6 Month Old Stopped Sleeping at Night.

Hi there, I just posted an extremely similar post. My son is 5 months old and is suddenly waking at about midnight every once in a while. He hasn't woken up at that time since he was like 1 month old. Those nights when he wakes, he wants to eat. I've tried putting him back to sleep without feeding him and he gets even more upset. I don't have any real advice for you except hang in there. I've been there and so have many other people. All my kids have been diagnosed with reflux. You could try propping her mattress up a little to see if that helps. Good luck and I'll be reading the responses, maybe someone will try something I haven't!

I had that same problem with my daughter at 5 1/2 months. She is 7 months old now and still not sleeping through every night, but it is getting a little better. I asked the same question on this board, and got no real help. I tried everything they said, but it didn't work. A lot of people said to co-sleep so that I could get my rest, but I found myself unable to sleep with her next to me. One thing I did find was in a book called the Nursing Mother's Companion (if you are nursing). They said that babies this age are more aware, and wake up during the lulls in sleep cycles and want to cuddle and nurse. They say the only ways to really cure this is to stop breastfeeding or let them cry it out. I didn't believe in either. At her 6 month check up we asked the doctor what to do, and he said to try and let her fall asleep on her own during naptimes, and eventually this would transfer over to nighttime. However, all she did when we put her down was play for a really long time, wake up even more, then cry increasingly until we came and got her. I am not for the "cry it out" method, so I still get up. Bianca also has acid reflux, but I don't think this is why she is waking up. She slept just fine before she was diagnosed at 2 months, and continued to sleep well until 5 1/2 mos. Our own measures have made it so that she only wakes up once a night. I try to feed her as much as possible before bed. You have probably started feeding solids (however, I noticed this start as soon as I started feeding her solids but that just makes this all too complicated) so feed her dinner (try to feed her rice cereal and peas or green beans instead of more sugar filled fruits and vegetables before bed). Then if you are nursing try to nurse her as much as she wants, then feed her a small formula bottle. We give Bianca 3 oz a night, I still have plenty of milk, and she is still almost exclusively breastfed (plus you can stop giving her those gross vitamins). Sorry I couldn't be more helpful, but it is probably just a habit she needs to grow out of. She also could be teething...

I don't have any advice except to tell you that you're not alone. My daughter will be seven months on the 9th and she stopped sleeping well about two months ago. Inexplicably. I'm holding out hope that it is a growth spurth. I've also been told that because babies are so much more alert and aware of their surroundings at this age that they don't want to sleep. All I can say is hang in there. I'm trying to.

Kids are like that - as soon as you get a system they change, but don't worry about it, just roll with it. She could be experiencing a growth spurt, becoming more "in tune" with her bodily functions (thus awakening to hunger, discomfort, etc. more often) or maybe she is getting more to eat at bedtime some nights than others and her little tummy just needs a refill. Besides consistency, the greatest asset in parenting is flexibility. Worry has no place - it just drains your energy anc causes you to second-guess yourself. Instead, feed her, comfort her and put her back to sleep. It will pass with time.

SAHM of seven, all sleep well, but sometimes even now, they get hungry or need love in the middle of the night - not often, but when you need it, you need it!

My daughter stopped sleeping through the night at about 4 1/2 months for no apparent reason until about 2 weeks later a tooth popped through. It was so early for teeth it never occured to us. Could that be what's going on with your daughter also? About 6 months is about average for teeth to start coming in I think? Best of luck - it took us until my daughter was 11 months old to get her to sleep through the night again.

From what I understand, if you increase her food intake during the day by the amount she is eating at night and she stops waking, it's a growth spurt. She could also be using the bottle to soothe her gums. Since it's summer, she may just be a little thirsty. If you give her a bottle of water and she takes it, that may be it. If she gets mad, it's not the water she's after. This may not work if you haven't been giving her water. Much of the time, this works for my son. If he's actually hungry, he pushes the bottle away and cries. When my son's first two teeth came in a 7 months, we had no idea what was going on. We just knew he was having a hard time sleeping. We do some co-sleeping so he we brought him to bed with us for those days and he was still very restless. He didn't really show any signs of teething during the day-some fussiness while eating, but that was it and of course, I didn't associate it with teething at that point. Sure enough, he grabbed my finger a day or two later and "Ow!!" there it was! He had his second a week later. Now he's been teething for weeks, and has gotten tooth after tooth! From what I'm reading, you seem to be pretty well in tune with her. All the things you mentioned are relatively temporary and she'll go back to sleeping through the night. Good Luck!

Most babies growth spurt at 6 months. This could be why she is waking to eat. Not sure why it's some nights and not others. She maybe having a harder time falling asleep because of the tear duct. Is she teething? Does she seem unhappy (or in pain) when she wakes up, or is she just hungry and awake?

my babies quit sleeping through the night when they started getting teeth and then started again after they got them. A dose of liquid teething meds helped when this was the case.

Is she on meds for her reflux? She might need her meds upped. Our son has reflux and when it is bothering him he soothes his tummy by eating very often. I know the meds are done by weight so if she has had a growth spurt she might need a bit more. I just know that reflulx can really mess up their sleep. It is just a thought. Hope that helps.

Whenever my daughter stopped sleeping at night, her teeth were bothering her....

Hello M.,
I was wondering the same thing about my 8mo old son. He started sleeping through the night at 3 wks and the last week or so he is up every 2-3 hours. Sometimes will eat and sometimes just wants to snuggle... I was thinking that maybe it had something to do with teething? My oldest son (he is 4 now) use to have bad nights around the time he had teeth coming in. Just a thought... Hope it gets better for both of us!!!

A. ____@____.com

Kids will go through spurts where they will sleep through the night and not and it will go on for many years to come for whatever reason wakes them. Lots of things can wake them from a bad dream to teething to talking anything that is changing in their lives. However your daughter may not be hungery I wouldnt personaly get into the habbit of feeding her when she wakes up all those times or that will turn into a really big habbit that will be harder to brake later. My son was still waking twice at night by 9 months and I was tired of getting up so much he went from waking only once at 5 weeks back to waking twice by 9 months so we decided to let him cry it out and it worked great for him it took 5 nights, as lots of other mothers say it worked for them as well. By age 6 months they can go without eating during the night. Its your call your the mom of course but if you do start feedings at night she will get use to that and it will turn into a habbit, they are creatures of habbit. If your ok with letting her cry she will be ok or try going in her room and get her back to sleep either soft music and a binky if she uses one and rub her tummy or face with your hand or blanket, that is what I do now when my son wakes I play his music and he gets his binky sometimes hes now almost 21 months and it works sometimes he crys in his sleep and other times he will stop on his own.
But with reflux there is a medicine she could be on for that and it may help. But if she has been doing good up until now its problaby not reflux. It could just be teeth and with teeth they dont hurt all the time, everyday so that could be why she wakes one night and not the other.
Hope this helps, good luck. L.

teething. most likely, and most probably.

some kids wont accept any substitutes for mom and dads love and affection. my son, husband and i shared a family bed until aroudn 16 months. it seems like a long time when you are at the younger end of it... but its worth it. my son is a confident sleeper and doesnt really have many problems, unless he is teething! :D

give some tylenol, or teething gel, or whatever your methods are for teething... but i really think this is the problem.

this is the most common question on here. look at some of the other similar questions.!

www.askdrsears.com is a great resource.