6 Month Old - Not Sleeping Through The Night

irishmotorist

Looking for a bit of advice. We have a nearly 6 month old who hasn't really started sleeping through the night yet. Usually, we start the bath at 20:30 and he's finished his bottle by 21:20 and down in his small cot 15 mins later, asleep. A couple of nights a week he will make it to 6:30 the next morning, but it's often around 5:30 to 6:00. He can wake between 3:00 or 4:00 a few nights a week. He usually starts kicking around about 15 mins before he starts cranking up the volume. When we take him up, he's in great form and a bottle is needed to get him back asleep within an hour.

Any thoughts on what we can try to do to standardise and lengthen his sleep?

By way of a bit more background info:
He's a big, hungry fella and has been since the day he was born. He's rarely full/satisfied looking, though most of the time he dozes off at the end of his last bottle.
We started him on solids last weekend and we can't get enough porridge or rice into him. We gave him loads yesterday at tea time, but then he left half of his last bottle :-(
I feel like we have tried every combination of putting him to bed super tired, super rested, fed close to last bottle, fed far from last bottle, exercise before bed and chilling out before bed.
Our 2.5 year old started sleeping for 11 or 12 hours from 2.5 months...which makes this seem harder :-(

January

You were lucky with your older child Some kids just don't sleep through the night for a while. 6 months is a bit young to be expecting them to do a full stretch.

Rachineire

They are all different it seems. ..my baby started sleeping all night around 9-10 months....at 6 months he would have been the very same as your baby! One thing we did try with sucess to get a longer sleep in the morning was a dream feed at around 1am before we settled into bed for the night . He would sleep later in the morning as he wasn't waking up with hunger.

irishmotorist

A few articles that I'd read and experience with our first fella led me to think that it was just the odd few that wouldn't be sleeping by now. Looks like my expectations were a bit off

Regarding a 1am feed, we are both in bed by 22:30, wrecked. So, unfortunately 1am is probably the same as 3 or 4.

Btw, off topic, anybody know where one can sell a baby? Great sleeper! :pac:

branners69

How long does he sleep during the day? You might want to start cutting it to a couple of 20 minute naps. You are at a tough age, they dont move enough to get completely knackered!

At six months there is no way you should introduce a 1am feed! We had our first two sleeping through the night from 7 weeks and twin boys sleeping through from 13 weeks! I am talking from 8pm to 8am!

If it was me I would cut the naps during the day, make sure he isnt getting too cold during the night and keep the room dark. What time is dinner time? Should be 5pm give or take! Give a huge bottle at night (7.30pm) and aim to have him down for 8pm latest!

Best of luck!

2xj3hplqgsbkym

branners69 wrote: »

How long does he sleep during the day? You might want to start cutting it to a couple of 20 minute naps. You are at a tough age, they dont move enough to get completely knackered!

At six months there is no way you should introduce a 1am feed! We had our first two sleeping through the night from 7 weeks and twin boys sleeping through from 13 weeks! I am talking from 8pm to 8am!


If it was me I would cut the naps during the day, make sure he isnt getting too cold during the night and keep the room dark. What time is dinner time? Should be 5pm give or take! Give a huge bottle at night (7.30pm) and aim to have him down for 8pm latest!

Best of luck!

Lucky you having babies who slept so well. However did you never think that it is just that- ie. LUCK?

Some babies sleep well some don't, and I think most of the time it is luck of the draw. I have one who always slept well and one who doesn't.

I would never boast saying "i had him sleeping through the night from 6 weeks", I didn't, he did that by himself, I just put him to bed.

I used the same bed time routine /techniques/ sleep training etc... With my daughter and still at 15 months she is not a great sleeper.

So op try whatever you can to get baby to sleep for the night but don't feel like you are doing something wrong just because "you didn't have him sleeping from 8 to 8 from 6 weeks".

branners69

Adalyn Dirty Racketeer wrote: »

Lucky you having babies who slept so well. However did you never think that it is just that- ie. LUCK?

Definitely not luck maybe for one or two but to have all four was down to routine and altering the routine to each child.

Adalyn Dirty Racketeer wrote: »

So op try whatever you can to get baby to sleep for the night but don't feel like you are doing something wrong just because "you didn't have him sleeping from 8 to 8 from 6 weeks".

But if they are letting the little lad nap 3 hours during the day on and off, then to me they are doing something wrong! Op and you may not agree with me but so what! This is why I can say my kids sleeping during the night was not LUCK!!

