6 month old wakes up a lot at night

Janessa - posted on 12/11/2009

I also have problems with my son Dominic who is 6 months. He will cry even if he does not need anything. i let him cry for awhile but he still will not go back to sleep but as soon as i hold him he goes back to sleep.

Jaime - posted on 12/11/2009

I was going through the same thing and then this is what I tried, maybe it will work for you as well.
I kept my son awake for most of the day allowing him to nap once for 3 hours then I would wake him up. At 9pm I strip him down to his diaper and give him one last bottle for the night. I then put him on his tummy and gently tickle his back until he is asleep. He usually sleeps through the night. At first it is hard to keep your baby up for most of the day, your baby will be a bit fussy but I find/found that it worked for me. Also on bath days I wait till 8pm give him a bath and follow the rest of the routine.
I'm not saying this will work for you and your baby but it's worth giving it a shot.

Tamara-lee - posted on 12/11/2009

My daughter also doesnt sleep through the night. I usually just feed her and she goes back to sleep. Maybe she is hungry.

Kali - posted on 12/10/2009

Hehe btw I hatte the idea of crying it out. The only reason they stop crying is becuase they have no concept of time, dont think you will ever come back and fall asleep exhausted, lonely, untrusting and lacking confidence to share their signals with you.
It helps me to rememebr the quote "if crying is good for the soul and bleeding is good for the veins".

I know cry it out works but if you dont believe in it, stick to your guns.

Kali - posted on 12/10/2009

Yep, that sounds exactly like my Lizzie-mae. I' just going with the flow. She had colic early on so breastfeeds to sleep, its something i know she will grow out of. You dont see adults needing to be rocked to sleep.

I trying to encourage her to get to sleep on her own. Tracey Hogg (the baby whisperer) has a non cry it out method whihc you could try if you are at your whits end. She is big on routine. and to get baby to sleep she suggests you lay her down and pat and shush her. when she starts to cry you pick her up until she stops and then put her strait down and continnue pat shush. do this till she is asleep, (could take hours, but the tie it takes to train her to put herself to sleep will get progressively shorter until she can self sooth enough to put herself to sleep).

Personally i dont have that comitment, so with lizzie im settling her nearly to sleep whilts singing and then putting her in her cot to get to sleep herself it seems to be helping. sometimes when im slow to get to her when she wakes in the night now she goes back to sleep rather than getting herself into a state.

hope this helps. Either way, your not alone.

Elizabeth - posted on 12/10/2009

All I have to say is ROUTINE!! Babies love routine. I don't know how many mom's I have talked to that have told me this is so important. My son is 6 1/2 months. He takes 2 naps a day about 1-2 hours each and goes to bed at 7pm and is up around 7am. This didn't happen overnight, but with time we got there. At 5 moths he started teething, and he was up at least twice in the night. So, I would go in and give him a dose of Tylenol and orajel, and a small 3oz. bottle and it put him back to sleep very quickly. He has stopped teething at night now. I am sure it will start back up sometime soon. My point is....I never changed his routine regardless of his night waking. He still went to bed at the same time and I got him up at the same time. My son likes to go to bed at 7 every night because he is tired. He also likes to go to bed because he knows exactly what to expect...a bath, a bottle, brushing his "gums", book, and then bed. I don't change a thing ever! If you can stick to a routine than they now what to expect. If you can't stand hearing them cry ( I feel ya, it's hard!) I recommend sleeping in the room with them. Put them in their crib and you sleep on an air mattress or sit on the floor until they go to sleep. If they still cry.....you have to ween them from whatever it is that soothes them to sleep. Sleep is a learned behavior. It you don't let your child learn to self soothe than they will always have sleep problems. I hate to say it but for most babies "crying it out" is the best way. I think it's worse for the parent than it is for the kid. If you know your child is fed, changed, not in pain(teething), and safe....and they are crying....let them cry. They WILL eventually go to sleep. I hated doing this, but if you stick to it, you will be soooooo glad you did.

