Help - 5.5 month old catnaps and wakes up screaming

[islingtongirl]

That really. I dont get more than 30mins and she more often than not wakes up unhappy, refuses all attempts to re -settle altho clearly tired. Its the same whether in cot (altho more hysterical crying to get her sleeping in first place - but not at night, why?!?) or pram. Pram guarantees a quicker 'send off' if pacing streets but no longer guarantees the 1hr+ naps that are now a distant memory!! Any advice? If she was waking up happy I would be inclined to accept she simply doesnt need more sleep but she gets so het up and still yawning etc. I worry doing things like my fitness class in the morning are meaning I an not concentrating on her naptimes and establishing a routine etc but equally I don't want to be confined to the house trying to get her to nap all day and going mad. Unless fed to sleep she sometimes is a nightmare to even get to sleep even if I try early, sleep cues seen etc....sorry for rambling! But at wits end a bit, cant get anything done and its kind of becoming an obsession, boring OH to death with it too. Just tired of the tantrums and screaming and want a happy rested baby

[HearMyRoar]

Could it be teething. I think around 5 months is prime time for the first tooth.

[islingtongirl]

Maybe...and she was ok at night until tonight! Screaming non stop for hours now whats going on?!?

[Rainbowisla]

I found this with my twins at about 3.5 months... I now leave them when they wake up if just whinging and often go back to sleep. Obviously I pick up if they get hysterical but if just unsettled then leave to go back to sleep

[BotBotticelli]

Am probably going to get flamed for this cos the prevailing opinion on MN is that all babies are completely happy to go without solid food until exactly the day they turn 6mo, BUT, have you considered trying your LO with a bit of food??

I started weaning my boy at 5mo for a number of reasons - but the final straw was when he stopped napping for longer than 20 mins at a time and was a complete misery from dawn till dusk and didn't sleep well at night either. He became almost instantly more happy and settled with a bit of food in his belly.

This will not be a popular opinion on these boards but I have found a fair few mums in rela life have reported similar things too...

[islingtongirl]

Funny you say that Bot but I have been wrangling with whether to wean DD for a week or so. She will be 25 weeks on Sunday, so not exactly far off...but this 26 weeks/6 months is held up as the magical number so haven't done anything yet...she is starting to sit up well, hand to eye coordination also pretty good...I just dont know what to do for the best! Another tiring day of nap figting and resulting in her screaming in cot for 25 mins (with me checking on her and going in every 5 mins) before eventually falling asleep for 1.5 hrs so she must have been tired?! I just don't get the screaming when I put her in the cot (and out and back in again - when I pick her up she goes quiet...so nothing can be that wrong!)

[ekyo]

I have the same issue. Began around 4 weeks or so, and has been a catnapper since. I've tried adjusting the awake times, swaddling, white noise, blackout room, rocking, jiggling, re-settling, nursing, nothing works. So I accepted it (well sort of). It did drive me mad, and still does on occasion. The best thing that works for me is putting her in bed and leaving after about 1-1.5 hrs of awake time (she is now 5 months) and let her babble or fuss to herself. If I go in to check on her, it is worse, she gets excited, and have to start over. She does this babbling and sometimes fussing for about 15-30 minutes then falls asleep for a 20-40 minute nap. I hope it will change someday and she will stop resisting naps and sleeping longer, or at least just sleeping longer. We are trying food, but she isn't very interested yet. I'll try food again next week. Luckily she sleeps well at night.