January

3 hours is not too much to let a 6 month old sleep during the day, there's a risk of them being overtired when they go to bed and not sleeping from that.

pwurple

OP, sleeping from 9:30 to 6:30 IS sleeping through the night, especially for a baby that size. I would consider sleeping 6 hours from 12 to 6am to be sleeping through the night for a baby.

I had a quick look at my records, mine was napping for two x 45min to 1hr sessions at that age during the day, and sleeping from about from 8:30 to 6:30. So about the same.

Ginny

Whatever you do, do not cut down naps. Sleep usually begets sleep, our little lad didn't sleep through the night till he was 14 months, before that he'd only nap 40 mins at a push during the day and be up nearly every hour from 12-7. We rejigged his naps, made sure he was napping in his cot, he started sleeping for 2 naps 3 hours a day in total and started sleeping 7-6. It's a completely myth less naps=more sleep! most babies just will end up over tired and crankier.
Here's a little guide for reference http://www.parents.com/baby/sleep/basics/age-by-age-guide/

vitani

January wrote: »

3 hours is not too much to let a 6 month old sleep during the day, there's a risk of them being overtired when they go to bed and not sleeping from that.

Exactly. I always found that the better my little one slept during the day, the better she'd sleep at night. Cutting naps before the baby is ready will lead to an overtired, cranky child IMO.

At 6 months, mine was sleeping from 7pm until about 7am, but that was with a dream feed at 11pm and three decent naps during the day.

lukesmom

My first two did not sleep through the night until about 9 months old and my last baby was sleeping through from 6 weeks old. I used the exact same routine with all three and let them nap as much as they needed during day. So I think it is luck and every baby is different. Op you are doing everything right and you sound like a brilliant mum, I know how frustrating it is but 6 months is still pretty young to sleep through so don't worry the sleeping through is probably just around the corner.

irishmotorist

branners69 wrote: »

How long does he sleep during the day? You might want to start cutting it to a couple of 20 minute naps. You are at a tough age, they dont move enough to get completely knackered!
...
If it was me I would cut the naps during the day, make sure he isnt getting too cold during the night and keep the room dark. What time is dinner time? Should be 5pm give or take! Give a huge bottle at night (7.30pm) and aim to have him down for 8pm latest!

He'd have 2 naps of probably 1hr 30mins each, give or take. We're reluctant to reduce them though. We've tried having him tireder and he's VERY unhappy at that and it doesn't seem to make any difference with when he wakes up at night. He might sleep longer or he might not.

Dinner is at about 18:00. We've started introducing some rice at that time in the hope of him feeling a bit fuller. His last bottle is 210ml, the same as the rest of the day. Even though the bottles hold up to 240ml, we've never given him that much. Would that amount be OK to do, do you think?

Regarding him getting cold, he seems to sleep slightly better if the room gets a bit cooler at night - e.g. down to 16 degrees. That said, we're finding it very difficult to spot a trend. Also, the heating coming on at night can tend to disturb him, even though he's at the furthest point in the house from the gas boiler. I think there's an element of a light sleeper in him, which probably isn't helping. We're also going to try putting him in his own room on his own in the next couple of weeks and see if that helps.

pwurple wrote: »

OP, sleeping from 9:30 to 6:30 IS sleeping through the night, especially for a baby that size. I would consider sleeping 6 hours from 12 to 6am to be sleeping through the night for a baby.

I had a quick look at my records, mine was napping for two x 45min to 1hr sessions at that age during the day, and sleeping from about from 8:30 to 6:30. So about the same.

If it was 6:30 every morning, I'd agree. But, on average, 2 or 3 nights a week it is 3am and 6:30 is about the latest we get out of him.

lukesmom wrote: »

... Op you are doing everything right and you sound like a brilliant mum, I know how frustrating it is but 6 months is still pretty young to sleep through so don't worry the sleeping through is probably just around the corner.

I've never been called a brilliant mum before, but thank you very much! (I'm the daddy:D)

I don't think we've missed many of the tricks, but it's just not his time yet. He'll decide to sleep for longer when he's well and good.

Sligo1

3 hours nap is definitely not too much... Well not for our fella anyway. Ours has 2 naps per day (2-3hours in total) and he's 15months now. He sleeps 8pm-8am. We are very lucky. I hope our next is as good as him but I'm under no illusion this might not happen no matter how much we try to get her into a routine.

We had a little blip with ours around Xmas time where he wouldn't nap... But thank god he's back in his routine. I wouldn't be able to manage otherwise and my head would be a total mess!

lukesmom

irishmotorist wrote: »

He'd have 2 naps of probably 1hr 30mins each, give or take. We're reluctant to reduce them though. We've tried having him tireder and he's VERY unhappy at that and it doesn't seem to make any difference with when he wakes up at night. He might sleep longer or he might not.

