Settling a 6 month old

mrsberries

Up until 3 weeks ago I was able to bring my daughter up to her cot, put on the mobile and she would settle herself within 15mins without very little intervention from me.

Now in the last few weeks its taking anything up to 2 hours to get her asleep, and after this she cries out in her sleep every 20mins or so for her soother which goes on until 2am. On a couple of occasions Ive resorted to taking her back downstairs or taking her into my bed. Within this 3 weeks shes had a few changes - moved rooms and we moved her bedtime back half an hour from 9 to 8.30 but her unsettling started before these changes.

Is this normal - is there some kind of 6 month regression like the 4 month one? And should I stick to my guns and keep with the schedule? Im on my own as husband works nights so Im really starting to find this difficult and stressful.

cbyrd

Changing rooms would be a big upheaval for her, is she teething?? If she's in pain it would disrupt her sleep a lot.. maybe put her bedtime back to 9 pm and see does it make a difference? It could just have been a little bit too much all at once.. maybe a bath before bed might relax her?
I know when i was bringing my lads bed time back i did it in 10 minute intervals over a few weeks.. they don't notice as much then.. i know how hard it is when you can't get them settled.. but persevere and eventually it might work.. or it might not that's the joys of parenting :eek:
Good luck with it

Orion

mrsberries wrote: »

Is this normal - is there some kind of 6 month regression like the 4 month one? And should I stick to my guns and keep with the schedule? Im on my own as husband works nights so Im really starting to find this difficult and stressful.

6 month, 4 month - they're only guidelines - every child is different. Don't get hung up on these timelines.

She could just be dreaming or going through a growth spurt. Try to keep the schedule - it'll be better in the long run.

We went through a phase where both twins at a similar age started crying at 11pm and didn't stop until 2am - constant crying - every night like clockwork for about 3 months. So trust me - I know what it's like. We just reached the stage where we just let them cry because nothing else worked. One night my sister and some friends were here and we put them in kitchen in their rockatots and closed the door to the sitting room. People were aghast But then at 2am they stopped and we immediately carried them back to their cots - our friends realised then that this was just a process.

Stick with it. It's a phase that she (and you) will get through.

Bashful

She might be teething my daughter was the same when she was teething we found it hard some nights to get her to go down and then she would cry in her sleep throughout the night.
Maybe try a bit of calpol before bed and some bonjella.

mrsberries

Thanks Bashful. Since posting this Ive started to "sleep train" her and so far so good! Went cold turkey on the soother last week and started to follow Alison Scott Wrights book. It involves letting her settle herself (takes about 10 mins of fussing and very mild crying) but shes now sleeping 12 hours and I get up to her maybe once a night.