My Six Month Old Stopped Sleeping Through the Night.

I feel for you. My son was exactly the same way -- slept through the night like an angel by the time he was 2 months old, but then at about 7 months started waking up again every night, multiple times. It was so frustrating!! My son is now 11 1/2 months old and things have gotten better -- he now only wakes up once per night. I live for the day when he'll sleep the whole night through again.

I know it's frustrating, and I'm sorry I don't have any good advice to give you. Just know that it will get better with time.

Good Luck!

Hi H.,
this sounds like a habit that she has created and that you are enabling her. At her age, you already know that she can sleep for long periods of time, so you feeding her that often is not the answer. I have a great on-line book I can send you. It's called Sleep Sense Program. Shoot me an email at ____@____.com and I'll forward it to you. (and anyone else who might need it)
I went through horrible sleep issues with my daughter and after reading this book, I realized that I was enabling her habits and sometimes even creating them for her. Once I realized this, I corrected them, and now she sleeps though the night. Believe me, it wasn't easy, and took a few weeks to work. This book gave me the tools to fix my famlies problems.
Hope to hear from you soon!
M.

It's a growth spurt and there are many of them in infancy :)
I breasfed, too, and we shared a family bed while doing it. Made it much easier on both of us at night time. There is no magical advice that I can give you except to say that every baby is different, there is no magic formula for infancy sleep/nursing schedules. Frankly, I would be very, very leery of any "sleep" books/strategies/manipulations for an infant. Hang in there, it most definitely will get better. The only thing that's a for sure in child rearing is change!

No help here, just understanding. As she grows she will only continue to get more hungry. I nursed until 12 months. As for the sleep pattern, my daughter never returned to her sleeping through the night, she wakes up almost every night and crawls in our bed. The only thing that has gotten better is she rarely wakes us up.

H.,

My oldest daughter did the same thing, she was a great sleeper right up until she turned 4 months. She's growing, needs more nutrition but since she won't take solids (which is just fine) she'll eat more, that's what Mia did. She was almost exclusively breastfed for the first year of her life. Now she sleeps great!

Hang in there, it gets better!

Your baby is going through a Growth-spurt... and will probably be having lots of developmental changes or hitting major milestones. THIS is what happens, when a baby is going through these changes and things. And yes, they need to feed. My kids as babies, also "cluster-fed" at these times, which meant they fed even every single hour.

A babies appetite/need for intake, will be guided by their growth and development...and the DO need more intake & nutrition & calories as they are growing. If not, they will wake more, be COSTANTLY hungry, and not grow/develop well.

You cannot 'make' a baby eat solids or start. They will start when they are ready to. It has nothing to do with being 6 months old and then automatically having to eat solids. For the first year or so, a baby is actually still getting used to "eating" anything. So, it is just an introduction to so called "solids" anyway.

Also, you want to make sure your milk output (since you are breastfeeding) is adequate... meaning, are you producing enough supply per demand? If not, a baby will always be hungry. Keep in mind though, that during "growth-spurts" though, these frequent feedings are meant to INCREASE the milk production in a woman's body... so that SHE can keep up with her baby's needs. Its natural.

6 months old, is a major time of BIG changes for a baby. This alone, jars their sleep... but its a normal biological and cognitive change... which can't be helped in a baby. Just ride through it. It will pass, until another growth-spurt occurs and hitting milestones occurs.

Both my kids, at that age as well, had GINORMOUS appetites, and they cluster-fed. I was breastfeeding them every single hour... on demand. Then, they grew like weeds. It had nothing to do with solids. In fact, our Pediatrician says that for the 1st year of life... baby's PRIMARY source of Nutrition is from breastmilk/Formula... NOT solids and NOT other kinds of fluids.
And, sleep patterns will ALWAYS change in a baby.

