"My baby is 6.5 months and I am having trouble with her sleeping. I had no problems until she turned 3.5 months. I could put her down awake to drift off to sleep and she had begun sleeping 6-7 hour stretches. We have a bedtime routine with bath, story, milk (breast) and bed where she would be asleep around 7pm. I would feed her around 11pm then she would wake at 2/3am then again around 5-7am.

Once 3.5 months hit she started waking around 1am, then every 2-3 hours later. Then she started putting off going to sleep till after 8pm. Now she is going down at 7pm/8pm which is no problem but waking 10min to 30min later and then every 10-30min there after.

As a result I had her lie next to me on the bed and we now co-sleep. This is proving the only way she will relax and sleep for longer stretches, and allows me time to rest/sleep."

ONE WORD. 

MOTHERHOOD.

This reflects the truest essence of motherhood. One moment you're killing it with super mama vibes and the next, you're a hair-pulling, eye-tearing woman at breaking point. 

As a self-proclaimed anxious mum who patted her babies to sleep in the hopes of them self-settling, it was hard for me to accept that my hard work went down the drain. 

We were so good before.

WHAT HAPPENED?

What did I do wrong?

How can I fix this?

What should I do?

5 ways to help baby that used to sleep well but not anymore

1. Too much sleep in the day? 

"It wasn't until my midwife pointed out my son was sleeping "too many" hours in the day and that's why we were up a lot at night!" - Lara

2. White noise 

"It is made up of noises that the baby would supposedly hear in the womb. I thought that it was a little weird that these noises were meant to calm the baby, but they did work. There are noises like heartbeat, swooshing sound and some others. I had just one track on repeat and played it to him all the time." - Mary

3. Improve the quality of sleep in the day

"During the day she isn't a great sleeper. She was sleeping for 2 hrs in the middle of the day with 2 other good naps as well but recently, it's just around 2x 30 min naps. So I know that is probably part of the problem but I don't know how to get her to sleep!" - Jen

At the start, I really thought my baby would be so overly tired after only having 2x 30 minute naps in the day that she would sleep so well at night. Because she's exhausted right?!

WRONG. It made her sleep even more disrupted at night. 

Not sure if this will help your little one, but I used to have a catnapper and it's really tiring in the day.

Avoid napping-on-the-go.

I got so desperate for her to sleep longer in the day, I decided to stay home on most days so my baby would sleep at home at the exact nap times.

The longest trip I did with her was only for 2 hours, well until she's 10-11 months old. I would be anxious to get her home to sleep in her usual setting at the specific nap times. This was extreme I know, and totally not ideal.

But finally, after about 2 months of setting this routine, her nap times lasted longer and she would sleep for 2x 90 minutes during her naps. Success!

4. Is the feeding sorted?

Is baby too hungry to sleep? If your baby is really hungry, he won't go back to sleep easily until he is fed. 

Or too sleepy to feed properly?

If you're finding yourself in this nasty cycle, get the feeding sorted to see if this could be a factor in your baby's disrupted sleep. 

5. Download a baby sleep tracker app

This is not sponsored at all. 

I have heard positive reviews from mums who downloaded this app. There are great sleeping tips and melodies for bedtime. Plus, this app tracks your baby's sleep pattern and comes up with a sleeping plan that works for your baby. 

No harm trying it out!

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