Alysha - posted on 12/10/2009

My son is 7 month old.
Usually he goes to bed around 8-9 or 10-11.
He normally wakes up 2-3 times a night, but lately he's been doing it more!
He won't take a pacifier, or a bottle, he has to be rocked back to sleep, or lay down with my in my bed. I've tried different methods to getting him to self soothe, but nothings worked. I think that some babies just do things on their own time.

Christa - posted on 12/07/2009

Have you tried switching diapers. My son Arun used to wake up all the time until I switched to Pampers baby dry diapers instead of Huggies. They have 12 hour dryness protection and it seemed to help. I also have a sleep sheep in his room that mimics the sound of the fetal heartbeat maybe a dream machine would help?

Beth - posted on 12/04/2009

I am going through the same thing! My son, 6months old, usually slept from 8:30pm until 6am only waking once during the night to eat and go back to sleep. Since this last Saturday night he has been getting up 6-7 times a night! I took him to the Dr. yesterday because it has been almost a week. OUr Dr. said it is very common for babies at this age to develope seperation anxiety at night and even nightmares. So last night we tried no TV (which my 7 year old and 4 year old hated!) before bed and he only woke up once lke usual! Not sure it will help you but it seemed to help him relax enough before bed that he slept agian!

Amanda - posted on 12/03/2009

My Averi is also six months. We had a hard time getting her to sleep thru the night also. Now she does great. Took some time and on occasion she still stirs during the night but not often. She is sleeping anywhere between 7 to 9 hours at night. I'm not telling you this to brag I'm telling you because I want you to know what I did and maybe it will help you. At first Averi had an eating problem. Then I started putting a little cereal in every bottle (even though the doc tells you not to, sometimes you just have to). Her sleeping habits got better but still not great. I put her on a daily schedule. Which is probably going to be the best thing you could ever do for the baby and yourself. Obviously there are going to be some glitches in your schedule depending on what you might be doing that day but try very hard to keep up that schedule. Babies love routine. This is my Schedule : wake up at 8 am eat right away, play (on floor, in exersaucer, with mommy) about 2 / 2.5 hours have past nap time, sleep for 1 / 2 hours, wake up, its about 12 / 12:30 pm time to eat, again playtime (get that belly time in) or run some errands (if baby is fussy give a little snack before nap), again baby's tired time for nap its about 4 pm baby wakes up do everything over again, at around 8 pm give or take a few minutes feed give bath and put to bed.
Just make sure baby is eating enough and playing a lot during daylight hours so baby will sleep thru the night. I'm not saying it's just going to be that easy but it is worth a try. I know how it feels not to get any sleep and I do feel for you so good luck.

Joanna - posted on 12/01/2009

camryn is doing the same thing! a couple times she wakes up at 2 or 3 a.m. wanting to play. i've found that "baby boot camp" is the best thing. at first i told my mom she was mean, but its really working after just a couple of nights! we were putting her in the bed with us, so my husband moved to the couch and it was a mess. so now i have her on a very set sleep/nap schedule. i feed her just before bed time and when she wakes up at 2 or 3 a.m., i put her in the crib and let her cry for about 5-10 minutes. i go back in and give her the paci and pack blankets around her and she's so exhausted from crying she kocks out til morning. last night she woke up once only for a couple minutes and put herself back to sleep! try a set nap schedule and baby boot camp!

Theresa - posted on 12/01/2009

my child is 6 months and at 4 months our doc told us to have her cry it out- it was hard but I am so glad we did it b/c she sleeps through the night. I put her down at 8:30 or 9 - even if she is awake and she goes to sleep on her own and then gets up around 6:30. Lovin it! Not to brag but I would try it. IT was so hard, but so worth it, as long as they are fed and changed you can make it.

Mackenzie - posted on 12/01/2009

My son is 6 months old also. I feed him veggies and rice at about 8 then I rock him to sleep at 9. He normally falls asleep right away. He sleeps through the night except on rare occassion. I find that feeding him food helps him sleep longer at night instead of breastfeeding or a bottle of formula. He normally wakes up at 7 am and takes a 1/2 hour nap at about 9 or 10 then takes a nap anywhere starting from Noon-2 and will sleep at 1 1/2 - 2 hours. He likes to take another nap at 7 pm or so but I will wake him if he sleeps longer than 1/2 hour because this also helps him sleep longer at night.