Dinner is at about 18:00. We've started introducing some rice at that time in the hope of him feeling a bit fuller. His last bottle is 210ml, the same as the rest of the day. Even though the bottles hold up to 240ml, we've never given him that much. Would that amount be OK to do, do you think?

Regarding him getting cold, he seems to sleep slightly better if the room gets a bit cooler at night - e.g. down to 16 degrees. That said, we're finding it very difficult to spot a trend. Also, the heating coming on at night can tend to disturb him, even though he's at the furthest point in the house from the gas boiler. I think there's an element of a light sleeper in him, which probably isn't helping. We're also going to try putting him in his own room on his own in the next couple of weeks and see if that helps.


If it was 6:30 every morning, I'd agree. But, on average, 2 or 3 nights a week it is 3am and 6:30 is about the latest we get out of him.


I've never been called a brilliant mum before, but thank you very much! (I'm the daddy:D)

I don't think we've missed many of the tricks, but it's just not his time yet. He'll decide to sleep for longer when he's well and good.

Yeah I wondered about that....brilliant daddy!

crazy cat lady

irishmotorist wrote: »

Looking for a bit of advice. We have a nearly 6 month old who hasn't really started sleeping through the night yet. Usually, we start the bath at 20:30 and he's finished his bottle by 21:20 and down in his small cot 15 mins later, asleep. A couple of nights a week he will make it to 6:30 the next morning, but it's often around 5:30 to 6:00. He can wake between 3:00 or 4:00 a few nights a week. He usually starts kicking around about 15 mins before he starts cranking up the volume. When we take him up, he's in great form and a bottle is needed to get him back asleep within an hour.

Any thoughts on what we can try to do to standardise and lengthen his sleep?

By way of a bit more background info:
He's a big, hungry fella and has been since the day he was born. He's rarely full/satisfied looking, though most of the time he dozes off at the end of his last bottle.
We started him on solids last weekend and we can't get enough porridge or rice into him. We gave him loads yesterday at tea time, but then he left half of his last bottle :-(
I feel like we have tried every combination of putting him to bed super tired, super rested, fed close to last bottle, fed far from last bottle, exercise before bed and chilling out before bed.
Our 2.5 year old started sleeping for 11 or 12 hours from 2.5 months...which makes this seem harder :-(

I don't have much advice, but my 6 month old isn't sleeping through the night yet either, so you're not alone!

If I learnt anything from my first daughter, its that even if they do start sleeping through the night, that could all change in a week.

How do you keep the little fella up til past 9? My lil lady is ready for bed by half 6 and its a struggle to keep her up til her 7pm bedtime. She wakes about 12-1 for a boppy and then sleeps to anywhere between 5-7. There have been many occasions when she has woken at silly hours full of beans. I have left a lamp on very dim and left her in her cot. She will go back to sleep herself 9 times out of 10.

I will say that I have noticed she may have an unsettled night on the days that I introduce a new food, or if she dorsnt get enough sleep during the day.

One thing I know for sure is that the sleepless nights don't last forever, and although its exhausting, I can't think of anything else i'd rather have to wake up to in the night

How Strange

I think you need to adjust your expectations. You've actually got a pretty good sleeper there. You should meet my daughter who has never slept through and she's 10 months.

If he's waking in the middle of the night you should keep the room dark even if you have to take him up for a while.

I definitely wouldn't do anything to reduce or cut out naps. An overtired baby definitely won't sleep well and 2 naps of 3-4 hours in total is probably average enough for a 6 month old.

Sorry I've no answers for you but if you were standing where I am you'd see that your fella is actually quite good.

irishmotorist

How Strange wrote: »

I think you need to adjust your expectations. You've actually got a pretty good sleeper there. You should meet my daughter who has never slept through and she's 10 months.

If he's waking in the middle of the night you should keep the room dark even if you have to take him up for a while.

I definitely wouldn't do anything to reduce or cut out naps. An overtired baby definitely won't sleep well and 2 naps of 3-4 hours in total is probably average enough for a 6 month old.

Sorry I've no answers for you but if you were standing where I am you'd see that your fella is actually quite good.

Expectations are now adjusted! I was hoping for somebody to say to rub his back 3 times and pinch his cheek twice or something like that. No such luck for that magic though.

We do keep the room dark, unless he just won't settle...then it's down for a bottle, after which he does fall asleep.

Hopefully a bit more stability is just around the corner. And I hope your daughter sorts herself out soon too!

monflat

irishmotorist wrote: »

Expectations are now adjusted! I was hoping for somebody to say to rub his back 3 times and pinch his cheek twice or something like that. No such luck for that magic though.

