“my lo is 6 months old and for the last 4 weeks has been waking about 4/5 times a night sometimes she will go back asleep when you give her a dummy other times its taking around 2-3hrs. we have to rock her back to sleep. she is not taking her bottles either, am only getting aroun 18oz into her a day, she is on solids also. Ive been giving her calpol and nurofen but nothing seems to work. Any advice please…”

It sounds like your lo might be overtired going to bed and then has a restless night sleep. If this is the case when a baby gets overtired the brain releases toxins to help the child battle sleep therefore the child can’t settle to a proper nights sleep. Check her sleep pattern during the day and make sure she is getting an adequate sleep. At that age your child should be getting between 1.5 & 3 hrs a day. This may be spread between one short nap in the morning, lunch time nap and maybe 20mins nap in the afternoon. If I was you I would keep a sleep diary for a couple of days to see if there is any sort of pattern to the problem.

Also the child might not have good sleep associations. If your child falls asleep in a chair and you move her to the cot your child will get very upset when she wakes and will not be able to go back to sleep. If your child falls asleep with a dummie in her mouth and if its not there when she wakes up she will also get upset and not be able to get back to sleep, basically if the child wakes during the night and if everything isn’t the same as when she went to bed you’re in trouble!!

So I reckon your best bet is to keep a diary for a couple of days and see whats going on then decide on what you want to do. If you find this any use and you’d like any more info just email me.

[This parent question was originally posted on www.rollercoaster.ie]