Every baby needs a little help to get to sleep sometimes. 6 months is a big age for little ones, with lots of rapid and delightful developments happening. Your bundle of joy may have started solid foods, sitting up, trying to crawl, rolling over, and getting on all fours. In the first six months of life, babies need to wake at night to get enough food for growth and development. For most babies, sleeping ‘through the night’ and settling by themselves comes later, when they’re developmentally ready. Here we give you some really useful advice on how to sleep train your 6 month old baby and how to create healthy sleep habits.
Giving your baby their last feed before bath time at the beginning of the bedtime routine to try and ᴅɪsᴀssᴏᴄɪᴀᴛᴇ feeding and sleep. This can be effective in reducing night wakings. You can begin calming her with a relaxing bath with dimmed lights or wipe down with a warm wet washcloth. Try to put your baby down awake in the cot and let her fall asleep herself. Offer comfort and support and use the appropriate method for your child to teach them to self soothe.
Keep the room dark or dimly lit, and quiet: Use a dim light when you need to attend to your baby during the night. Try not to turn on a bright overhead light. When it feels right for your baby and you, it can help to start doing things in a similar order each day, for example, feed , play, sleep. A baby sleep routine like this will help your baby settle into a regular sleep pattern.
Overtiredness and awake time: A baby needs to rest well during the day to well-rest during the night. If the child was awake for a long stretch of time through the day, she may be too ᴡɪʀᴇᴅ and ᴏᴠᴇʀsᴛɪᴍᴜʟᴀᴛᴇᴅ to rest well at night. When a child is overtired the ʜᴏʀᴍᴏɴᴇ ᴄᴏʀᴛɪsᴏʟ is ʀᴇʟᴇᴀsᴇᴅ which is the sᴛʀᴇss ʜᴏʀᴍᴏɴᴇ and makes it that much harder to fall asleep and also leads to wake ups.
Here are some ways you can help your baby settle in bed, drowsy but awake:
You could try holding your baby in your arms until they fall asleep. Use gentle rhythmic patting, rocking, stroking, talking, or softly singing before putting your baby into the cot asleep. These repetitions signal relaxation and sleep.
You could also try ‘ hands on settling’ , where you place the baby in the cot awake (but calm and drowsy) and gently pat or stroke them till they fall asleep, comforting them with gentle sounds. If your baby becomes or stays ᴅɪsᴛʀᴇssᴇᴅ, pick them up for a cuddle until calm or asleep before putting your baby back in the cot. Stay with them until they fall asleep.
