Hi all,

My dd slept right through since 6 weeks old, sleeping 10-11 hours of a night. Here I am thinking that is amazing although I knew I shouldn't take it for granted as when teeth arrived the sleep would go back to sleepless nights.

My baby is now 6 months old, and from a week leading up to Christmas she has been waking through the night, sometimes once or twice or sometimes every hour on the hour. My dd is breastfed and I refuse to put her on formula, as friends have suggested this may make her sleep better, they have also told me i may not Be making enough milk which I don't believe is true, (my baby is 9.5kg and starting to go off the growth chart of average for we age, the dr also advised me that I am fine) She has refused a dummy from day one and I have come this far without one & am strongly against trying again. In regards to teeth she been dribbling a lot. I did take her to the doctor because she was pulling on her ears and he told me she was definitely teething, so when she wakes up I have put bonjella on her gums and occasionally given her panadole before bed as recommended by the doctor.


I don't mind getting up through the night to re settle her, especially if she is teething. My partner doesn't get up though the night as he works all day and I don't want him to anyway so it's all down on me it's starting to take its toll a bit on me so if anyone has any useful advice on what may help her return to a better nights sleep would be highly appreciated smile xxxx

I had the same problem!! Yes teething does make them wake during the night she is now 10 months and has been doing the same since Christmas and during that time she has got 5 teeth.

If your baby is not on solids I would say BF may not be enough as it wasn’t for my little girl at that age, Once I started solids and got over teething she slept so much better. If your baby is on solids maybe the amount needs to be increased.

She has stopped teething now and is still waking twice a night and I don’t know why I try and pat her back to sleep making shhhh noising as this used to work but it does not work anymore so I have to BF her back to sleep. I am guessing this is a stage and will hopefully go back to sleeping through as she has done since 6 weeks also.

When she is teething an hour before she goes to bed I give her nurofen first and then bonjela.

I have noticed allot on this forum that babies start to wake during the night at around 6 months. I think it is teething or they are hungry and BF/formula is not enough.

When she wakes at night what are you doing to resettle her? Is it that she is hungry or just needs comfort? Its really hard to tell with BF so maybe if your not sure express and bottle feed her and see just how much she is drinking. It might be that she is hungry therefore maybe she needs another feed of solids before bed. It could be that she is teething and just needs comfort.

I dont believe putting your baby on formula is the answer.

I'm with *missy*me, I doubt that formula is the answer. There are a lot of other reasons hunger to wake babies at the age.

My DD was shocking at around 5-6 months for waking in the night. It happened in winter and we worked out that she was oftern cold as she had thrown off her blankets.

Babies still have short sleep cycles at the age and sometimes they don't always self settle in the middle of the night for some reason.

I used to get up when DD cried, checked she wasn't hot/cold/pooey etc. Then I would avoid picking her up, but just pat her back to sleep, or sometimes just stand next to her cot for reassurance. It's annoying and tiring, but she got the hint that she wasn't going to picked up or comfort fed back to sleep, and started to self settle herself again. It took a while though, sorry can't offer you a miracle!

Hi all,

My dd slept right through since 6 weeks old, sleeping 10-11 hours of a night. Here I am thinking that is amazing although I knew I shouldn't take it for granted as when teeth arrived the sleep would go back to sleepless nights.

My baby is now 6 months old, and from a week leading up to Christmas she has been waking through the night, sometimes once or twice or sometimes every hour on the hour. My dd is breastfed and I refuse to put her on formula, as friends have suggested this may make her sleep better, they have also told me i may not Be making enough milk which I don't believe is true, (my baby is 9.5kg and starting to go off the growth chart of average for we age, the dr also advised me that I am fine) She has refused a dummy from day one and I have come this far without one & am strongly against trying again. In regards to teeth she been dribbling a lot. I did take her to the doctor because she was pulling on her ears and he told me she was definitely teething, so when she wakes up I have put bonjella on her gums and occasionally given her panadole before bed as recommended by the doctor.


