5mo thrashes around when put down in cot - help!

[WhyNotSmile]

DS is almost 5mo, and has never been a good sleeper. It had got manageable, but suddenly he just won't go down in his cot. This is the third night and I'm exhausted. He'll sleep in my arms, or of I lie him down on a softer mattress, but as soon as I try to put him in his cot he starts thrashing his arms about and wakes himself up.

last night I ended up sleeping on the nursery floor with him - the only way I could get him to sleep was to let him lie with my arm under his neck. I got a tiny bit of sleep but not much. tonight he's sleeping on my lap at the moment, but I've tried putting him down and it's the same every time - arms and legs thrashing about until he's awake and crying.

I don't know what to do - I'm completely exhausted and scared of falling asleep with him on my lap. Does anyone have any suggestions?

[icklekid]

My nearly 6 month old had a couple of nights of this last week - would be fast asleep then screamed when put down on cot. We ended up safely cosleeping on spare bed is this possible? It's not ideal but at least we both got sleep. ..

[WhyNotSmile]

I'd give that a go, but don't have a spare bed to try it in at the moment!

[icklekid]

Could dh/dp sleep on sofa and you try onyour bed? Obviously not long term but just for a night or two? I tried everything - even putting my dressing gown on his cot mattress but no luck. I guess you could try pick up pit down sleep training which we've been trying for naps but I couldn't face it at night... lots of and sympathy

[TeenageMutantNinjaTurtle]

To fix the problem, you need to teach your baby to fall asleep on his own in his bed. By 5 months though, this is pretty tricky unless you can put up with some crying as he'll be pretty used to lots of cuddles and rocking. Start by setting up a good bed time routine and then there are a bunch of sleep training techniques with varying degrees of crying. We used pick up/put down and lots of tummy rubbing.

Your other alternative is cosleeping or setting up a bed on the nursery floor so at least you are comfy. I did this for many months with our first before we cracked and tried sleep training!

[WhyNotSmile]

So I eventually tricked him by putting a hot water bottle (containing room temperature water, not hot) kind of under his legs. That seemed to convince him that I was still there.

He seemed pretty windy, and I'm wondering whether it's actually something I've eaten (he's breastfed). The past few days I've probably had more caffeine than usual, so maybe that's affecting him. I'm going to cut out chocolate and sugar as much as possible for the next couple of days, I think, and I'll only have decaf tea (which is what I usually drink anyway - but I've had regular tea a few times at people's houses the last few days).

I'm also reading up on sleep training. This has come out of nowhere quite suddenly - he's never been a good sleeper, but just got incredibly bad all of a sudden.

[TeenageMutantNinjaTurtle]

A lot of babies have a sleep regression around 4-5 months, it's extremely common. I have no idea why it happens but there is a lot on Google about it and for both of mine it literally got worse overnight.

[WhyNotSmile]

I've read a bit about that, Turtle. How long did it last with yours?