DS2 is just over 5 months. He has never been a very good sleeper and his day looks something like this:
We get up at 7.30. Through out the day ds2 can never last much longer than 1.5 hours without a nap, and goes to sleep quite easily in his cot, car seat, stroller or sling. The thing is he still doesn't sleep more than about 35 minutes per nap, so normally has about 4 a day, clocking up just over 2hrs sleep. He wakes up cheerful enough from his naps, just gets very tired very soon after.
Depending on when he wakes up from his last nap, he goes to bed between 7 and 8pm (so he always goes down about 1.5 hours from when he last wakes up). His bed time routine is bath, bf in bed, into gro bag, (same) 2 stories every night and then into cot sleepy but awake, and goes to sleep fairly easily with a few forehead strokes and ssshs. He also has a seahorse that lights up and plays a lullaby while he goes to sleep.
He then sleeps about 3 hours to the minute from when I last fed him. This is usually around when I go to bed so I feed him and he settles quite easily in cot next to bed. Then he sleeps for about 2 hours. I feed again. He then goes back to sleep with slightly more difficulty in his cot. After that it's all a bit shambolic (and hazy). He wakes again every hour or hour and a half. If it's less than 2 hours I tend not to feed him again but try to get him back to sleep by cuddling, but by about 3 or 4am he's so hard to settle I take him into bed with me. I've surprised myself in quite enjoying co-sleeping. Most of the time DS will sleep for a longer stretch in my bed (maybe a 3 hour stretch), but sometimes he's still be up again after 1.5 hours, and then wants me to sit up with him for a few minutes before laying him back down again (thought the point of co-sleeping was that you got to stay horizontal ).
I should point out he has a cows milk protein intolerance, so is EBF and I eat no dairy, although it sometimes creeps in as a hidden ingredient I think and he often wakes with a sharp cry, or can't go to sleep because of throwing his legs around trying to get poos/farts out.
DS1 was a poor sleeper and didn't sleep through until about 18 months, and even then not regularly. This time I have tried to do things a bit differently - not bf to sleep for naps or bedtime, in cot drowsy but awake, and yet DS2 sleeps just as badly. I'm guessing it's in the genes but would love any (gentle) tips. I'm not interested in night weaning yet as I believe he needs at least some of the feeds, and don't want anything that causes him distress, partly because I think he's too little to do any real sleep training and also because I don't want to wake up DS1 and DH.
Maybe I'm asking the impossible ...
Please or to access all these features
Please
or
to access all these features
Join our Sleep forum for tips on creating a sleep routine for your baby or toddler.
Sleep
can I do anything to improve 5mo's sleep?
6 replies
lucylookout · 21/12/2012 20:15
OP posts:
Please create an account
To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.