Sorry in advance if this is a long one - I don't want to leave anything important out.
My DS is five months old. He's never been the best sleeper - for the first 5 weeks of his life he would only sleep on me. We eventually got him into a moses basket and things improved. He would have his last feed at 7pm, usually be asleep by 7.30pm and would wake 2-3 times per night for a feed. He'd then be awake for the day at about 6am.
However, his sleep has gradually deteriorated over the past few weeks. It has become harder and harder to get him to sleep in the first place (sometimes taking 2 hours or even more). Previously, I could put him down in his moses basket awake, and after a few minutes of gurgling he?d drop off. Now, if he?s not fully asleep when I put him down, it takes a huge amount of effort to get him to sleep, and the same technique rarely works for many nights in a row. Sometimes we stroke his hair, sometimes rub his tummy. Sometimes he wants a dummy, sometimes not.
The last few weeks, he's been waking up every 2 hours - sometimes even more frequently (Tuesday night he woke up 8 times between 8pm and 6am). I have tried to resettle him with his dummy / mobile etc, but usually the only way to get him back off is to feed him. And he guzzles it - usually draining both boobs . We tried offering formula in the hope that the heavier milk would keep him full for longer, but he refused to take it.
His daytime naps are just as challenging. It usually takes me about 10-15 minutes of walking him around in his pram, and he will rarely sleep for longer than 30 minutes. I have no idea what I'll do when he outgrows his pram (which will be soon).
I spoke to our HV and she suggested we start weaning. I thought that frequent wakings weren't generally a sign of needing solids, however she said that when he eventually gets onto protein it may keep him fuller for longer. Obviously we can't go straight to steak and chips, so we've made a start with some baby porridge (he was showing all other signs of being ready - sits up well, holds head up, tries to help himself to my food etc). Yesterday he ate a full portion of porridge and then went on to finish a full milk feed. HV was also a bit concerned that I?m struggling to keep weight on (have lost over 2 stone off my pre-pregnancy weight since DS was born) even though I eat well. She thinks DS is just draining me!
Does anybody have any advice. I'm exhausted, but that's not the worst part. The worst part is that DS looks exhausted all the time, and I'm worried I'm not teaching him the skills he needs to be able to sleep effectively. Help!
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Need to Sort out 5MO’s Sleep
LetThereBeCupcakes · 28/06/2013 08:49
ooievaar - I hadn't thought of that. Do you think I could delay going to the GP until I've lost a few more pounds though? I'm still quite chunky! 
I'm no medical expert seem to know more about it than my own GP though but if you have any other symptoms you should probably get it tested sooner rather than later. (If weight loss is the only potential symptom I personally wouldn't be rushing to the doctor either.) It does take a while to get the medication right mind you (admittedly I only really know about hypo- rather than hyperthyroidism) so you might continue to lose weight until they got the dose right in any case. But please don't take my word for it - I'm really not medically trained and you could of course just be one of those lucky people whose weight just drops off of its own accord!
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