Sleeping Problems

[LeishaP]

Hi there, my daughter Charlie is almost 6 months. From the age of 6 weeks until 4 1/2 months she went to bed at 7.30pm and woke at around 6am. For the last 5 weeks she goes to bed at the same time (around 8pm), but will wake at midnight (she'll go to sleep again with a dummy), and then again at around 3am for a feed, and wakes again at 5.30am. She does have a tooth that has just broken through. Is this the reason she is waking... I'm just worried that she'll become accostomed to waking for a feed at 3am.

We have tried her on solids (pureed pumkin) and her tummy didn't react well to that. She has been on formula since 8 weeks. Does anyone have any suggestions that might help her sleep through the night...:fingerscrossed:

[SilverStarfish]

My DD is 6 months today :) their birthdays must be close!

Could be just a growth spurt? My DD does the same thing every now and then - starts waking up for food in the middle of the night for a few weeks in a row. I offer her veggies every now and then, but she's really only interested in her milk - she's bf'd.

I used to worry about the 3am supper becoming a habit, but it hasn't so far. If she's happy, and you're happy, I'd suggest just rolling with it.

[emsandolivia]

Hi there, my bub is 5 months but we have been having some wakeful nights and early mornings on occasion. I spoke to my midwife about it and she reckoned it could be that she is teething. She hasn't any teeth through yet but don't think they're far away.
Does your bub cry when she wakes? I find Olivia just lies in bed talking to herself with some shouting and screaming, even laughing sometimes. I always try to leave her as long as possible before i go into her and only go in when she is crying. Even then i walk in, cover her over again and put her dummy in and walk away, i don;t even look at her otherwise she thinks its play time!
As for feeding, have you tried giving baby rice to fill her up?? Might stop the night feed. And also if she's not used to a night feed you can give her water instead of milk as it may be that she's thirsty not hungry!
Think they all go through these different stages and just when you thought it was safe to sleep!! ha
Anyway good luck..
Ems xx:fingerscrossed:

[Charlie'sMum]

First of all I love your DD's name. Our DD is also called Charlie!

My Charlie is only 4.5 months old, but she has dropped her 3am feed. She was still waking and when I would give her a feed, she would only drink for about 2 minutes and fall back asleep so the next time she woke up, I just resettled her without a feed and now she doesn't have it (she is bottle fed).

Perhaps next time your Charlie wakes at 3am you could try and resettle her before giving the feed. If she doesn't settle within 10 or 15 minutes, then she must be hungry. It might take a week or so of staying up to resettle her, but hopefully she won't wake anymore because she will know you won't give her a feed and she will just sleep right through.

Hope it all works out well :fingerscrossed:

[LeishaP]

Last night was worse. She drinks 200ml 5 times a day and I give her farex in the morning and night, but she still woke up at 12.30pm last night crying (for about 20mins) and then she drank 200ml. She woke twice more during the morning and woke at 7am. Does anyone think I need to change the formula I'm using (I presently use Karicare Gold up to 6 months)..

We have tried bathing her before bed, keeping her up later, giving her water instead of milk during the night... nothing seems to work.

Any further suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks guys xxx:banghead:

[pickles]

A funny thing happens with our son - if we put him to bed at 7pm he will sleep until 6am but if we put him to bed at 7.30pm/ 8pm he wakes at 5am. he has done this for ages ( he is now 18 months old ) it must have something to do with the sleep cycles. He continued to have a night feed until he weaned at 10 months. this didnt bother me because i knew he would always have a good day sleep.
Also pumpkin can be a bit 'rich' for some babies , try carrot they love the sweetness.
good luck
pickles

[Coco Bean]

Hi LeishaP,

I totally sympathise with you - our dd has just turned 6 months and is doing exactly the same thing. A few weeks ago she started waking around 2am and after trying to not feed and trying all the re-settle techniques, she would continue to cry until we fed her (She hates water).

So we figured it must be time to start solids - first we started with farex in the mornings (because I wanted to get a grip on it before handing over these duties to childcare where she attends twice a week) and that changed everything - she stopped drinking in the day and was looking for her bottles in the evening so we quickly changed to evening feeds before going to bed, this worked once with her sleeping through the night and drinking her 5 bottles during the day. Then she started to drop her bottle feeds to 1/2 here, 1/3 there - and still wants her bottle at 2am every morning. I've even introduced a lunch time feed and it hasn't changed anything re sleeping. She wakes most nights around midnight and resettles with her dummy and then again at 2am for her feed but this is her 6th bottle. My CHN recommends just feeding water as she'll be getting too many calories but she screams the house down until she gets her formula.

I'm at a loss as to what to do :confused:- after reading various threads on bubhub - I'm thinking it must be par for the course at 6 months and that hopefully she will grow out of it eventually.

I'm also keen to hear any suggestions from readers.

[Angelbell]

Hi Ladys sorry to say my DD1 was a good sleeper till 6 months then I was up every night with her, I had DD2 three years later and was getting up to both when DD2 woke DD1 was up crying for attention.
DD1 started sleeping a full night when she started school,I still have DD2 waking at night still and she's 4.
I'm TTC number three I think I may give up on sleep all together,who needs it anyway?:laughing:
Hopefully your bubs are just teething and growing as it is very tiring.If you have to many problems there is sleep doctors you can go see,they can give you some ideas to try when they are still young,if you leave it to late like me you are headed for a long road of no sleep.:sleeping:

[brandnewmum2b]

Hi LeishaP,
My DD was waking early and through the night at that stage, previously - a great sleeper. We introduced baby cereal Farex etc at breaky and at dinner. This seemed to help, her sleeping went back to normal. After awhile we added purreed apple, then introduced mashed potato first and away we went.:fingerscrossed:
Teething for my DD always upsets her pattern, at the moment the little darling is getting her molars , she's only 13months! Nurofen seems to work better for our DD than panadol, but they need to have it after food. She is not sleeping very well at night but when they come through, I dream of 6 hours uninterrupted! ha ha You shold check out your local library or health nurse for some info/books on introducing solids or check out the net, there is heaps of info around. Maybe the purreed pumpkin is abit of a strong taste first up, my health nurse told me babies like bland tastes first. :p