We do keep the room dark, unless he just won't settle...then it's down for a bottle, after which he does fall asleep.

Hopefully a bit more stability is just around the corner. And I hope your daughter sorts herself out soon too!

I have had both sides of the coin a girl who would not settle until she 10 months old she is a really really sensitive child and anythin could disrupt her overtiredness not tired enough smells, noises . However movin her to her own room crowned her
However as our first she was difficult and when our second arrived who screamed every evenin from 4 weeks at 6pm so a trail of puttin her to bed at this time was the best thing ever i breastfed her a few times through tge night and she never ever woke.
So ive been on both sides they all are different
Its tough when you have to get up to go work or tend to other children too.
Good luck with it . Not long more till he will be more active

Did you ever try massage after his bath
I find it really really helps them

Also would you try startin the bath at like 7pm or 730pm see how u get on

irishmotorist

monflat wrote: »

I have had both sides of the coin a girl who would not settle until she 10 months old she is a really really sensitive child and anythin could disrupt her overtiredness not tired enough smells, noises . However movin her to her own room crowned her
However as our first she was difficult and when our second arrived who screamed every evenin from 4 weeks at 6pm so a trail of puttin her to bed at this time was the best thing ever i breastfed her a few times through tge night and she never ever woke.
So ive been on both sides they all are different
Its tough when you have to get up to go work or tend to other children too.
Good luck with it . Not long more till he will be more active

Did you ever try massage after his bath
I find it really really helps them

Also would you try startin the bath at like 7pm or 730pm see how u get on

We're thinking of moving him to his own room in a week or so - big brother vacated the cot this weekend and he does seem to be disturbed easily.

Trying earlier seems counter-intuitive...we want him to get up later and putting him to bed earlier seems like he'll be waking up even earlier.

We don't generally massage, but we'll try it over the next few nights and see how he gets on.

Ginny

We thought that too,, we used to do bedtime at 8, now my 18 month old is asleep by 7:10. I think 6 months might be a bit young for our routine, whats his feeding schedule?
At the mo we have dinner, watch in the night garden, then up to the bedromm where we have a dim light on. We change clothes and nappy, then sit on loads of cushions for a story, then grobag on, then hugsand kisses and into the cot. Its amazing how sleep and bed time changed and became less stressful when we rejigged it. In fairness though it was down to Lucy at sleep matters. She was brilliant for advice etc. After 9 or so months with no sleep we contacted her. Not saying youre at that point but there is help out there.
Although I would have over the moon if our son slept like yours at 6 months....:)

lang

(Only read the OP on this thread so apologies if repeating things)

We have a 6.5 month old. She had started sleeping through the night since just before 6 months. Here's our sleep routine with herself. We try to stick with this but doesn't always happen.

She has two naps during the day. These range in length of time from 45 minutes to 2 hours. The max we let her sleep during the day is 2 hours. She usually goes down at 10.30/11.00am and again at 2.30/3.00pm. She normally has food about 30/60mins prior to going down for her naps. We start the bed-time routine anytime from 6pm to 7pm. We do a bath every second day (we live in a area with a lot of lime in the water which dries her skin awful bad), she gets the boob and a 4oz bottle. Then, if she's not already falling asleep, she gets a story read to her.

Until about 4 weeks ago we are changing and feeding her at midnight and then she'd wake again around 4am, then again anytime from 6am until 8am.

Lately, she's been sleeping right through from about 7.30pm until about 6am the following morning. My wife will give her a breastfeed when she wakes in the morning and then I normally bring the Little One downstairs to let herself sleep on. We give herself her breakfast about 9.30/10am.

She still might wake in the middle of the night so we bring up a bottle of cooled boiled water and just add the formula upstairs when needed. (Yes, I am aware of the differing views on how to make up a bottle and the differing stances on (un)sterile formula, etc. This has been done to near death on other posts).

Again, this routine works for us but may not work for others. I think it's important to find a routine that works for you and your family. In my humble opinion it is very important to stick to (as much as you can) this routine on a daily basis. The above is merely my experience and in no way meant to judge or prejudge anyone for how they are doing things.

irishmotorist

I agree with the routine, but that's proving a bit harder with his big brother. We were like well oiled machine when he was this age - everything was done at the same times every day. It's a bit harder, particularly for timing naps, with him running around.
We'll keep at it as best we can and it will click when he's ready.

How Strange

I think it's harder with the second as you're afraid the baby will wake the older one. At least we are.

