Sleep sleep sleep

[MumToBe2015R]

My 5m old was sleep so well up until 3weeks ago.

His rountine used to be:

Sleep between 7pm-10pm, wake, change, feed & go back to sleep between 1130pm-12:30am. And used to sleep until about 9am

But these days he's not sleeping as much in the evening, and then he's sleep less during the night too. & wakes up at least twice for a feed. He wants a feed then goes back to sleep but then is awake again after 3hrs/4hrs for a feed.

Don't know what to do & how should start a different rountine?

I have started him on some farleys rusk since Sunday, only 1/4 of a biscuit mixed in milk once a day. Should I maybe give abit more? Or is that got nothing to do with his sleep?

[ppandj]

Hi

Sorry it's tough going at the moment for you. Just didn't want to read and run as I have been there. Unfortunately my DS's sleep has not improved much from what you're describing and he is now 8mo. We have found that weaning has made very little difference really but if he is enjoying it and not putting up a fight then it can only help I think?

A lot of people said to me that my DS's sleep is just normal really. Not what you want to hear, I know!

It could be he is in a "leap" if he has only just started doing this now? Do you have the wonder weeks app? It's quite helpful I find. If it is a leap then his sleep may improve again afterwards.

I also read something else that said around 4-6mo an infant's sleep permanently changes anyway, again quite normal. I can my remember where I saw that though I'm sorry it's lost in the blur of google searches I did in desperation.

Sorry I haven't helped much just wanted to say you're not alone!

[ppandj]

*can't remember

[MumToBe2015R]

Thank you ppandj glad I'm not alone, felt like I'm doing something wrong. Feels really frustrating at times because no matter how hard you try do things differently you think things will change but they don't. But thank you for your reply, hope things get better for you too. Will download that app. X

[Feeches]

My 3 month old sounds very similar. Got into a really good sleeping pattern and now all to pot. This has coincided with a heavy cold plus some significant developmental changes: Growth spurt, pulling herself onto her side, grabbing stuff and laughing.

I think this is quite normal and often settle down. At least this is what I keep telling myself!

[Homemadebrownies]

my 9 month old is all over the place with his sleeping and napping and has been since 5 months - he was SO good at the beginning. I really don't think there's anything you can do, I have tried it all! I think a mixture of teething/ growth spurts and colds is to blame but who knows.

[BisherBasherBosher]

My understanding is that solids do not help a baby to sleep through. If anything, solids can make babies sleep worse as their digestive system has to work harder to process the food.

Signs that a baby is ready to be weaned are:

1. Hand to eye coordination, so they can pick up the food and bring it to their mouths all by themselves.
   
2. They can sit up without support and hold their head steady.
   
3. The tongue thrust reflex has gone i.e. they swallow their food rather than automatically spitting it out. Babies who are not ready get more food around their face than in their mouths.
   

It's rare for the signs above to appear before six months.

[Scattymum101]

Sounds like the four month sleep regression tbh. My dd1 slept like crap from four months through to 8 months however my dd2 just had a few crap weeks between 4-5 months and then started sleeping better. It really depends on the baby.
Try and keep a bedtime routine going and going to bed at the same time every night. If he wakes and is hungry, give him milk. My dd2 took a night feed til 9 months but I only had to get up for 20 mins, feed her and back to bed. Dd1 dropped her night feeds at 10 weeks and was up every 45 mins all night every night for four months. I definitely preferred the night feed lol.

With regards to weaning I agree with bisher. Both mine slept worse after I started weaning so it definitely didn't help our night time. If there's no other reason to wean then I wouldn't bother as it doesn't sound like he's ready.

There's a growth spurt around 16-18 weeks and both mine needed extra milk feeds for a few weeks and then dropped their milk intake again once they had finished the spurt. I know a lot of people wean around that time because of that growth spurt but tbh it doesn't sound like is making him any less huntgy during the night.

Night wakings are brutal, especially if baby has been sleeping well. My mantra is always "this too shall pass". You have my sympathy. I have a 3 year old with the cold who is struggling to adjust to new house with night terrors and screaming and an 11 month old teething snot monster with a temperature and back to work from a year of mat leave tomorrow so I just want to cry at the thought of 6-8 wakings tonight between both kids. X