6 month old baby with not much routine

Dinowood5 · Apr 4, 2019 6:47AM

hi everyone
i need help, quite desperately!
not sure where to begin but my little one just won’t sleep for more than 3 hours on a good night. On a bad night which is most nights he’s up every hour and 15 mins.
He’s exclusively breastfed and won’t even take a bottle or a dummy.
He was a great sleeper at 3 months, then he got his first teeth at 4 months and we haven’t been the same since.

I realise its worse when he is teething but this is getting to be a joke now.
he is still in our room as we go on holiday soon and didn’t want to move him until after that.

Even settling him down to sleep is a battle these days. We walk up and Down the room with him in our arms and then we put him down. Used to be fine but now he screams until picked up again. Last night it took us 2 hours to get him down. Then I was up again an hour later. I try not to feed him every time he wakes up but it’s so hard to get the energy to pace the room at that point.
most nights he ends up in our bed with boob on tap.

His bedtime is still late too, his last nap is around 7-7:30 which I know is late but I’ve tried turning this into bedtime but we just end up the whole evening trying to get him to sleep and then he’s up every hour!

Im at my wits end. We really don’t want to do any controlled crying either.

I wish i could enjoy him more in the day, he has so much energy but I am exhausted and worried I’m not being the best I can be on so little sleep.
I have sleep envy of all the mammas that seem to have their shit together and have a solid routine. I’m just not good with routine 😪

we do kee things dimmed afterglow nap and have bathtime etc so there is some sort of routine there I guess!

Mich03 · Apr 4, 2019 7:11AM

Dinowood5 my youngest was an awful sleeper when she was little and she was about 6m when I found the 2,3,4 routine, she was a little young for it at the time but i was at a loss so tried it and we never looked back. Hope it helps a little x

Nikkinarno · Apr 4, 2019 9:48AM

I find routine the key, I have 10 children and expecting baby number 11, I have always followed the routine of bath, feed, swaddle every night at the same time, if they were unsettled I found placing my hand on there head or a light pat on the tummy usually settled them. I swaddled mine up until they can sit up unaided, may be try a grow baby to make them feel secure. It could also be teething, I find calpol doesn’t work for some of my children but ibropofen works wonders for them. It will be trial and error but keep a good bedtime routine

Dinowood5 · Apr 4, 2019 10:02AM

Hi Mich, thank you!
I thought I could try this today... however, his naps are rarely longer than 40 mins (when we at home, when we out and about he can nap for over an hour 🙄)
so he’s napping now, according to the 2,3,4, that would mean his bedtime would be about 6pm.
hes used to going to bed at 9-10 with us so I know he won’t go down at 6, we’ve tried twice before and it was a nightmare and he ended up sleeping at 9ish like usual lol

i do realise his last nap at 7 is incredibly late. I just feel it takes us so long to get him settled that if we start at 7 then we won’t eat dinner till so late! On top of that my husband doesn’t come home till 7/8 so he wants to see baby and I don’t want to do it all by myself...

I get him to nap every 2-3 hours in the day currently and he will only nap if I put him in the stroller and sing to him whilst pushing him down the corridor 😂
just sounds like I’ve made this all harder for myself! But I do believe in babies needing comfort so I guess I just didn’t want to be strict with that

thank you nikkiarno, can’t believe you’re on your 11th!?! Are your superwoman!?!
I have tried standing there and putting my hand on him but my god he screams like he has a dagger in his back. We also tried the ‘pick up, put down’ method last night. Husband wasn’t impressed and gave up after 20 mins of non stop picking up 🙈

can i I still do a good bedtime routine but it be at around 8-9pm? I just find 7pm so early, especially now that it’s light!

Nikkinarno · Apr 4, 2019 10:14AM

I always did it around 8 or 9 anyway when the other children were in bed, try giving him some pain relief just before his bath as if it is his teeth it would of kicked in by the time he is ready to sleep, also before I went to sleep I would also do a top up feed even if I’d only fed an hour before.

Dinowood5 · Apr 4, 2019 10:22AM

Oh good thank you nikki! And I’ve also found ibuprofen better than calpol, his teeth have come out and he seems to be not in pain like before so not sure it’s still that but will keep in mind for when the next comes out!

Mich03 · Apr 4, 2019 10:53AM

Dinowood5 sounds exactly like our daughter, u dont need to be aiming for 7pm bed time u could knock it all back slightly later but I found she slept better (longer) once we got into the routine, I cant personally do the cry it out routine and did the withdrawal routine as I could cope with this better myself. Dont be to hard on urself I have from experience learnt that few babies have read the handbook 😂 and it's easier and less frustrating to find something that works for them and follow their lead. Good luck and remember it doesn't last forever my nightmare sleeper is 3 now and has been fantastic from about 7m when I finally learnt to understand her needs better x

Dinowood5 · Apr 4, 2019 1:18PM

Thank you Mich, can be so disheartening sometimes I wonder what I am doing wrong!
Such a happy boy during the day so must be doing something right but still doubt myself!
I’ll look up the withdrawal method too.

Roberts77 · Apr 4, 2019 3:16PM

My daughter dosnt go bed until 9.30 dont see a problem with late bed time. She wakes at 8 am which I idea for me and my other children. My daughter has 3 naps a day each lasting around 30 mins every 3 hours. Have you started solids as you could feed him up before bed time. I also have a close to me cot it attaches to bed so baby feels close to you might help your little one sleep better x

6 month old baby with not much routine

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