6 Month Old Sleep Issues

My son is 15 months old, and he still nurses quite a bit through the night -- doctors often say that they don't need it after about 6 months, but my older 2 night-nursed until about 18 months (weaned at approx. 3 years) and I suspect he will as well. I have always nursed him to sleep, though he falls alseep perfectly easily with someone else and just rocking and a bottle (originally pumped, now that he's over a year, just cow milk). We cosleep and I nurse him down again when he wakes up and we snuggle all night. (not for everyone I know -- there is no one right way -- this is just what works for us.) I have not had a problem transitioning the older two out of our bed and to falling asleep on their own when the time is right (between 2 and 3 years) and don't expect to have a problem with the little one at all, particularly since he has a very easy-going, mellow, flexible personality. He really liked being swaddled, and we didn't stop swaddling him to sleep until he was over a year old this spring and he was just too warm wrapped in the fleece blanket. We did need to keep getting progressively large blankets for swaddling though. :-)

Well, this is just what I did and it does NOT mean it is going to work for you, but...
I fed the kids (they were 2 years apart but I did the exact same thing with both of them) at 11pm every night. They got cereal and a bottle. They got a good burping and a diaper change. A full tummy meant they couldn't keep their eyes open... They would sleep through the night.
I put them in their cribs on their tummies and patted their butts for a few seconds. Then I turned off the light and went out. I did not rock anyone to sleep ever. They always got put into bed awake. If they fell asleep between diaper change and crib, I woke them up before I put them down.
My son liked a binky and my daughter had her thumb. By the time they were 1, I put them in with a sippy cup of water in the corner of the crib. If they woke up, they could get a drink and get themselves back to sleep.
My kids came home from the hospital and went right into their own beds. People think I'm mean, but I never had any sleep issues with my kids.
So - good luck!
YMMV
LBC

I got my 6 month to sleep through the night with some 'sleep training' - I started it a couple months ago and it has really kicked in now where she is doing great. when she woke up for a bottle I gave her a bink/paci and did not pick her up. If she woke up again I repeated this over and over. The key to this method is not picking them up...you can touch her and shhhh her but don't pick her up. It only took a few nights to get this down to one wake up. She has now gotten to the point where she is sleeping almost 12 hours withoutout a wake up. It was frustrating but it finally worked. If you are open to a bink/paci you could try this to see if it works...she really doesn't 'need' the night feeding so it may be just getting her out of the habit.

If she is 'breaking out' of her swaddle I'd say it is time to not use it. If she isn't you could try one thing at a time (first stop the feeding then the swaddle). I agree with an earlier post to try to do one thing at time.

Co-sleeping works for us. I got tired very quickly of not sleeping, so it was an easy solution.

As far as the pooping at night, six months old is still very young in my book and infant's digestive systems are still far from being mature enough to be "regular". I say, don't worry about it, this too shall pass.

What's important now is that everyone in the house is getting a good night sleep. I say take your daughter to bed with you and get some shut eye.

Check out the book "The Vital Touch" by Sharon Heller...it's a wonderful book for moms and parents.

Good luck.

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I would put her back in the swaddle - arms out. I kept my DD in one til she was 10 mos old. she is used to sleeping with it, so go back to it.
Also, lighten up on the amount of rice cereal. Don't give it to her before bed. Go back to the way things were when she was sleeping better, then make ONE change at a time.
I stopped feeding my LO in the middle of the night when - one, she was not that interested, and two, she stopped falling back asleep after the feed. I then knew she was not hungry, but instead needed to learn how to fall back asleep on her own.
I stayed with her comforting her until she fell back asleep. But no rocking etc. She did cry, but not alone, and it only took 3 nights.

Good luck!

We have been putting my daughter down awake since she was 3 or 4 months old. We would put her down then let her cry for 5 min. After 5 min. one of us would go in and rock her until she was calm. The books say not to pick them up, but she was beside herself so I broke the rules. Then we would put her back down and let her cry for 10 min. and go in and soothe her again. After that she would fall asleep. It took a few nights of this and then she started just rolling over and going to sleep. Now she just hums until she falls asleep on her own. We also did this if she woke up in the middle of the night. She shouldn't need to eat in the middle of the night if she is 15 lbs. At this point it has just become habit. My sister's pediatrician stated it bluntly: If you woke up in the middle of the night and someone gave you a milkshake you would continue to get up for that shake each night. Good luck!

since she was sleeping well swaddled, I'd go back to swaddling her. Being tightly wrapped gives a more secure feeling for her.

Also, don't change more than one thing at a time.

I can think of nothing wrong with pooping in the middle of the night. Are you saying she wakes up when she poops? Since she just started with the cereal, her body will adjust and she may poop in the daytime too or even only. If she has cereal in the morning she should need to poop earlier in the day but if you're feeding it to her before going to bed you could stop doing that and that could stop her from pooping at night. However, in my experience with babies, night time pooping was common and did not wake them up. I think the lack of a swaddle is what is causing the change.

I'm not clear either about when you feed her the cereal. I would not feed her anything but formula at night. At 6 ;months she may still need the night time feeding. What time do you feed her in relation to when she goes to sleep? She probably can't go longer than a few hours without nourishment.