A New Sleeping Schedule

My guess is that he's growing and needs some more nutrition... Try giving him some cereal when you feed him his last bottle and see if that holds him over.

Well my guess is he's HUNGRY. Feed him as soon as he wakes up. Feed him whenever he wakes the rest of the night.

Hi Jennifer,
It seemed like whenever my sons would learn something new it affected their sleep. When they first crawled, pulled themself up to standing position in their crib, walked, ect. It used to make me laugh because when my youngest first started walking with furniture he would do the outline of his crib over and over. It was quite funny to watch. The first time I noticed it it was about 2 in the morning. He was just walking around his crib. I never got them out. They would play awile and then fall back to sleep on their own. Although your son is a bit younger so as one of the other moms said it might be a growth spurt and needs the extra formula. Good luck.
Chris

Hi Jennifer,

I would say your son is hungry. I too have a 6-mo old boy and he eats at least 1 time, if not 2 times each night. He is exclusively breast-fed, but it seems that he has recently had a growth spurt and wants more, more, more. Hang in there and know that he will "grow" out of this phase too.

My son did very similar things when he reached a growth milestone. It is as though they are just so overwhelmed that it causes disruption in eating and sleeping as well. Give him some time and see if it passes. I always recommend using a sound machine with white noise in the nursery as well. It could be just enough to help him doze back asleep. Good Luck!

Growth spurt. Very common at this age. I would continue to offer him something to eat. If he is hungry you don't want to deny him food, they need the fuel to grow!

You can try offering food at shorter intervals in the afternoon and evening before bed time to 'tank him up'... but that doesn't always help. If they are growing alot then they are burning the calories really fast. It typically lasts a couple of weeks and then they go back to their normal schedule. It happens every few months. My daughter went through a growth spurt this past summer, she grew 1.5 inches in 2 months! She ate 'round the clock non-stop. I was exauhsted. Then, when she came out of it, she just all of a sudden stopped and her eating dramatically decreased and she started sleeping better again.

Particularly during the first year, and many moms have told me in the second year as well, this just happens. They go through periods where they sleep really really well, and then periods where they wake up all the time. Sometimes it is needing food, sometimes it is just them feeling anxious and needing to check in with mom and dad as they discover the world around them and start to learn that mom and dad still exist even if I can't see them, sometimes it is learning a new skill ... rolling over, pulling up, crawling, walking, running, signing (if you teach sign language), whatever... it can all disrupt their sleep. You just have to roll with it. Make sure their needs are met and love on them.

He is on a grow and hungry! Feed him, rock him and love him up! This too shall pass.

He could possibly be going thru a growth spurt and just needs more to eat and that is why he is waking up. Maybe try to feed him at about 11pm (dream feed) and see if that helps.
My daughter was the same as your son regarding sleeping, as soon as you get into a routine they change. If you need anymore info let me know - I will be happy to explain the dream feed.

K.

Ahh, the 6 month growth spurt. I have a 6 month old as well and we're going through similar things with regards to naps. If he has a routine keep going with it. If he doesn't have a bedtime routine (bath, lotion, cuddles, bottle, sleep) maybe you could implement one. Just keep on keepin' on, mama - this too shall pass! (At least that's what I tell myself!)

I had the same problem! Same story! She is now 14 months and every night is different. I figure this can't last forever, right!? I can't wait to read what people say. Good luck!

My daughter also hit a rough patch at around 6 months of age. Don't worry, they do outgrow it, but you want to be careful not to start bad habits. I definately wouldn't get the child out of their crib. Maybe just go in there and sit so that he feels reassured. However, to really get them to stop - I would recommend letting him cry it out. Start small - let him cry for 5 minute spurts, then slowly spread out the amount of time you will let him cry. It will make for a couple of really rough nights for you, but it worked for us.

