crawling + sleeping = aaaaaaaaaaargh!!

[LittleMilla]

My DS is about to turn 5 months and is just starting to crawl. ATM he's just going backwards and shuffling around in circles, but it's making sleep a complete frigging nightmare.

He was JUST starting to get much better at going down for naps, settling himself nicely and sometimes sleeping through the night.

He sleeps on his tummy, which is why this is all happening relatively early I think - he's really strong, able to almost sit up etc. But i'm going in to find him longways across the cot, with his feet on the side, rocking backwards and forwards, smashing his head on the other side of the cot . He is working himself in to quite a frenzy, making it hard to just leave him or even settle him when wakes himself up.

I've been trying to stop feeding him when he wakes up, but I'm finding that I'm doing it more and more just to help GET him to sleep in the first place. Feeling thoroughly pissed off that we've come this far in terms of self settling, and it seems to be unravelling in front of my eyes. Naps are turning in to a ruddy nightmare too. Never done more than 40 mins, but even they're shortening. And it's taking so long to get him asleep, that he;s not getting enough kip.

Argh, sorry for long post. Any help/advice/words of wisdom to stop me going bananas, I'd REALLY appreciate it.

[schroedingersdodo]

It will pass :)
DS would sit up while sleeping and wake up bemused :) Then when he started walking he would "walk" moving his legs while sleeping and sometimes it would woke him up as well. It's just a developmental spur, and passes as soon as they master the new skill.
It's a bit like teething, a few horrible nights and then everything is peaceful again (until something else happens). I found the best thing to get through these phases was just wait.
Obsessing about it, counting how many times he woke up at night and things like that only made me more anxious and angry.
Good luck and hope it doesn't take too long!

[maybunny]

Do you use grobags? We had the same problem, but started using grobags and tuck them in really firmly at the end of the cot with the 'spare bit' at the end. A few times at first she would twist onto her front and try to keep twisting the wrong way iykwim, but we would just go in and untwist her and she would go back to sleep.

[suedehead]

hi littlemilla

we have a similar thing with our DS. he's just started to do this, so i hope it will pass dodo! as maybunny said , he doesn't do it when we put him in a sleeping bag, so he's good at night, but for naps he often ends up at one end of the cot with various teddies / blankets on his head!

the sleeping bags are really helpful, i think, and also help him to realise it's bedtime etc. and if he falls asleep it in, it's easier to transfer him to the cot than just to put him in it in his bedclothes. if it helps, they're on buy one get one free at mothercare at the moment! www.mothercare.com/b/44409031?ie=UTF8&pf_rd_r=1DBFBBMMCM928SZQC5T1&pf_rd_m=A2LBKNDJ2KZUGQ&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_i=42827041&pf_rd_p=222674291&pf_rd_s=left-nav-3

we have a few 2.5 togs, and one 1 tog for weather like we're having at the moment!

good luck...

[boognish]

Matalan do them for £10 and they're lovely. The sleeping bags, that is.