Any suggestions on getting a 6 1/2 month old to sleep through the night? ?

Question

She used to sleep 8 hours through starting at about 3 months old then suddenly one day about a month ago she started waking up frequently, some nights every half hour to an hour but typically she'll wake up 4-6 times a night. My husband just started a new job where he's working 58 hours a week and needs sleep so letting her 'cry it out' is not an option right now but on the other hand I'm terrified she'll never learn to get herself back to sleep. Any advice would be appreciated. Don't know if it's teething, gas, nightmares? She seems disorientated and cries hard. Thanks.

Answer 1

I am caring for my now 1 yr old grandson . At around 6 months he started waking up often and crying out. Not really sure why either. What I do if he wakes up is just go into his room and try to first get him to lay back down . Give him his blankie, ect. Talk in soothing tones. He also has a night light so if he does get up he can see where he is and may not be quite as afraid. He usually goes right back to sleep. He also has a soft toy in bed that plays lullabies for 10 minutes.  That seems to help also. I think that babies that age are just really getting used to new sounds and even the temperature of the room can cause them  to wake up.  Too hot or too cold. I have started giving him  a small bowl of cereal before bed. He seems to sleep better on a full stomach.  I am a firm believer of NOT letting them cry it out. Obviously a child that is waking up through out the night is scared and needs comfort. I am sure you will find what will work best for your little one.Good luck. Also where can I find a guy that will work 58 hours a week? :)

Answer 2

first off, no one EVER had trouble getting a teenager to sleep, so don't worry she'll "never" learn to get herself back to sleep.

she's totally normal - at her age, 80% of babies are waking up at night.  

get used to it:  just when you think you've got a good routine going, she gets bored and throws it out the window.

the suggestion about overexhaustion is a good one - my 17mo old still has a nap at around 10am - 12noon (somewhere in there) and between 2 and 4pm.  up to about 9mo of age, i put her down for a nap after 90min wake time and it worked pretty well.

she stills gets up 3, 4, 5 times a night, though, but since we co-sleep and i breastfeed, it's nothing.

Answer 3

i had the same problem with my daughter. she would sleep 12 hours a night from 8 weeks then we went on holiday and 6 months later she still wouldnt sleep through the night. how does she sleep through the day?. i found the reason my daughter was waking up was she was over tired, and i didnt realise that she was. i put her on a routine for her age from "save our sleep" by tizzy hall. after one day of following it she slept through the night. i also was very strick on her day time naps so that when it came to night time she had learnt to self settle again during the day. i never followed any routine and it worked until a few months ago but since putting my daughter on a routine she has become and even easier baby. if you do need to let her cry to sleep why not try it when your husband has the next day off, or as mine does use ear plugs, each night the crying will get alot less. i hope this helps. good luck  :)

Answer 4

She may be going through a growth spurt.

Do you keep track of how often she is fed in the daytime?  I fed formula so I was able to keep track of how many ounces my twins were eating.

My plan was to maximize their daytime food so that they wouldn't wake up hungry and it worked out fairly well.

The only problem I had was that one of my twins woke up several times a night for comfort.  She did this until she was almost a year old.  Her twin sister never did that, though.  She sleeps awesome and has for a long time.  I was feeding my twins every 3 hours at that age, sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less, but always at least 5 bottles before bedtime.

Also, at that age my twins napped like your daughter naps.  My pediatrician said that was healthy and normal.  I was never able to get them on a solid napping routine because growth spurts also affect naps.

My twins didn't start napping on a schedule/routine until they stopped the rapid growth!  They've been in the same size, 18 months, since they were like 10 months old and voila, that was around the time they would take predictable naps at roughly the same time every day.

Answer 5

feed her something to eat and put on some music untill she goes back to sleep

Answer 6

First you need to eliminate problems, does she get enough to eat while awake, is she having constipation/gas problems? Is she teething now? Is she sleeping during the day so she's not overly tired at bedtime? If these are not problems, then I recommend what I had to do with my son, was you just calm her down at first by picking up, holding, rocking whatever to get her back to sleep, as time goes by, start not picking her up just patting her using the same words or soothing sounds until she is ok. After a while, don't touch only use soothing sounds until she quiets, eventually my son stopped waking up and slept through the night. It took ALOT of patience, but I could never just let him cry those gut-wrenching cries for hours like friends of mine, just couldn't do it. I was worth the patience. Now he is two and has been sleeping through the night for long time and is great.

Answer 7

She may have just gotten off schedule or she may be waking up looking for you if she sleeps alone. I'd give her a bath at night, give her a warm bottle and give her a baby blanket, or rag you've rubbed on your skin or under your shirt... She'll have your scent with her to keep her from waking.