Sleeping FAQ: 6-9 months – Night Waking

At 6-months-old my son is still not sleeping through the night

My son is now 6-months-old and still does not sleep through the night. He is still having a 10.30pm bottle of 7oz. By day he takes breakfast at 6.30am of 6ozs with cereal and fruit. He naps 8am-9am, and then he has a 4oz bottle at 10.30am. He will play until 11.30am and then has a half-hour nap before lunch. Lunch is at 12 noon and he has 6-8 cubes of vegetables and some protein followed by fruit and juice. He will then nap from 1-3pm and have a 4oz bottle at 3pm. He will nap again at 4.30-5pm and then have his tea – usually fruit with baby rice and milk. I bath him at 6pm and then it is a struggle to get him to drink any milk but I can usually get him to take 4oz. He settles well at 6.45pm until 10.30pm (I keep him awake for 30 minutes). The problem is: he will wake at 3.30am, again at 4.30am and 5.30am and I have settled him back to sleep with a dummy. Lately, as well, (I am now desperate for sleep) in bed with us where he settles really well. He has been in his own room since 3-months-old and takes all his naps in there too. He can roll onto his tummy and gets stressed about it (I have tried tucking his grobag in the end but he gets really stressed with this). He will sleep soundly on his tummy when comfortable.

At present he weighs 22lbs and has about 24oz of formula through the day. At breakfast he has 1 weetabix with 2oz formula and a mashed banana. For lunch 6-8 tablespoons of vegetables and protein followed by 2-4 tablespoons fruit puree. At tea he takes 6-8 tablespoons of fruit puree and baby rice mixed with 1-2 oz formula.

Your son is a good weight and obviously has a healthy appetite. Now that he is six-months-old, it would be a good idea to replace the baby rice and fruit puree at 5pm with a proper vegetarian meal such as: jacket potato and a topping, thick vegetable soup and mini sandwiches, pasta and vegetable bakes. This more substantial tea given at 5pm should help him begin to cut back on the large 10pm feed he is having. Give him a very small drink of water with it so he is hungrier for his bedtime bottle. Offer him his bedtime milk around 6.30/6.45pm and have him settled by 7pm. Begin to reduce the amount of milk you give your son at 10.30pm. Very, very slowly cut it back until you are able to drop it. If he has increased his bedtime feed he will no longer need this to get through the night.

During the day it would be better to get your son to have one short morning nap of 30-45mins and a longer one over lunchtime of two hours. At present your son is sleeping 4 hours a day which could well be affecting the times he wakes in the night. To make these changes move things gradually and be prepared that he may be a little bit unsettled for a day or so until he adjusts to the new timings. Begin to move his 8am nap onto nearer 9am. Do this by keeping him up 10-15 minutes longer every few days until he is settling nearer to 9am. Wake him by 9.45am. If you feel that he is hungry well before lunchtime – as he has such an early breakfast – then offer him a small healthy snack such as: a piece of fruit, small amount of yoghurt or a rice cake with a drink of water or well diluted juice – by 10.30am rather than the 4ozs of milk he presently has. Cut out the short nap before lunch. If he is very tired then bring his lunchtime to 11.45am. Put him down for his long nap at 12.30pm which can be two hours long. If he is really tired in the afternoon then let him have a very short cat nap of no more than 15 minutes and wake him well before 5pm. At his age he really needs no more than three hours sleep between 7am and 7pm. More than this will affect his night time sleep.

Now your son is six months old, providing he is able to roll well both ways, it would be best to let him find his own sleeping position. Remove any extra blankets or sheets from the cot and dress him in a suitable weight bag for the weather. In the cooler months this will be a 2.0 tog. If he is still unable to roll from his front to his back then practise this in the daytime. You may have to reposition him for another week or so until he can do this well himself. Once he is able to roll both ways, don’t rush in to help him when you hear him stir. Leave him a few minutes as he will now be able to get himself more comfortable. Babies often cry out in their sleep but will settle themselves in a favoured sleeping position once they are able to. This rolling may also be a cause of his waking in the night, coupled with too much daytime sleep, so he is not so inclined to fall back to sleep again when he comes into a light sleep.