How to get my 6 month old baby boy, to have a better night
I am exhausted...so I can't even imagine how the poor champ must be feeling, he wakes up every half hour to an hour EVERY night...he wasn't a good sleeper from day one, but I miss the nights where I only had to get up 3 times (sure this must sound sad to you, but I miss that) He is a very busy boy, he dreams a lot, I have tried sleep training, he can fall asleep on his own, the problem is that he wakes up between 6 and up times (the last few nights was more than 10 times so I just stay awake)...I feel sorry for him, he must be exhausted, he isn't difficult he smiles and have chats, so he is a very happy baby, he is growing well his milestones is ahead...he sleeps with us in our room, because there is so many farm attacks in South Africa I feel safer to keep him close and locked up with me, so moving him to his own room is not an option, he isn't a big fan of the dummy, but he does take it when going to bed, so I know that is a sleep association and I'm okay with that because it reduces the rist of cot death. I'm okay with the little sleep, I am worried about his sleep, I need him to be okay and have a better night rest...he had a horrible night rest the past two nights, his tummy is fine, I get him as comfortable as possible...he is also very curious...not sure if he is afraid of missing out? And I do not feel comfortable with the "cry it out" method as I want him to know that I will be there for him if he needs me...I am out of ideas on how to help him...is there anyone else with the same problem or past problem?
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From what you are saying this sounds like a new behavior so I can list some potential reasons.
Six months is a growth spurt, so if you are breastfeeding, it's not unusual to have a few days to a week that they will want to nurse nearly ever 1-2hrs day and night. If that is all it is, it will pass on it's own with no intervention.
It could be teething. Sometimes it is more obvious a tooth is coming than other times, but it is always worth checking out the mouth when sleep is disrupted.
Ear pain can also cause waking. My one child was just not acting himself & I could find no cause. I didn't think he was ill as he had no fever & wasn't terribly upset, just more needy. When I took him to the doctor he actually had a double ear infection & the doctor said it was quite inflamed & that perhaps paying down made it more uncomfortable.
Developmental leaps are also said to cause sleep disruptions for some babies. I definitely had one where it did. When he was learning to crawl his sleep was torturous. My others didn't do that in any way I can recall. It might have caused a little disruption, but not much.
If the baby is content otherwise & seeming in good spirits, I wouldn't be concerned about his lack of sleep. Babies can sleep when they want to & they will make up for it. I would be more concerned for you & the endurance it requires when you have a baby that is sleeping so broken.
You may also want to look into changing your nap routine. If a baby is in all otherwise seeming okay, it may be time to reduce the number of naps in the day. That has been different for each of my children. I even had one child that was done with all napping at 18 months old. That is highly unusual I know, but if he napped at that point, he was up & down all night to an excruciating degree. When I removed all naps he would sleep peacefully 12-14 hours. If I made a mistake & allowed him to nap, we would go back to waking 4 times a night & awake an hour or longer each time. The only reason I mention it, as I know yours is 6 months, is that napping can be a bit of trial & error. I nearly didn't realize he didn't need naps any longer other than by accident, when I had a sitter and they thought he already napped so kept him awake & I thought he would nap while with them. That was the first night of his life he slept through. I would have never even thought to try dropping a nap that early if not for that. So you can look at guidelines, but it made me open to knowing that you can also try other things if that is not working. At that age all my kids did about 3 naps (which I think is average). You can reduce to 3 if he is doing more, try two if 3 isn't working. You can try waking earlier on that 1st nap, so that the 2nd nap is longer before trying other things, etc. But if it's a pervasive shift in night waking with no other causes you can find, then I would look at how he naps & look at trying adjustments there.
Overall a lot of parenting will end up being trial & error simply because all babies are different. No matter what worked for me, it may not for yours. Truly. I had people tell me something worked for all of their children & that same thing worked on none of my own, or maybe worked on one of my kids. Or something I did with the first two didn't work on my third. You get the idea. I am sure you will sort it out. The only weird thing is, I have also had a couple of phases over mothering, like you describe, where I tried several things & then it ended. Sometimes I wasn't even sure if I what I tried last actually worked, or if rather the child outgrew that phase. It's really not always possible to know.
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