor,
I know I wrote back to you on the other post but I just wanted to make a suggestion,
the feeding b4 solids helped my lo, it didn't for you, but another change i had made at the smae time was not giving a top up like 45 mins later, which I always did.  ds always never took more than 4-5oz at a feeding and as soon as I did the bottle b4 solids and only gave him a bottle every 4 hours no sooner, he has jumped to 7oz a feeding.  he is also formula feed, im not sure if you bf or if thaat makes a difference cause i wasn't able to bf so.....
Just another suggestion to try, it worked for me but as we all find out they are all so different. Oh, one more thing, i also wait 1 hour to 1.5h after bottle for the solids.
hth

[Lor]

Hi. Thanks again. I too am formula feeding. Last night LO wasn't even interested in dream feed (only took a couple of ounces) and after she woke at 9.15 she couldn't settle down again; each time I thought she had just about got back to sleep she awoke again. This went on until 1am and in the end I laid her on her changing mat on the floor and I laid next to her and there we both stayed from 1am until 7.30am this morning and she slept peacefully.  Now I'm wondering if it's seperation anxiety creeping in and I have no idea how to deal with this!  I might ask the question on the general topic board.

[KCliffy]

Just read your message and although I'm having problems too with my 6 month old he is waking up at 12-1am ish and not settling for a while; I have found that at all other times, if crying, doing a 5 min then 10 then 15min .... 'reassurance check has worked'.  Although he may cry initially has managed at all times to go back off with no more intervention other than re-settling him down in his cot, no conversation and kiss and a hug (still laid in cot) and that's it.  Not sure if you've tried it but it may help rather than lying on the floor at night!  Baby will also know that you're not too far away. and doesn't end up crying for ages.

[fleadle]

WOW.......sounds like you have been living in my house!!!!

my LO is 6 months & has started doing the exact same thing waking loads in the night. She used to have her dummy put back in & then go straight to sleep, now it is taking much more & I have even resorted to putting her in bed with me after standing over her patting & shushing for over 1hr & 1/4 with no luck.

I think it could be separation anxiety.....have you found anything yet that has helped you yet??