6 1/2 Month Old with Sleeping Issues

Hi,
I feel for you! It gets better! It is really hard to sleep and get good sleep with a baby in bed with you plus it's not the safest thing but I've done it too out of desperation and exhaustion. I have 4 children and with my youngest I wanted him to sleep in our room for a few months so as to not wake my other children up. We bought a "co-sleeper" made by Arms Reach. Even though we only used it for our last child it was a total life saver. It was a small bassinet/crib that attached to the side of our bed. It was almost the height of my mattress but not quite so he could not roll into our bed. But he was close enough that I could lay my hand on him. We also put a sound machine in our room and that helped.
If he is waking up hungry a lot you may just have to let him cry it out. I know it's hard but if the dr says he weighs enough that he doesn't need to eat during the night then he just needs to learn to go back to sleep if he wakes up. I used a series of books called Babywise. I know that some moms and dr don't agree with this series but for me it worked great. Once mine started to sleep through the night and I wasn't nursing at night I moved them into their own crib/room. When you do this try sleeping with a little animal or small blanket for a few nights and then put it in the crib with your child. That way he can have your scent in the bed with him. My kids had "snodels"-a little cotton blanket that was made to look like a doll. I had two and just rotated them from my bed to their cribs. Even if your son is still sleeping in your room at night try to put him in his crib for naptime so he can get used to it. You might have to put up with some crying but eventually he should get used to it. Good luck!

I know your extremely frustrated! My 2 yr old is still in our king size bed! It was the only way she would sleep also. Now she's bigger, takes up more space and she sometimes gets one of us in the eye with her little fist. We had to have her crib in our room cuz we only have a 2 br house shared with my other kids. That probably caused it. But still, she wanted in our bed! We are moving to a 4 br this week so weve been talking to her alot about her own room and bed ect. You cant reason with a 9 month old though! We plan on letting her fall asleep then putting her in her own big girl bed or maybe me laying down with her til she drifts off. I hope it works! Good luck to you girl and I'd try anything at your stage cuz the longer it goes on the more ok it seems to your baby.

I remember those days. My daughter had us wrapped. She slept between her father and I too. I finally broke her by just letting her cry and scream for a while in her own crib. My doctor told me if she is still screaming after 20 minutes check on her and rub her back and comfort her and let her know its ok. We went thru this for several nights until she stopped. I do recommend cereal with the formula in the bottle. Make sure that tummy is full before bedtime. Play classical music or something soothing for him. You may want to get his ears checked as well. My youngest ended up needing tubes in her ears. That is why she did not sleep either.
Good luck...

Sounds like your son might be a bit like mine. First off, some babies just do not sleep through the night until they are a year old. I went through that whole mentality of, "everybody else's baby sleeps through the night a 3 to 4 months, why isn't mine and what am I doing wrong" thing. People will give you lots of advice, but when it comes down to it, it's all about the personality of your son. Remember sleeping through the night is a developmental milestone, like crawling or walking, etc. Does crying it out work with some babies, yes, but I still believe personality has a lot to do with it and at what price to the baby?

Anyway, some babies just need to be near people and need that constant comfort. I too had set up a really nice nursery with nice furniture with the lovely idea that my son would play, sleep, etc. in there. Reality is that we moved the crib out of the nursery and put it beside our bed, and made the "nursery" a play room. This worked to get our son of out our bed (well at least not in it the whole night), but he is close enough that he knows we are right there and if he needs anything we are close. He's just a natural people person and cuddle bug! :-)

Just know he will grow out of this. At 12 months, my son was still waking up 3 to 4 times per night. At 13 months, he was sleeping 10 hours straight (with his crib beside of our bed). It's like it happened over night. We tried the cry it out thing (not for long...i found out very quickly it wasn't for me at all), we tried feeding him more before bed, and the list goes on.

Also, my son truely was still hungry at night until about 11 months. Even after this, we still gave him water at night because he was thirsty...he sweats so bad in his sleep.

I do agree with using a fan or a sound machine. This really did help to keep my son asleep longer. We still use both beside of his crib.

Don't worry about the cost of the nursery or other factors, just find a way that everyone can get some sleep. Try different things and eventually you'll find something or your son will get to the age that he'll sleep for you.

From a mother who knows what its like to be extremely sleep deprived...4 to 5 hours per night for MONTHS, my heart goes out to you. But I promise, it will get better. I look back now and think, wow I'm glad that part is over, and now it seems like such a short period of time. Blesings to you...hang in there!!

My solution is a bit controversial in the States, but my family co sleeps. I've found this so comforting from day one. Your little one is right there with you, safe and sound. I'm breast feeding as well and my daughter just wakes me up when she's hungry, I roll over, she latches on and everyone in the house gets sleep and we all wake up rested and happy. Do your own research, there are pros and cons, and it's not for everyone, but it has made mommy hood so much more pleasant for me. Good Luck!!!
Ash