changing night sleep cycles around 6 months?

[vickih]

I've heard that baby's night time sleep cycles change around 6 months? is this true?

DS is just under 6 months and for the last 2 weeks his night sleep has gone out the window. used to go more or less 7-7 with a dreamfeed at 930ish but now sleeps until 2am and wakes maybe 3-4 times until 7am.

I think it's a combination of him having been sick for 2 weeks and his sleep is a bit out of whack, also he's rolling all over the place now and gets himself stuck in very awkward positions so we need to rescue him a few times during the night (anti-roll pillows don't work- still finds a way to wriggle and roll). i suspect he may be teething. we have also just started solids in the last week.

Any ideas of how to get bub back into a good night sleep pattern? how long does this change in sleep cycle thing go for?

[meagss]

Thought I better reassure you that you're not the only one! I'm kinda in the same boat - although with a younger baby. But, just out of curiosity, is your DS about the 8kg mark?

I've read that hitting 8kg changes their sleep cycles (more so than the age-thing). My DS is a big boy and although only 4mo, he has hit 8kg and has started waking at nights. From 11wks until just a week or two ago, he'd been sleeping 10-11 hours at night. I am most upset it's all gone pear shaped! At first I just thought it was a growth spurt, so just went with it and fed him, but it's been going on too long for that and I'm worried now he's just waking out of habit.

I wish I had an answer for you... and me!
For what it's worth, I have heard over and over that around this age sleep disruptions are incredibly common because of all the milestones bub's been reaching. We can only hope that it settles down again and won't be forever.

I can't remember my other DS going through this, so maybe in the big scheme of things it's nothing major!!

[mybub]

Sleep pattern changes for DD seemed to coincide with immunisation and teething. But things did get decidedly tricky around the 6 month mark. :hissy:DD was crawling by then and moved around in the cot a lot. Initially we also used a couple small cushions to prevent this - it lasted about a week! I spoke to Jo Ryan (author of Babybliss) about this time and she explained the importance of baby movement during sleep at this age, and that it shouldn't be prevented. She also explained that babies enter a different, lighter sleep phase (REM) after 12 midnight and this is when they move about most. It's also when they're more likely to wake - as was definitely the case for us! :yes:
To set them up for a non-wakeful REM phase bub needs to have around 5 hours of sleep before midnight, which means being asleep around 7pm (sorry if I'm telling you things you already know, but this info really helped me).
Having said all that, the introduction of solids might also be having an impact. Good luck! :)