6 Month Old Waking up at Night Again

he's teething. try hyland's teething tablets. Getting a tooth in takes forever, and he'll cry long before you will see the tooth. Chances are, he will not be sleeping all night for a while. Most children don't start sleeping through the night until they are around two. Except at first when they are in "4th trimester".

He may be teething even though you don't see any teeth at all. My daughter slept through the night for months and then all of a sudden she was up often at night and very restless. Then one day she was very fussy and the next day a tooth had broken through the skin. I've found that she has followed that same pattern each time she is getting a tooth. Hang in there! Their sleep patterns do change with age, but most likely he is restless for a reason.

V.,
He may just be going through a growth spurt and is hungry again at night. It could also be that he is going through a transition stage...maybe about to sit up. I am sure that it is just a phase and it will pass!

FWIW I don't typically sleep thru the night completely therefore I don't expect my kids to. My 4yo still wakes up about 50% of the time for a drink likes to do rounds where he checks to make sure everyone is in bed and safe then climbs back into either his bed or mine (if hubby is deployed) I do notice that he is more likely to check on us if hubby is gone. My 2yo still waked up about 75% of the time just once moved from his bed to my bed and nursed (its so much more convenient now that he is mobile).

There is still alot of growth going on at 6months old you would both probably get more sleep if when he wakes up you just et him and feed/change/soothe him instead of making him wait an hour where you are both just getting more and more frustrated with the situation.

My 4 month old has been doing the same thing for the past week - after sleeping through (or nearly) for over a month. I'm pretty sure it's because the solids take longer to digest, and therefore he doesn't take as much milk while nursing during the day...and so he needs to make up for it at night. Try nursing more frequently during the day and it'll probably help. Or, it could be a growth spurt, which will end on its own soon enough.

The change that I saw in your email was that you just started him on solids last week, right? Perhaps there is a problem there. What kinds of solids did you start him off? He may be having a problem. If you are giving him carbs like those boxed rice cereal, etc., I would stop that. Those are not necessary at all. Just veggies and fruits. Avacado is a good one. He may be having problems...stomach wise with what you may be giving him.

On the other hand, he may be getting hungrier. I used to have to nurse or give a bottle immediately before bedtime to help with the hunger...it helped more if I fed him right before bedtime.

With teething, I would put some calcium extract on his teeth...when kids have that hard of a time with teething, it's due to lack of calcium.

At what he is having diinner? Maybe you could give him a bottle around 10pm to see if sleeps again all night?

V.,

I would look closely at those solids and see if there's any new person in his life, too, that may be distressing him in a way you don't realize. Some babies get constipated from solids and he may be feeling it most at night.

I would encourage that if neither of these is an issue, to rejoice to have this time with him. It will pass very quickly.

D. S (mom to 5, granny to 1)

My daughter went through something very similar. She started sleeping through the night at around 3 months, but then at 5 months, she was getting up again 2-3 times a night or more. Definitely check to make sure that its not teething, growth spurts, or problems with the solids first. But if its none of that, you may have to reevaluate how he is going down for the night. Between 4-6 months, babies are becoming more aware of their environments and are therefore going to notice subtle changes and react appropriately to them. Everyone wakes up several times in the middle of the night to check their environment, to check to make sure their pillow is still there, change positions, etc. Many of us just don't remember these wakings. A baby is the same way. If he is going to sleep while being rocked or nursed and wakes up a couple of hours later for an environment check and suddenly you are no longer there, he is going to cry.

That was what was happening with my daughter. There was nothing wrong with her, but she was going to sleep with me rocking her and when she woke up, she was in her bed and I was no longer there, so she cried. This went on for months while I hoped she would grow out of it. Finally I decided I had to do something or go insane. I got the book, "Solving Your Child's Sleep Problems," by Richard Ferber and let me tell you, it was a life saver! My daughter is now going to sleep on her own and sleeping through the night (11-12 hours). If everything else seems normal and you've checked with the pediatrician to make sure there are no physical problems causing his night wakings, and he is still waking up, definitely give the methods is this book a try.

Good luck to you and your son!

I had something very similar happen to us. The day I started feeding my son rice cereal (I fed him in the afternoons at about 2pm) he started waking up FREQUENTLY at night when he had been sleeping 12 hours straight through before. I tried feeding him the solids in the morning and we never had the problem again. Just something you might want to think about trying.

