6-Month-old Still Waking Every 2 or 2.5 Hours

My advice would be to move her to her own room. At the same time you do this transition, stop taking her to the breast when she wakes up. It might be a hard couple of nights, but you're definately on the right track! It was refreshing to read that you have already gotten her to fall asleep without your assistance. I think it's a great thing that we can do, as moms, to teach our children to self soothe and put themselves to sleep in a safe and loving way. You're going to eventually have to make the transition to put her in her own room anyway... Why not now? Maybe it's great timing for "killing two birds with one stone" as they say. :) Whatever you decide, I'm sure it will be the best thing for you and for her. Good luck!

R., this was so me!!!! You are absolutely right about her feeling you at night and wanting you. Here is my story and how I broke the spell of every2 hour wakings: so my daughter slept in the same room with us for 5 mo. and it was pure hell of course, waking up every 2 hours, but one night my hubby and I went out and our friends were watching the kids. By the time we got home, kids were asleep in their rooms, and my husband suggested instead of sleeping in the same room with our 5 mo. old girl, sleeping in the living room. I was reluctant but agreed (I just like you was nursing her at night), and ta-da. She didn't wake up till 6am, and I got 7 hrs of sleep first time in 5mo!!!!!!! Try moving out (yourself and her). Good luck!

My son had some rough nights also. My husband and I finally decided to move him into his own room at 6 months. It was a hard decision to move him away from us, but I believe it made a huge difference. It seemed that every noise we made in the room (rolling over, coughing, coming to bed) disrupted him. And we also heard every sound he made and assumed he was waking up when sometimes he was just making some noise and getting comfortable. I will say, not every night is perfect there are still time he wakes up 3 times, but it is much better than before. We also have our son sleep with a humidifier, heater, and music. This helps drown out any other noise as he is a light sleeper. Also helpful in the last couple of weeks was putting him to bed about a half hour earlier. He actually slept more hours that way. I think maybe we were getting him overtired before bed and that was making it harder for him to sleep.

My son now 3 was a horrible sleeper from birth. By six months he was still waking up 3-4 times at night. He also needed to be held, nursed and rocked to sleep which took up to 45 minutes each night. He wouldn't nap in his crib, etc. My pediatrician recommended I put him down still awake, but he hated it and I had a 3 year old (at the time) at home to deal with too, so I never did it. I kept thinking, one more month.... one more month too!

One weekend when my husband and I were both home at bedtime, I implemented the Ferber sleep method. Some people call it "crying it out" and I know some people think it's "cruel" to babies, but the method is much more nuanced than that so I think parents should do whatever works best for their baby and their family. The process is, you put the baby down drowsy and then check in on them at various intervals, which increase as the night(s) of training go on. The book does recommend that if your constant coming and going is making the baby MORE upset, you should stretch it out. The first night my son cried for 45 minutes. I was in tears and my stomach was in knots. The next night 15 and the next night 5.

The change was miraculous. Not only was he able to settle himself to sleep, but he started sleeping 7-8 hours overnight as well. I can't explain what a HUGE positive difference that was to my family. I was able to give my 3 year old a proper bedtime, with stories, in her room. My stress level plummeted and I was able to sleep through the night for the first time since I was pregnant! I am a strong believer in helping our children develop good sleep habits, for some babies it comes naturally and others need help. So as hard as that weekend was, it was totally worth it. To this day, my son is the BEST sleeper and ALWAYS sleeps through the night. So good luck!

I do understand what you are going thru! My lil Noelle (now 15 months) was like that. I was wondering why she would not sleep thru the night.( i wondered was she hungry, scared, needed mommy, i was beside myself and had not slept thru the night for over a year?) She did sleep in the bed with us and would never go to a pack and play in the same room. So finally when she it a year i was like this has got to stop. She only wanted to sleep next tot he breast. So what i did and yes it was hard at first but now she has been sleeping on her own and thru the night for 2.5 months.
What I did.
I laid on a nice blanket for a couple days and nursed her in it as well and this is what she sleeps under in her crib now
I nursed till she was sleepy and then hugged and kissed her and laid her in her crib in her own room. Yes it was a battle! I let her cry for a little while and then would pat her on the back or rub her tummy. But i did not pick her back up! If she continued to cry i would talk to her in a low voice and then would leave the room.
After about a week or so she got the idea and will still cry a lil if i did not rub or pat her till she fell asleep. And if she cried in the middle of the night, i would not go into the room but listen to make sure the cry wasn't i am hurt or something wrong. So now she does not wake in the middle of the night or if she does then she does not make a noise.
Now we are working on putting her in the cirib and leaving the room so she can fall asleep on her own.
it was hard to do since she was classified as a high needs baby and i could not stand to hear her cry. And the sleeping in the pack and play in the same room never worked for us. Let me know if you want to talk on it. I am here for you and would be happy to speak with you and give you the full details.

Don't put cereal into a bottle UNLESS the pediatrician recommends it. It can be a dangerous thing to do on your own. If you have not started spoon feeding cereals and foods you will be soon (as your pediatrician when to start...generally around 6 months). For some children it makes a difference in their sleep because it takes longer to digest than breastmilk or formula, however, not all children are affected by it.

Is it possible to put your daughter in another room? Any noise you make throughout the night surely disturbs her - rolling over, snoring, etc. and she can definitely smell your scent and milk.

I recommend Tracy Hogg's book "The Baby Whisperer". Her technique is easy to use and requires minimum crying. Its a much gentler technique than cry it out.

6 months? She's hungry. At this age you need to start feeding her some ( and LORD YES I LOVED THIS STUFF!) Gerbers rice cereal. Mix it with your formula or breast milk. Start with maybe a couple tsps of cereal and mix it with bm/f make it watery till she learns how to work her tongue to get it down..She will be much happier and so will you.