I read the no cry sleep solution and she recommends putting babies to bed as early as possible. Our lady goes down at 6.30 most nights as she's grizzly and cranky from 6 onwards. One night recently we got home late and I missed the cranky signs and she got overtired and she just couldn't settle down to sleep. Most nights she goes into her cot and goes straight to sleep.

I firmly believe that sleep begets sleep for babies.

Synyster Shadow

At around 8 and a half months J got into his own routine and now at 10 and a half months its down to a fine art. The one thing from 3 weeks on was I just put him to his Moses basket or cot and he gets himself to sleep. As for the naps during the day he has two of them an hour and a half long if he doesn't get them then he's impossible to be around. What I started 2 days ago was putting him to his cot for naps before that he wouldn't allow it but with number 2 coming I had to start it or I'd be goosed running after 2

Naps really help night time sleeps.. he goes down at half 7 maybe 7 and sleeps till 8 has a bottle at 10 as he won't entertain it before bed he just wants to go they get tired earlier the older they get

lang

Think I jinxed myself by posting about how our wonderful daughter was sleeping through the night... the last two nights have been like being back at the beginning. But in saying that it hasn't been all that bad. Awake around 1/2am and again at 5/6am. Just wish she'd go back to her 'normal' (I know... what's normal anymore??!!) routine.

The difference the last two nights of her waking has been the level of distress she is in when she wakes. She had never been a big screamer but how that has changed :P. It's all very understandable though as she is currently teething so it more distressed all the time.

Just hope we get a bit of a reprieve sometime soon :-)

irishmotorist

Just wanted to give an update on this.

As of this morning, we have a new world record. 5 consecutive nights of getting up after 6:30am. We moved him into his own room at the weekend and put him in the bigger cot. We have a couple of rolled up blankets beside him to keep him cosy feeling and he's really settled. The first couple of nights, there were some near misses at about 3:00am, but he settled himself. Since then, he's slept much more solidly. Fingers crossed that he's figured it out now.

ariana`

My 1st was a great sleeper and my 2nd sounds just like your little man. He's 16mths now and is sleeping better thankfully but he's still not as good as his big brother. He goes down at 7.45/8pm now, and could wake anytime from 5.45-6.30, we leave him in his cot til as close to 7o'c as is possible without letting him cry. Typcially the longer he has slept the longer he will happily lie there awake chatting.

He was 14mths before things started to improve, before that he was waking around 4/4.30. I never gave him a night feed though after 6mths i felt he didn't need it, he was eating/drinking plenty. When he woke at i'd rub a little teetha get on his dodi and that would help to relax him down for another while or i'd just rub his back and ssssssh him, but we'd be up for the day by 5.30. We just adjusted by going to bed earlier and also we had a rota, 2 nights on duty/2 nights off duty - we never needed to do this with DS1.

6 mths is still early days though. And i definitely wouldn't be cutting naps at that age.

tony1980

Our fella is 2 since December and still doesn't sleep through the night :eek:

We are used to it though, he is good to go down now for a long time, always between 7:00PM and 7:15PM. He usually wakes between 1 and 2, not crying or anything like that, just wakes and comes out to us, I just go out with him and lie with him for a bit to get him back to sleep and then he doesn't wake again till about 7:30AM.

If I put him back in during the night on his own, he gets very upset and loud, we have a 4 month old little girl who sleeps very well and we don't want him waking her, so I have just stuck with the routine. I should have tried stopping that routine before my wife had our daughter but it is too late now, I don't mind it too much as he is back asleep in minutes.

Lately though, he has started waking and thinking it is play time but his jaws are very red and we can see a corner of one of his back teeth coming through, so I would say that is why he is doing this, a bit of Calpol helps and once the tooth is up, he will be fine again.

We made all the mistakes on our first and I suppose we are paying for it now but it is nice to get all these cuddles at night, it won't be like that forever so I don't mind the getting up too much. Just go with the flow OP

IvyTheTerrible

branners69 wrote: »

Definitely not luck maybe for one or two but to have all four was down to routine and altering the routine to each child.



But if they are letting the little lad nap 3 hours during the day on and off, then to me they are doing something wrong! Op and you may not agree with me but so what! This is why I can say my kids sleeping during the night was not LUCK!!

My pediatrician always said that he would never sleep a full night if he didn't get enough of a siesta during the day! It's counter-intuitive but true!

My little fella didn't sleep a full night (8pm to 6.30/7am) for more than one night in a row until 9 months.

branners69

IvyTheTerrible wrote: »

My pediatrician always said that he would never sleep a full night if he didn't get enough of a siesta during the day! It's counter-intuitive but true!

True for you maybe? I never consulted a pediatrician, but managed to get a routine in place quickly which suited our requirements for a full nights sleep.