6 Month old baby sleeping problems, wakes up again and again and cries at night?

Question

i have a 6 month old baby. He wakes up 5-6 times at night after every one hour or one and a half hour and starts crying and he sleeps only after drinking breast milk. At night, he does not like to drink bottle milk. We tried to give him formula milk at night before sleep, but it did not solve the problem. If we do not attend to him, he cries very loudly and sometimes, he starts playing at night for two hours and he wants us to be awake. he will not play on his own. I would be grateful for your advice. We both husband and wife are facing a lot of problem because of all this.

Answer 1

My little girl started waking up about the same age as your son too, likely due to teething. It was sometimes very difficult to get her to go back to sleep. She wanted to nurse or play, but anything other than that (ie Mom trying to put her back in her crib) and she would cry very loudly! I'm not one to let her cry it out, but we tried a few times as we were getting desperate for sleep and that didnt change anything. Instead of getting tired of crying and going to sleep she would just get herself so worked up that I thought she was going to stop breathing! Needless to say we only tried that once or twice before giving in to her. Thankfully it only lasted a month or so and then she turned into a great sleeper. Has he always been like this or is it recent? I know a lot of people think that feeding him a bottle with formula will help him sleep better but in personal exper. it doesnt at all. In fact, I found my daughter slept just as long if not longer when I nursed her last thing before bed and didnt give a bottle. Formula can be hard on their tummies, and I was always a bit lazy about pumping.
I'm sure you've already tried soft music, a few hugs and a sip of water then putting him back in bed with a toy, things like that... so besides keeping at it and knowing that yes it will end (just not soon enough) there isnt too much else to do. Perhaps an extra detailed Dr visit to make sure he isnt sick in any way, or making sure if he's teething you are providing some comfort for that.

P.S. I personally disagree with the cry it out method, and you DO NOT have to resort to this if you are not OK with it. Sure, you dont have to run to their aid at every little cry - sometimes my daughter wakes up for a minute or two at night and cries a bit before falling asleep, but any sustained crying in my book should be taken care of. You are not teaching your child how to manipulate you, you are teaching your child that their needs will be met by their loving parents. I'm not saying you're uncaring if you use the cry it out method, I'm just saying it isnt necessary to have a good sleeper. It might take longer to get there, but the end result is just the same (with studies showing the child emotionally stronger)

Answer 2

6 Month Old Baby Sleep

Answer 3

If he is waking up that many times during the night, and wanting to have breast milk it could mean that he is not getting enough food during the day. A 6 month old should be having more than just milk. If he is eating food, then maybe he is having trouble self soothing back to sleep.
Another thing it could be is if he is overtired when he is put to bed. Make sure he is going to bed at the same time every night and that he is getting enough nap time during the day.
It may sound cruel , but for your sanity and spouse's sanity and well being of the baby, you may have to let him cry it out. Make sure he is well fed, clean and comfortable in bed. It may take a week or more but he is old enough to self soothe and be sleeping through the night without milk.

Answer 4

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
6 Month old baby sleeping problems, wakes up again and again and cries at night?
i have a 6 month old baby. He wakes up 5-6 times at night after every one hour or one and a half hour and starts crying and he sleeps only after drinking breast milk. At night, he does not like to drink bottle milk. We tried to give him formula milk at night before sleep, but it did not solve...

Answer 5

I am having the same issue with my 6-month old daughter. She used to be a fabulous sleeper - from 9pm to 4:30am. Now, she wakes every hour or so and cannot be consoled unless I pick her up or nurse her. Same goes for day-time naps. I've thought it was teething and have given her some tylenol before bed, but it hasn't worked.
I've also tried to tank her up with the food during the day to test the hunger hypothesis with little avail. I'm hoping that this will pass and that her good sleeping habits will return.

Answer 6

Don't ever take the sleeping pills route!!

1. They will damage your liver big time and you can get into serious health problems.

2. You will get hooked up on them and you won't be able to have a normal life any more if you don't take your pills everyday.

The sleeping pills industry is damaging our health by capitalizing on our ignorance, and by distracting people from effective and natural ways to deal with this problem. I had been taking prescription sleep medications [Ambien] for over 5 years. It stopped working and I simply took more. Still did not work. Nights were very difficult - medication put me to sleep but I would wake up after 2–3 hours with a strong sympathetic response (fast pulse, pounding heartbeat, wide awake alert). It was a very difficult cycle to break. I was really in bad shape due to lack of sleep.

After years of struggling I was able to cure my insomnia naturally and pretty fast. I followed the Sleep Tracks sleep optimization program, here is their official web -site if you want to take a look: http://www.insomniacure.net

Ohhh..and Good Luck!

Answer 7

Maybe he is not getting enough to eat during the day. Make sure also that he has a good routine. I found that with my baby (6 and a half months old), she thrives on routine and sleeps well if her routine is kept up. She is also a breastfed baby. She only wakes up at around 6 in the morning from 9 the previous evening. Good Luck!

Answer 8

6 Month Old Waking Every Hour

Answer 9

Try feeding him some cereal or fruit before bed. Also what is his bedtime & does he take a late nap? If he does take a late nap try keeping him awake a little later at night. If you normally put him down at 8pm, try keeping him up til 9 pm. But it does sound like he may be getting hungry during the night & milk isn't satisfying him. Another thing that works is a bath with lavender baby bath. It relaxes them & soothes them; kind of the way lavender aromatherepy works for us. All this may sound old fashioned but it has worked for generations.

Answer 10

If you want to put your baby to sleep in 20 seconds you must get the "Instant Baby Sleep" MP3 sound track. Here is their official web-site: http://www.instantbabysleep.net

The sound track gently produces energy over the full human hearing spectrum with an embedded pulse that gently eases the brain to the Alpha state well known for drowsiness and sleep induction.