I don't mind getting up through the night to re settle her, especially if she is teething. My partner doesn't get up though the night as he works all day and I don't want him to anyway so it's all down on me it's starting to take its toll a bit on me so if anyone has any useful advice on what may help her return to a better nights sleep would be highly appreciated smile xxxx

Hi there,

Even though your bubs slept through from day dot, don't let it lull you into a false sense of security. Parents think that sleeping through is the ultimate goal and I guess it kind of is eventually. However it is normal for babies to wake through the night until around 1. I know they say 6 months and they should be sleeping through, but I dispute that. It would be nice, but it doesn't mean that is what is natural for a baby - especially one that is growing and developing at an enormous rate! I have found that parents of babies that sleep through from early, think that the goal is reached already, whereas waking at night varies considerably over their young years. My dd2 slept through from the start, but then started waking at night from around 4 months - in hindsight this was usually followed by a massive developmental leap.

Our current parenting methods are so fixated on making babies do what we want rather then do what they instinctually need, that eventually we lose the focus. By this I mean that there is so much sleep training going on, that it has become normal to expect babies to sleep through - but in reality, they don't. This then tries to be fixed with solids/formula when they probably just need a bf in the middle of the night if it isn't for another reason such as wet nappy etc.

Just letting you know its all normal and you ARE making enough milk. smile

dont know how I can help you sorry DD is only four months.
But good on you for breast feeding I have made it to the four month mark
you are doing so well to make it through till six months.
formula will knock your baby out ,so much crap they put into it) so faty and not much goodness for your baby ...I bet your friends are fomula feeding there babies...I rang the breast feeding association they said formula has a coma like effect kocking your baby out for along time.
they said it is made in factories with no regulation.....anything goes in it.....

I feel your pain! My boy is almost 6 months and has been such a terrible sleeper right from the day he was born. We have had 'patches' of OK sleep, but there has only been one night where he 'slept through' which was from 10.30pm till 6am. Currently I am ready to pull my hair out, he woke almost every 40 mins last night!!!!! and would not resettle himself, needed jigging in my arms or a BF to get back to sleep, then awake about 30 mins to an hour later. He has been teething (no teeth as yet though) and panadol and bonjela dont seem to make much difference. I have always had a good milk supply and he is a huge baby, well over 10kg already, but when in doubt I think go back to basics, so am expressing milk to feed for today, just to see how much I have on offer and how much he is getting. So I would recommend just that, express for a day and night just to check that your supply doesnt ebb overnight, as I suspect mine is starting to (possible due to fatigue from being so sleep deprived). I had a theory too, if I am BFing him every hour during the night (as is what happened last night) he would only be getting small amounts and of course would 'need' more an hour later. Had I expressed and fed him a larger bottle first up perhaps he wouldnt be waking so much. We will see how tonight goes. Good luck to you, and just remember when you are awake at night, chances are, I will be too. : )

Hi there,

Even though your bubs slept through from day dot, don't let it lull you into a false sense of security. Parents think that sleeping through is the ultimate goal and I guess it kind of is eventually. However it is normal for babies to wake through the night until around 1. I know they say 6 months and they should be sleeping through, but I dispute that. It would be nice, but it doesn't mean that is what is natural for a baby - especially one that is growing and developing at an enormous rate! I have found that parents of babies that sleep through from early, think that the goal is reached already, whereas waking at night varies considerably over their young years. My dd2 slept through from the start, but then started waking at night from around 4 months - in hindsight this was usually followed by a massive developmental leap.

Our current parenting methods are so fixated on making babies do what we want rather then do what they instinctually need, that eventually we lose the focus. By this I mean that there is so much sleep training going on, that it has become normal to expect babies to sleep through - but in reality, they don't. This then tries to be fixed with solids/formula when they probably just need a bf in the middle of the night if it isn't for another reason such as wet nappy etc.

Just letting you know its all normal and you ARE making enough milk. smile

This post hit the nail on the head. Pretty much what I would have said but said much better then I would have. My 2.5 year old still comes into our Bed at night when he wakes up. I'm totally ok with this. He is not going to be little and need me for long so I want to cherish him while he does want cuddles. Some nights yes it does annoy me but I just put him back in his Bed with no dramas. I understand the feeling of no sleep but I will assure you the day will come when she will sleep through. Good luck!