hi

i am really struggling with my 6month olds sleeping, up until 3-4 weeks ago, he was sleeping really well, 9pm ish-6-7ish, so 3 weeks ago he had a tummy upset and was pooing loads even though the night, which he never does, and as a result had bad nappy rash, he is now better and nappy rash gone, so while he was unwell i could understand his waking at night, but it seems to have continued! he has been sleeping in his cot in our room, but for 4 nights has been in his own room. so last night, he went up and had his feed at 8.30pm and was put down fine (as always) but at 11.30pm he woke, i usually leave him for 5 mins or so to see if he will go back to sleep. but he didnt, so i went in and changed his nappy and tried to put him back down, but he just screamed and screamed, and he has been doing this for 3 weeks, so annoyinyly iv resorted to cuddling and rocking him back to sleep and gently placing him back in the cot, usually it doesnt work first time as soon as i put him down he wakes crying! so last night tried this and in the end it took until 3am to get him to sleep in the cot! my OH wants to just bring him into our bed, and i think he would settle better, but i dont want to get into a habit of this, i want him in his cot in his room! so noone in our house it getting any sleep, i try to deal with him myself but after a couple of hours in exhausted and very frustrated so wake OH to help! i am beside myself and get really angry! i know its not lo's fault! please someone give me some advice! im getting depressed and dont know what to do! i was almost temped to just leave the house and leave OH with Lo last night! sorry for rambling!


please please give me some advice! :\?

ashy

Hey Ashy, sorry to hear you're having such a bad time with the sleeping at the mo. My dd is 6 months too and has never slept through yet, but she was only waking once or twice and settling back to sleep fairly easily until about 6 weeks ago when she turned into an absolute nightmare too! Sounds prety much like yours, she started waking 5 or 6 times a night, and just screaming so much that she had no chance of settling back to sleep. We tried everything and some night were resorting to bringing her back into our bed too as after a few hours of trying to calm her it was the only way any of us could get any sleep.

Anyway, after speaking to loads of friends & the health visitor we decided that she was possibly teething so on the really bad night resorted to giving her some calpol to help her settle. I didn't want to get into a habit of this, so only gave it her when nothing else was helping. Sure enough, about 2 weeks ago a first little tooth popped through at the bottom! I was surprised as she was only 5 and a half months then, but I suppose some babies do get teeth this early. She was ok for a few night but then started screaming again and pulling really hard at her gums, so i tried a few different teething gels, but none really seemed to make a massive difference. One thing that did help a bit though was something called 'Ashton &Parsons teething powders' that a friend reccommended. Last week another tooth came through at the bottom too, and touch wood for the past 3 night she seems to be sleeping better again, well probably until the next tooth starts coming through anyway! :lol:

Don't know if your ds is showing any other signs of teething, but it might be worth giving him a dose of calpol on those really bad nights. I know how frustrating it can be when you're all so shattered and just want to sleep, but fingers crossed if it is teething thats bothering him he might start to sleep a bit better when they pop through!

Hope that helps,
Caroline xxx

We had the same thing with our lo, again at around 6 months old, however in our case it wasn't due to teething.

We tried everything to help him settle more easily when he woke in the night, but in the end the only thing that worked was controlled crying. It isn't always a popular method, but if done properly (i.e. controlled!) it can work wonders - and in our case he started settling after 4 nights. It's not nice to listen to baby crying when you know that a cuddle will settle them, but I was soooo tired of weeks of cuddling him to sleep and unsettled nights that I gave it a go, and i'm glad I did.

I hope you're lo starts to settle better soon xx

It could be teething but it could also be your baby getting rather wise at 6months!! They know from a very early age that if they cry and winge they get your attention. obviously when lo was ill, of course you'd go to him and give him a cuddle and settle him, however long it takes but he's probably gotten used to this over the period he was ill and is now expecting it!!

I'd rule out teething first but you may just have to have a few nights of being cruel to be kind to get him to self settle again.

We did controlled crying with my lo at around 10months as he'd never slept through and it worked a treat but then when he was ill or had a cold we'd ahve to start it all over again once he was better.

regarding your husband and taking lo into your bed, you are right, it is quite a bad habit to get into and baby would get used to it very quickly!!! The only time we ever take lo into our bed is when he's been ill and even thats at a very last resort

hth xx

Awww hugs hun. Screaming at night is the worst.

I agree with Claire. At 6 months they would rather have our company than be on their own in cot! As your LO has got used to so much night time attention he needs to relearn that nights are for sleeping. Unfortunately I do think CC is the way to go for this at this age. (as long as you are sure he's not hungry, uncomfortable etc) It will be hard and may take a while as he has probably figured out that if he cries long and hard enough you will cave and rock him. So you have to show that you can outlast him. You may have a few horrid nights but it will be worth it in the long run. Alternatively you could try other methods such a pickup/put down but I think for this age CC is the best option as other methods can apparently stimulate them more and take longer (in our house 'kinder' methods actually result in waaaaay more crying!)

However all this is coming from a total hypocrite who has zero willpower or tolerance for crying in the night and does whatever it takes to get everyone back to sleep asap! Beth is sleeping terribly at the moment, but I am pretty sure it's mobility issues so I ignore for as long as I can unless she's really crying and/or stuck and then I just reposition and if she's still really upset I give teething gel, check she's not too hot/wet etc, cuddle as briefly as possible until calm and then put down awake as I want her to know she has to fall asleep without me. I make sure I do all this with lights low, no talking and as little eye contact as possible so she understands that it's still night time and not time to play. Sometimes she freaks out when I put her down but once I leave the room will often calm down within a minute. I think she's just trying her luck sometimes!

Really hope things improve for you soon. I have nothing against bringing babies into your bed if they are ill/teething etc but do think if you do it too much it could lead to problems further down the line that you are only going to have to tackle at some point anyway so might as well do it now before he's old enough to climb into your bed himself!!! Beth won't actually sleep in bed with us (too exciting - time to play!) which I guess is a good thing as it removes the temptation to do it!