What happens at 6/7 months to baby's sleep?

1

1sttimemom

Registered User
About 10 days ago, my 6 month old's "stage 1" separation anxiety kicked in and I suspect because of this she was waking a bit more often at night. Now the separation anxiety is gone/invisible for now, but the bad part is she is now waking around 530am and won't go back to sleep.

I am still waiting til 630am to pick her up, since she previously woke around 6-7am.

Before, if she woke up early, she'd go back to sleep either on her own or my help (by entering her room and making her comfy/giving her a hug without picking her up), but now she will just babble til 6 then start whining.

Has she just grown up? Do I need to adjust her bedtime (now 7pm) if I want her to sleep til about 6/630?
 
Hmmm. It's really hard to tell. Actually, my son only started sleeping through the night when he was about 6 months old so that was the time when we were really celebrating getting a good night's sleep even if he was up at 5:30 or 6:00 am--at least he'd slept during the night!

If you're able to let your child lay in bed for an additional hour after she wakes up I assume she must not be screaming her head off so I would say that actually 6:30 am is quite a reasonable time for a baby to sleep in until. (Now, if she was getting up at 3:00 or 4:30 am, it might be a different story).

Does she take long naps during the day? If so, I would cut out her latest afternoon nap and get her to bed at the same time--but she'll likely be more tired and may sleep longer. Are there any other changes that have happened in your house recently--even little things that may have affected her sleep?

Personally, my son didn't really experience true separation anxiety until he was about 8-11 months old and it was a pretty passing phenomenon that had more to do with him being left in another room without me during the day. Before then, for example, I could take him to the creche/nursery when we attended church and he would contentedly play for an hour or so without really noticing I'd left. When the separation anxiety hit he didn't want me to leave his sight.
 
i found that both of my kids were great sleepers UNTIL they hit 6 months. they started sitting up/rolling over/getting stuck/standing up then they couldn't get back to the "sleep position" on their own. this happened even though they both had sleeping bags on.

for me, they started waking up at least once per night and this lasted with my son until he was almost 3 and my daughter, who turns 4 on saturday, gets up at least once per week.

it was just something i learned to live with.
 
My first born was a terrific sleeper until 7 months old. Then she started waking at least once a night consistently until she was about 15 months old. Now (28 months) she sleeps through probably around 70-80% of the time, but she's generally pretty good.

My six month old is still a fantastic sleeper and I'm hoping she stays that way! She's bottlefed instead of breastfed and I think that she takes less feeds comparatively - so hopefully that means that she's less likely to need another night feed??

Both of my girls had a small amount of "separation anxiety" at around 4-6 months where they would cry if I left the room or gave them to a stranger, but they got over it pretty fast. My six month old is like that if she's tired or if she's just woken up - but most of the time she's happy with anyone...
 
Thanks for the comments all!!

If 530am is her regular wake time, I will adjust her bedtime accordingly as I want to work towards at 630 wake up time. As for her naps possibly affecting her nighttime sleep, there have been times where she has refused her 3rd nap or just not slept for more than 3 hours. Result is her being overtired and taking 40-60mins to fall sleep at bedtime. Today, I let her have a 430-5pm nap and she fell asleep at 7 easily. Must admit.. I can't read her tired signs very well. Seems like she yawns/rubs her eyes when she remembers she's tired. If she's too occupied with something, she won't show any signs. When I start the nap routine, all the signs reveal themselves!
 
I'm having some trouble at the moment as well. I attribute it to having just come back from Sydney where there has been a record heat wave, and my 7.5 month old bub just has not dealt with it well at all. It's day 2 back in HK now, and still waking up in the middle of the night, only soothed by a bottle.

He also learned to roll over in the last 2 weeks and all he wants to do when I put him down is roll over, and then gets stuck, and can't roll back to his sleeping position. Sometimes he sleeps on his side but wakes himself up after half an hour. As a result his naps have been much shorter nowadays. He used to be a great sleeper .... :(
 
My experience was very similar to Carang's with my daughter and my son only slept through the night twice until he was about 14 months old - although now at 19 months he sleeps through 99% of the time. And he has always been an early riser, no matter what time he goes to bed he wakes around 5.15-5.30am (his normal bed time is about 7pm also). I also have just learned to live with it (helps that my husband is alsow an early riser) and enjoy it when he occasionally (for no apparent reason) sleeps in til 6.30am...
 
@ Macaron - it's only day 2 or 3 now, so don' t worry! Things will improve. My daughter regularly naps short 1/2 hr naps. I used to think it was because she didn't fall asleep on her own during naptime (bedtime's never been an issue), but she falls asleep on her own now and still 95% of the time her naps are 1/2 hr - 40 mins. Result = I get nothing done. :( As for the rolling over, maybe you can try gently leading him and teaching him how to roll back over? It will certainly take time, but this is what I did with her at the suggestion of a sleep specialist, and it improved her sleep as it allowed her to find her own most comfortable position. Good luck!!
 
My 8 month old son went through an unsettled phase at around 6 months, I think a combination of the rolling over, getting stuck and then his bottom two teeth coming through. I did cut out the late afternoon nap which seemed to help too. He is now napping in the morning for around 45 mins and at lunchtime for a couple of hours. He sleeps happily from around 6.30pm to 6.30am or 7am if I'm lucky. Shame his big brother is always up before 6am...!
 
My baby is doing the same. Last night he was waking up every hour till we put him to sleep with us in our bed. Then he kept waking every 3 hours for his feed. I thought that he would sleep better when we started solid, bit for some reason he seems hungrier at night. He has a feed at around 6pm, then his solid at around 7, and get another feed at around 9pm before bed. ... Don't know if it is true, but read that sometime babies seem to feed more once on solid because they are thirsty, not hungry.
Posted via Mobile Device
 
I have been having the same issue with my 5 month old. He started only doing 30 min naps tops and then by the evening was really overtired. He also (i think) wakes up early - he is in his own room so not so sure what time it is every day but sometimes I hear him - this morning was 5.40. He rarely crys and i never feed him until about 7. However I worry he really is not getting enough sleep.
So i started reading the Baby Whisperer - Solves your problems and she suggests that the reason the naps are only 30 mins are because he is overtired and his naps need to be extended. By extending the naps it may also extend his wake up time as the better they sleep in the day the better the night time is too.
We aew only on Day 4 of her techniques and she suggests we may have to work on the naps for 2 weeks or so - but I have already been able to get his total nap time from 1.30 hrs to nearly 3 and he is still sleeping at night. Still early morning wake up but hoping that will also extend with time!!!!
 
nikkig, I read that book too. Are you using the PUPD method to extend the naps? Glad to hear it is working for you. Before, my LO was not falling asleep by herself at naptime so I thought maybe that was the reason for 1/2 hr naps. Well, now she falls asleep on her own, but her naps can be as short as 30 mins or as long as 2 hours. Today was a crazy fabulous day. She napped two naps of 1.5 hrs each. So, I am not sure I can really extend them...

To be honest, she's never had a nap schedule because I never know how long her naps are going to last! Every day is different and she will not sleep if she's not tired. She'll babble...then whine..and then scream (now that she knows she can SCREEEEEAM).

I am curious to hear what exactly has been working for you. Do share! :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top