Sleep at 6 months

[First Baby White]

Harry is still now where near sleeping through, for ages he was sleeping 7.30pm - 5am then a bottle then back to sleep also with a dream feed of 8oz at 10pm but recently he has started waking every 2 hours for no reason at all. I thought he would be asleeping through by now, what could of changed him and from experience when did your babies start sleeping through and what is classed as sleeping through, is it 7-7???

 

[LisaJ1986]

At 8 months i'm still trying to work that out!!!
I tried giving her weetabix just before bed on HV advice to see if it could fill her up a bit longer as i was getting up every half an hour all night long! Within 2 weeks i was getting desperate for help and this seemed to do the trick for a while. It helped her to sleep a little bit longer. I'm still getting up in the night now, but not as bad.

 

[Sandi4Paul]

technically 6 hours is sleeping through! doesn't feel like it to me.

Logan is going down at 8 and has one feed in the night (sometime around 3 usually), technically that is sleeping thorugh (!). however he can do more (was doing 8 to 5 just before christmas which i thought would set me up for the next sale, then he stopped).

I thik someone else posted on here earlier today saying that to do longer than about 8 hours doesn't happen until about 6 months due to the size of their stomach (On an average baby, whatever they are).

Sandi

 

[kalia]

technically 6 hours is sleeping through! doesn't feel like it to me.

I thought they classed 5 hours as sleeping through
Whoever they are, they don't live with a child who only sleeps for 5 hours or they'd soon change their minds!

Could teeth be on their way? Or could he have a cold? The weeks I went back to work she was unsettled because of the change, the next week she was unsettled and 2 teeth arrived then she seems to have had constant colds since. She slept so well when I had the time to nap in the day She has been better these last few days so hopefully harry will start to get more sleep soon

 

[Sherlock]

There is no set time scale. Every baby is different. Hearing one person say their baby has been sleeping though since 3 weeks old doesn't mean another baby will be the same. Some don't sleep through till they are a year or older.

I class 6 hours straight sleep as sleeping through. Doesn't matter if its from 10pm-4am or midnight-6am, if LO goes 6 hours, he's done great. Some nights he'll go 4 hours before waking, others 7, sometimes 8.

But one thing I have learnt and it seems to be a normal thing is that just when you think your baby has settled into a pattern, things change overnight. There is never not a reason, just its not always apparent to us why baby is waking. There are many reasons for LO waking at night. Your LO could be teething (even though you cannot see anything happening there is stuff going on), have wind that is unsettling him, feeling a bit hungry at night for some reason or just be too warm or a bit on the cold side. Might be that as he has woken a few times he has gotten into a bit of a habit with it and so just needs a bit of time to readjust.

You may find dropping the dream feed helps (if you've not already). Once past a certain age babies are able generally to go overnight without a late night feed (although some do continue with them). I didn't give our LO a dream feed when he began sleeping longer at night as it meant his body didn't learn to adjust to the longer sleeps without taking in food. As we grow we don't eat in our sleep. If Galen can go 6 hours without waking I didn't see the need for a dreamfeed to encourage this. In fact, when he feeds in the night it actually causes him to sleep worse the next night.

I think persevere with trying to settle without lifting from cot. Maybe use a mobile and music to soothe. Avoid eye contact, keep the room as dark as possible and avoid things like a nappy change unless you really *have* to. If LO wakes and won't settle maybe have your OH give water rather than a feed. I know a few people who said they did this and it did help. As my LO is breast fed we don't do this but we do make sure that OH sees to him if he wakes in the night. I don't go to him unless OH is really unable to settle him back down. Usually works and LO is off back to sleep within 20 minutes or so.

 

[Geordie&Bairn]

Collier is 7 months

WHAT IS SLEEPING THROUGH he dosnt know it

To me sleeping through would be no waking up for a boobie feed ever 2 hours
i pray for uninterupted sleep

 

[DaisyRose]

Oh tell me about it!!! Ruby is all over the place. One night she'll go from 9pm to 6 or 7am but the next she'll wake at 2am, followed by 4am!! If she sleeps too much in the day she wakes; if she sleeps too little she also wakes. She's also already had 2 terrible colds so she's been waking up coughing and sometimes with high temperatures so I've had to give her Calpol and then feed to resettle her.

Nightmare!! It does get better though! It took me ages to get my 2nd sleeping through but now both my older girls are excellent and only ever wake us if they're ill; they usually sleep until 8am too. I'd say just keep to the same routine every night and once they're 6 months or so, most babies don't really need much night feeding so gradually increase your response time if they do wake; also limit the attention at night (eye contact, talking etc etc).

Speaking of bed, I must go there!!!!

 

[keli]

Collier is 7 months

WHAT IS SLEEPING THROUGH he dosnt know it

To me sleeping through would be no waking up for a boobie feed ever 2 hours
i pray for uninterupted sleep

Cooper is the same