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6mo not sleeping

vkj73

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Hello mamas,
Our 6mo wakes up about 2xs a night. I'm breast feeding when at home, she gets formula at day care (I simply can't produce enough to keep up).

I'm afraid I've "trained" her by picking her up and feeding her each time she cries. My instinct is that we need to begin sleep training.

Does anyone have a "gentle" CIO method that worked?

Please no debates or judgment. This sleep deprived mama needs support and strategies.

Thank you in advance :hugs::sleep:
 
Have you started on solids? He might still be hungry!

Otherwise if you know he is full, offer him a beaker of water when he wakes up and see if he will settle?
 
I don't really care what people say about me for talking about CIO. My pediatrician told me to let my son cry for 30 minutes when putting him to bed. He is EBF and I always fead him to sleep. Once I would put him to bed he would wake up three times within the hour and then twice a night. My son eats all meals great during the day and he is in the 99th percentile for weight. Since his weight is great, my pediatrician said that he should be able to sleep through the night or maybe wake up once. Anyway, so that night I let him cry. Mind you, my son does not cry very much at all. So that night he basically yelled about every 30 seconds for 16 minutes and then went to sleep. That night he woke up at 3am and I fead him to sleep. The next night when I put him to sleep he fussed for a minute and then fell asleep. He woke up at 3am. Yelled for 16 minutes again exactly. Weird. Then, ever since I let him cry (only twice for 2 days) he had woke up at 3am for a minute and put himself back to sleep for about a week. Now for the past week he has been sleeping 7-6. I am very glad that I let him cry a little because now he is a happier baby and I am a happier mom. I do everything at my house. I mean everything. So I was never getting a break from baby or housework and I needed my sleep.

I had tried the furber method of going in the room every 5 minutes but that just made him more upset seeing me every 5 minutes. That lasted about 15 minutes for me and I was done with that.

So I would say just let the cry a bit (30 minutes at most) once you know that they are not hungry or dirty, and that they are safe. I will say that it was probably easier for me than most because my son is not a huge cryer.

I don't know if I would have done this if I wasn't a stay at home mom though. Since I am with my son all day and saw how much he had eaten and slept I was ok with letting him cry a bit.
 
I have total sympathy for being exhausted, but I would look into what's normal for a 6 month old. I think if being fed means she goes back to sleep easily and is only waking 2 times a night, I wouldn't assume in any way that is the result of creating a bad habit. The average 6 month old baby definitely still needs to be fed throughout the night. Mine was formula fed and still woke 2 times a night at 6 months (actually, at 6 months, she was teething and also starting solids disrupted her sleep causing her some discomfort for the first few weeks, so she was waking every hour all night). I think lots of folks will tell you that their 2 and 3 year olds wake once or twice a night (or even more) and not for a feed (my nearly 3 year old was up at 10 and then again at 4am last night). So that to me sounds perfectly normal to me, but that doesn't mean it isn't exhausting. Mine dropped her night feeds on her own at 9 months and we didn't have to do anything, so it's definitely not a bad habit to feed them because they will stop when they're ready anyway, but dropping feeds doesn't mean they sleep and this will be especially so as you're coming into prime teething time too. Is there something you can do to help yourself get more sleep? Go to bed earlier? Have your partner offer a bottle one feed during the night and then BF the other and in the morning or before bed, etc? If you want to drop the night feeds anyway, that will affect your milk as it is, so offering an extra bottle in there won't make much difference. I definitely found that finding ways to cope and get more sleep was much more effective in terms of actually managing to feel rested than trying to completely change up our approach to sleep.
 
Just so you know.....with my son sleeping through the night my supply wasn't effected in the least. It just regulated itself by when my son needed it. I have a huge amount of supply. I also feed him 1-2 tablespoons of veggies twice a day. I never did feed him cereal because it's just empty calories in my opinion.

It's your choice. Do what you feel is right for you and your family.
 
I know it's not what you want to hear but it's actually pretty normal for a 6 month old to be waking during the night and it's very possible she is still hungry. For us it became pretty obvious when my LO was waking out of habit and not truly for hunger - and she was over a year old.

You could try just leaving her for a few minutes to see what happens but I agree with the pp that said there isn't really a gentle method of CIO. You're either prepared to leave your baby alone while they cry or you're not. If you're not, you might look into something like PUPD where you don't actually leave them but still try to teach them to settle on their own. I'd rule out any possibility that she's still hungry before trying anything, though.
 
I would say at 6 months waking 2 times a night is lucky, my first son would wake 10 times or more even at 1 years old. My son now is 5 months and can wake twice a night x
 
I'd take twice a night right now! Mine is on her second wake up already and it's only 9.30pm. You could try looking into safe co sleeping guidelines so you don't have to get up to feed. Or failing that try something like gradual retreat.
 
Thank you for the replies. I should add when she wakes up, and I feed her (in our bed) she's up for at least an hour. Not fussing, just hanging out, ready to play. If I set her down in her crib, she cries.

Part of what prompted my post is that a few mamas recently seemed shocked that she's waking up 2-3xs a night.

We will continue to find a method and balance that feels right for us.
I appreciate the advice and tips, as they help with the process.:hugs:
 
My 5.5 month old son wakes up to 10 times a night and must be held from around 2am onwards
 

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