Most babies go through growth spurts at 6 weeks, 3 months, 6 months, and 9 months. I know my baby did. I would just feed her and then after about a week or so, they would go back to sleeping normally. I hope that helps.

He's most likely going through a growth spurt. He probably needs a feeding. My dr said babies go through several growth spurts and it seems like the "6's" are popular...6 weeks and 6 months. He may be hungry. But as my mother always tells me when I'm pulling my hair out "this too shall pass". Not real comforting when you're sleep deprived, I know. Good luck!!

sounds like teething. Since you never can tell, I used to give a dose of tylenol or motrin before bed and see if that fixed it. If she slept after that, I knew it was teeth, and sure enough, a little tooth would pop through soon after.

my son started that around 5 months (teething pains) and didnt get teeth until he was 10 months! Hyland teething tablets worked great for him or you could try calming him before bed with some chamomille tea w/spearmint leaves, it may help. (about 2 ounces of weak tea).

My son who is now 14 months went through cycles of sleeping through the night and waking up. I feel your frustration because I thought we were "past it" at around 4 months and then he started waking up again around 7 months. So, we ended up having to "retrain" him to sleep through the night. After several nights of going in and seeing that he was ok (guess he just woke up and wanted mommy and daddy to come visit and hug him, etc) we would let him cry it out (so so so hard) but after 2 night he would usually get it and we would be back in heaven. But then, he started waking up again around 9 months. I was again so frustrated because I thought we had gotten through it!! I still can't really explain why he was waking up except for that babies are not robots, they are little people! So, we let him cry it out and in 2 nights, he was back to sleep through the night. He has been sleeping through the night again for over 2 months now with only 2 little blips during that whole time. So....that is our experience!! It is so very hard to let them cry at night but if she is ok (ie. arm not caught in crib or sick) then that is the best way to retrain them not to cry out for you!

my son is 6.5 months old and just did the same thing to us!!! But it was worse, he was getting up every 45 min to 1.5 hrs all night long!!! I'm still not sure if it was teething, a developmental step (more aware or something) or maybe even separation anxiety...what we did was continue with his normal routine during the day and get him back to sleep at night the usual way (patting him, holding his hands etc), although I have to admit I did rock him one night because he was soooo upset...and a dose of Tylenol at bedtime. Not sure what did it, but it lasted 4 nights and now he's back to sleeping 10-11 hrs staight thru.

Ive read that this happens to some babies around developmental milestones and seperation anxiety, but I'm still wondering if there are some teeth under the gumline causing pain, cause the Tylenol sure seemed to help!

Be careful not to set up a pattern with the eating during the night or rocking; ive heard they can come to expect it and then the night waking will continue.

Hang in there!!! It stinks, I know!!!

By the way, if you're having trouble getting him to fall asleep in his crib, but don't want to let him cry it out, try "the baby whisperer" books. There is a technique called pick up/ put down that worked like a dream for my son. We rarely have to pick him up now to get him to sleep or back to sleep once he has awakened since using this technique. There is some crying, but at least you don't have to leave him by himself crying...I know it works for some babies, but I just couldn't handle it!

Hi V.

I hate to bring more bad news...but my twin 1 1/2 year olds still wake up once or twice a night. At least now it is simply laying them back down and they go right back to sleep on good nights. We still have our nights where they are up and down constantly. I started putting them to bed to music at about a year. I was out of ideas and a slow, soft cd really worked. When they woke up, I simply started it over again and they would fall right back to sleep. Maybe this will help? I hope it gets better!!!

its one of 2 things
1) teething , teethign starts WAY before you see teeth.
or
2) he's having a growth spurt and is hungry.
Both are very likely since he is 6 months old , there is a 6 month growth sprut and babies get teeth their whole first year.

The ladies below have given several good suggestions. Letting him cry is not the answer, he depends on you to fullfill his needs and when he crys he's tryign to tell you something is wrong. it's your job to figure it out.
try the motrin at bed time ( motrin works better for mouth pain than tylenol) and feed him before you go to bed. if that dosent do it feed him again when he wakes up.

He could be teething and the teeth just aren't close enough to his gums to feel yet. Teething tables worked great for my son!! Or he is having a growth spurt and is waking up hungry. It should have passed by now so you could either try to feed him more before bed or give him water when he wakes up (if you think he isn't hungry)so it isn't worth his time to try.