Five month old barely sleeps - help!

[User7675458889]

I can no longer see the wood for the trees as I'm so exhausted, so I'd love some ideas on what I can try!

My five month old is DC3. She is EBF on demand. Until about a month ago she was sleeping (what I would consider) very well, a stretch of five to six hours, then a feed, three more hours, another feed, maybe an hour more and up for the day. She hardly napped during the day, and cluster fed for 3-4 hours each evening, which was tiring but I could cope with as the nights gave me a break.

For the last four weeks or so she has continued to be a poor napper, continued to cluster feed for hours each evening, but also started waking every hour - or less - at night. She generally goes to sleep after a 10-15min feed after each wakeup, but I've barely gone back to sleep myself before she is stirring again. She's in her own nursery, in a Sleepyhead in a cot, and I am in the room on a single bed about a metre away. There's no chance I am disturbing her as I am a very quiet sleeper and like a ninja in the night to avoid any noise!

I have two other children under five so life is pretty intense anyway. The baby only naps if carried or pushed in a buggy so even if both the older ones are at school/nursery there is no chance of "sleep when the baby sleeps". My husband is very supportive but works extremely long hours and very limited on what he can do if he's also going to function.

My other two children were poor sleepers and tricky nappers so my expectations of baby sleep are pretty low already, but this is something else. I have thought of bed sharing but I am concerned of creating an even greater dependency, and I also feel like I just need a tiny bit of physical and emotional space in 24 hrs which I'm not able to get at any other time apart from the night.

Has anyone had this and emerged out the other side? I am totally at a loss now...

[Gannetseatfish]

Blimey that sounds tough. I have an 18 week old who doesn’t like naps but (generally) sleeps (a bit) better at night. I’ve been trying to get her to nap longer, ie trying to get her back to sleep if she’s awake crying after 20 mins which she invariably is. To some extent though don’t think there is much you can do other than survive and try and rest when you can, my toddler watched go jetters for a lot of today (dont tell anyone!)

[Lallypopstick]

Is this the 4 month sleep regression, a little late?

[crazycatlady5]

I would agree with Lally as the 4 month regression happened at 5 months for us. It passed after about 2 weeks, hang in there!

[crazycatlady5]

It really does get better. Promise. Keep doing what you’re doing and you’ll come out the other side, you got this mama

[RebeccaNoodles]

That sounds utterly exhausting, Im really sorry. My DD is doing very similar at 5.5 months but I only have her. I couldn't imagine what it's like with 3.
After speaking to 3 sleep consultants and a breastfeeding consultant I think I know what it is - basically 4 month sleep regression and we haven't come out of it. Very very long story short, her sleep patterns have matured and now she needs to go to sleep in the same way she stays asleep. So if she went to sleep in my arms (as she used to to to 2 weeks ago) she would wake up wanting the arms again. So main goal is to help her go to sleep by herself. Not held, not fed to sleep. She has dummy still though. We've got there - can write more if you want - and it's been really painless. She can now pretty much go to sleep by herself, with me sitting on bed nearby. This means when she wakes she does 'environment check', it's all the same so she can sleep on.

However - she is still wanting feeds almost every two hours the night. So after speaking to sleep consultant I've made the decision to night wean her. V controversial move for some but I feel we have no other choice as I can't, and don't want, struggle on when we're both this exhausted. I can report more if you like! Sorry this is so rambling, hope it's helpful ... You might come out of it spontaneously soon, hope you do.