6 month old…sleep is just getting progressively worse and I want to tear my hair out.
So our LO is 6 months and a few days now…and over the last month his sleep has just become progressively worse and worse. It feels like more than just a regression.
He had regressions before and they lasted a week or so and then back to substantial sleep.
Basically he becomes irritable and clearly tired at 7pm so that’s when we do bedtime.
He gets a feed then and I hold him for a bit until he’s asleep, put him in his crib. The lights are low and red and there’s white noise on.
He used to go down and would sleep for 4-5 hours before waking for a feed at 11pm or midnight and then would go back to sleep until 5/6am
Now…
When I put him down after his 7pm feed he’s up and down, rubbing his face, knocking the dummy out, then he cries.
I have tried tentatively letting him cry it out despite not really wanting to, but it doesn’t work, he just wakes himself up more the moment he starts crying.
If I go in and hold his hand, or put my hand on the side of his face he almost immediately goes back to sleep…however the second I leave the room, he’s back rubbing his face and waking himself up.
I tried taking the dummy away because he’d knock it out his mouth and wake himself up but then he literally just rubs his face and wakes himself up without it…so it makes no difference.
If I’m lucky…at the moment he might sleep for 2 hours after his 7pm feed and even that is not a given.
He has naps during the day, maybe a max of 3 hours in total with a mix of lengths in those naps throughout the day. Honestly he’s easier to put down for a nap than he is to sleep at night.
I’m at a point where sleep overnight just can’t happen, or if it does I sleep for 45 mins before he’s awake again.
I’m becoming burnt out and frustrated that the moment I fall asleep I’m woken up again because he’s awake and I’m so unbelievably exhausted with going in and out of his room at all hours of the night, settling him, he seems asleep and then BOOM awake again.
I’ve tried a humidifer, no white noise, completely dark room, window open, window closed, hot water bottle on the bed before he gets into it, holding him for a long time before putting him down, holding him a medium amount of time and holding him for a very short time, I’ve tried holding his hand and holding the dummy in his mouth in his crib until he’s asleep, simply settling him and leaving whilst he’s still awake, leaving him for 5–10 mins to cry it out…
He’s also recently started foods and realistically I know that means we should be cutting down some of his feeds…but somehow he’s still hungry for the exact same number of feeds and the same amount after food.
He is quite a big baby, I’m not surely exactly what he weighs now, but he was 9lb 8oz when he was born, and he has 7-8fluid Oz of formula 5 times a day…though it often seems overnight he’d eat more if he could.
Nothing works…except for me being actually glued to him…which also ensures I get no sleep…
I can’t keep going like this…I feel like I’m going insane.
And my partner had the brains to say “it’s not that bad.” And tell me that “you do get some sleep” when referring to the small naps I manage to get…
I honestly want to poke my own eyes out and just scream.