Sounds to me like he's hitting a growth spurt and needs another bottle in the middle of the night until it's over with. Is there some reason why you refuse to feed him until he's screaming? A bottle is not enough for 12 hours of sleep during a growth spurt!

At 6 months your little boy is doing a lot more and also could easily be having a growth spurt. This requires more sleep naturally. Put him to bed earlier until he is sleeping soundly through the night again and make sure he is getting his naps before he's overtired. Happy Zzzz's!

My son is currently going through all of this too. The only thing I didn't see listed in the other posts was the use of night lights. As little as they are, a baby can be having a night terror (term our ped used), and something like a night light may help that. Also, I wouldn't necessarily feed. We did that during one of our sons first screaming wake-up, and found it worse as it totally messed up his entire day feeding schedule. Good luck! It does go away in tme.

it sound like he is going thur a gorth spurt you might try giving him cereal befor his bed time bottle then in stead of swaddled him buy a sleep sack what time is he going down at night or should i say what time is his last bottle he also could be starting to be getting to teeting it would not hurt to rub a little gel on his gun befor bed let me know on what time you put him donw and last bottle and if you tryed cereal yet

Teething could definitely be an issue as well as solids. Is he eating any? If so maybe it isn't sitting well. If not, maybe try some rice cereal before bed to keep him feeling full longer.

Our daughter "teethed" from 4-6 months, it was kind of off and on and suddenly the tooth poked through on a very uneventful day.
Is there any change in the amount of time you spend with your son during the day? He might be needing a bit more quality time, or physical touch. Our daughter started acting out with hitting us and it took making a conscious effort to spend quality time and touching that made a huge difference. And now she even lets us rock her to sleep, that used to make her really angry because she knew it was time to sleep and felt left out.

Babies often change their sleeping habits. So it could be that he needs less of a nap in the morning or something like that as well. Every child is different so no magic cures...

Hope you can get it figured out. :) Best wishes!

Have you asked your pediatrician? My 7 month went through the same exact thing. This may sound harsh to some but it worked wonders for me. My pediatrician told me that my little girl started waking up by accident at first but then every time I ran up there and fed her or rocked her it became habitual-she kept waking up because her body was becoming accustomed to waking up in the middle of the night. . She told me I would have to break it -Please NOTE-this is AFTER we made she we were feeding her adequate amounts of food and she wasn't too cold/hot, sick... We also made sure she was not sleeping too much during the day. Then...My doctor told me to wait it out. If she cried, check on her to make sure she is fine and then leave the room. She said that she will cry harder when I leave but it is important. She said I could keep checking on her but not too often. Well, the first night she woke up again I ran in and made sure she was fine. I left the room and within 5-10 minutes she had put herself to sleep again. This happened on other time the next night with the same results. She has been fine since. Granted, to do it right you are supposed to be prepared to let the baby cry for quite some time. I know I would not have been able to do that. I would have been to worried something was wrong. Lucky, it worked quick for us.

Sounds like a growth spurt to me. Children are growing and developing all the time and it often affects their routine.

my son was the same way....he used to sleep through the night at 1 week old! Never took a bottle at night, and would sleep from 8pm to 8am...Than at 7 months, forget about it! He wanted to sleep next to us...you have to remember, their bodies are growing, and there are so many changes going on that their sleeping pattern is going to be interrupted...finally, at 12 months, we opened up his crib to a full size bed! We found out he liked to sleep on a real big bed...he likes his space...he felt confined in his crib and in a way, closterphobic...the bed is not that high, so i'm not afraid of him falling off...he absolutely loves to sleep in his bed now and sleeps through the night again...
since ur baby is only 6 months...try putting a few blankets on the floor next to u in ur bedroom and see how he likes to sleep on that during the day....many ppl are against this but some kids just love to sleep in a big space! it worked for me!

Children go through growing spurts and if he is fine after he eats then maybe he is just more hungary at this point. Feed the poor thing, he is only 6 months old, it is not too old to need feedings at night (even if he hasnt in the past).