I Hope This Helps!!

Angie - posted on 12/01/2009

Hi my son was like that now I realised that he was hungry cause from when I began giving him cereal and solid food he sleeps 6 hours straight hope that I helped you

Angela - posted on 11/30/2009

I totally understand what you are going through. My son gets up 2-3 times a night as well. It is the same thing, he needs his pacifier or just a rock and then back to sleep. I tried having him cry but it did not work for me. One thing I am trying is to set him a schedual and trying really hard to follow that schedual, that means naps and sleeping time. So far he sleeps better during the day and goes to sleep on his own at night because he is tired. It is something you could try.

Nicole - posted on 11/30/2009

My boy does the same exact thing. He has been sleeping in bed with me for awhile now becasue I was so tired of gettin gup ll the time. He still wakes up a few times a night for his pacifier. I asked the dr. why he is so restless and she sadi it may be teething that causes it. You are not alone!!!

Jennifer - posted on 11/30/2009

its totally normal...my son is just about 7 months and he still wakes up twice a night to eat. he is small for his age and the doc said that he will still eat during the night. he is also cutting teeth so i think that has something to do with him waking up. dont really have and suggestions, just wanted to let you know your not alone. hope things get better soon.

Ashleigh - posted on 11/30/2009

I don't really have any good advice, but I wanted you to know that I'm going through the same thing with my 6 month old! I feel like I caused the bad sleeping habits, because now she needs to be rocked back to sleep, or if she loses her paci she has to have it put back in her mouth. I know how helpless you must feel because I feel the same way. I'll be thinking about you hoping you're getting some rest, and hoping I get some as well. I do agree with Diana though, usually when my daughter eats a lot during the day she sleeps all through the night pretty satisfied...

Allie - posted on 11/30/2009

My son got h1n1 about 4 weeks ago and he was sleeping great! until then... everything back fired. he wouldn't sleep in his crib. he would wake up crying every 2 hours and nothing made it better. I took him back to doctor thinking maybe his ear infeciton had come back, complication of h1n1 (i'll take that complication anyday!) All was fine.. Doctor jsut said I HAD to get him back into his own crib... so we did ! And he learned to fall asleep on his own too! Change him, feed him, give him a bath, etc.. know that you have met all his needs as a mother/father, then put him in his crib and say good night (music if possible).. if he starts crying wait for 3 min, then go in and reasssure him that he is fine and this is what he needs to do, sleep in own crib, etc... and leave.. come back 5 min do same thing, 10 min later, 15 min later, etc...... My son cried off and on for about 30 minutes and fell alseep and slept all night! Since then (on day 4 of it) I put him to bed awake even for naps and he goes to sleep and sleeps all night!!!! We did it with my 2 year old also at 9 months, it took a good month for him to fall alseep on his own without crying.. It is hard, but worth it!

Leah - posted on 11/29/2009

Hi Yesenia, My boy Noah is just 6 months also, he used to sleep through the night, but we have recently moved house and now he wakes 2-3 times a night and like you usually end up with him in my bed because i am to tired to keep getting up. I am breast feeding too, but if i give him a bottle some time he will go back to sleep. Have you tried putting a radio on in her room, that is how i initially got Noah to sleep through the night GOOD LUCK!! xx Leah

Diana - posted on 11/29/2009

Well, my son still wakes up during the night also (6months) and I find that if I just feed him he goes straight back to sleep. I am breast feeding so I guess it's easier to do this as it doesn't take long to get organised in the middle of the night. He has been waking up less frequently since eating solids so maybe your baby just wants more food? As for the day time, I try to get a routine happening like brekkie,play,milk feed then rest,lunch,play milk,rest, dinner,play,bath,milk and hopefully bed at 8-9pm! Doesnt always go how it's planned,so it's important not to be too organised!! I hope this helps :)