All the best,
Susan

wells your baby is just growing and need some sleep stop giving the baby too many naps just one nap and to be about noon and then wake him or her in a hour or two not more than 3 hours then is not gonna work so then play with baby make sure dont have her sleep anymore and put her to sleep around 11 or 12 to start with the older she gets start gradually changing her hours until she keeps sleeping at 930 by the age 2 she should sleep at 930 and it does work and is hard and wake up early too so she could have her nap at noon if you miss a day you need to start all over again so yeah it should work and if not read a story or sing to them too and going to sleep late is going to ruin her cycle good luck

It seems to be an unwritten rule that babies, no matter what their sleep situation, take a serious step back at 5 or 6 months. My did. This is when we started sleep training. At this age, they are more aware and know that they are starting to see a response in others based on their actions. I cry, I get fed. Then this turns into, I now am used to getting fed whenever I wake up, so if I don't get it when I wake up. I'm upset. This isn't a baby being spoiled, it's a baby having expectations and wants. The kicker is you have to start to remove the want because it is really, no longer a need, although your baby hasn't figured that out yet. I used Ferber. People say he's a bit rough but it works the absolute fastest which I would think is easier on baby (two nights with not more than 30 min of crying at a time). I say do it as soon as possible because it just gets harder and harder the longer you wait because baby will continue to get used to it. There will be sleep set backs in a few months when your daughter starts to make developmental leaps forward. We've just finished two rounds of sleep training and she now sleeps extremely well. She will put herself back to sleep throughout the night if she wakes up. BUT she doesn't sleep the twelve hours she used to and, according to our pediatrician, ten hours is about right at this age.
Best of luck, Be strong, consistent, loving and it will be over in no time.

By any has your child just gotten their shots? For some reason their shots can mess up their sleeping patterns. It happened to mine and many other parents said the same thing to. Good luck!

Growth spurt. Our kids do not get enough calcium, so I give mine and most of my friends and family give their kids liquid calcium, just 1/2 - 1 teaspoon (at this age) of liquid calcium at night. Calcium will help them sleep. If you are breastfeeding, make sure you up your calcium since she is trying to take all she needs and if she can't get enough, you don't have enough to give.

We give bluebonnett or lifetime....and blueberry flavor is the only one that goes over well.

http://www.bluebonnetonline.com//liquid-calcium-magnesium...

It's cause of a growth spurt. My daughter just went through that a couple months ago. It's a pain, but soon she'll go back to sleeping through the night again so you can too.

I read the posts before responding. Not one person mentioned checking your milk supply to see if you still have enough. If you have a pump you can try pumping right before a feeding to see how much you are producing. When my son started that it was becuase I was having supply issues. It might be worth looking at. Good luck. I know how hard that is.

Buy a copy of 'Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child' it changed my life and the life of many of my friends. It's a fabulous book that can help you answer many of your questions.

I haven't read the other posts but my daughter who is 7 months did the exact same thing-- my doctor just said that it's just a habit, like an adult getting up in the night to have cereal. they start it in the 4-5 month during a growth spurt when they genuinely need more but then it became a habit. he said to either pull her off the breast earlier & earlier when she wakes at night..or start giving her a bottle with milk mixed with water instead of breastfeeding (i know, hard to do), and then add more water gradually and less milk with the goal of leaving a bottle with her in bed when she goes to sleep eventually. she will learn to get more milk during the day and drink water when she wakes up at night (supposedly).

Sounds like a growth Spurt! YAY!!! I suggest you let her nurse as often as she likes because she is a smart cookie and she is nursing often to help up your supply to give her what she needs!

Congratulations!!!!

This is all normal. She's not ready for solids if she's not taking them. Remember that for the first year of life your breastmilk is all that she needs for nutrition. She is growing and that means round the clock feedings sometimes. If she is feeding more than every 2-3 hours at night it is probably not hunger that is driving her wakings... but if it's 2-3 hours then it could be hunger. Don't compare her to your older child as every kid is different. Sleep when she does sleep if you can. I'm just now on the other side of all of this and my son will be 2 next month... FINALLY sleeping through the night, but not even consistently.