5 mo old waking every hour at night

[Tmgc123]

Hi all,

So my baby has never been an amazing sleeper. She fights naps like billy-o, although we are getting into a pattern of 3 naps a day (although these are all on me/the boob. I’m working on cot naps but she hates it)

We’ve got our bedtime routine down pat, bath, feed (yes feed to sleep), and down.

She’s always woken several times in the night, used to be 10.30/11, midnight/1, 3am, and then fussy from 5/6 when she’s come into bed with me. I do feed her on every wake up because literally nothing else will calm her, and she does seem hungry and will eat!

Lately however, she first started to wake at about 2am and not want to go back down. I started putting her down awake and she started falling asleep which I thought was incredible, but now she’s waking every hour, starting straight after bedtime, and even when she doesn’t want to eat, I can’t put her down awake, she just screams.

I have started with a little bit of food, so I assume this is causing havoc with her tummy, so I do try to burp her etc at night if she seems uncomfortable.

I’m used to beefing up many times in the night and I can deal with it, but getting 45minutes at a time to get some sleep in isn’t working!

She settles if I bring her into bed and let her feed whenever she wants. I’m aware she uses me as comfort but right now I have no way of taking that away from her, nor do I want to, I’d just like her to sleep for a few more hours at a time!

Has anyone else been through this? What I’d like to hear is that it’ll just pass without me having to do anything like leaving her to cry or moving her out of my room, which all seems counterintuitive to me! Thank you x

[FortheloveofJames]

Would you say this has happened since you started food or after?

[FortheloveofJames]

Sorry- I meant was it like this before you started the food or after is what I meant!

[NinaMarieP]

There's a big sleep regression around four months which you could have hit late, could be a growth spurt. Could be the food is upsetting her, could be a lot of things really.

We had several weeks of waking constantly (though thankfully the dummy and some rocking sorted out most of them so we were only up 15 minutes at a time) and it has failed off how he's 5 months.

Come join me on this thread www.mumsnet.com/Talk/sleep/3125969-The-great-non-sleepers-the-sequel as there are tons of us in the same and similar boat and it helps to chat and get some ideas!

[NinaMarieP]

*tailed off, sorry

[Tmgc123]

Thanks ninamarieP, I will!

Fortheloveofjames, it probably has got worse since we started feeding. Do you think I just hold off for a while, or will she get used to it? I did start early, but mainly cause she eats so much, I wanted to fill her tum a bit during the day so she had some time for play as well as Always eating! (She’s a big healthy weight, no issues there)

[AMagdalena]

Maybe her tummy wasn't quite ready for solids yet or it's just one of those things. Babies' sleep isn'g linear, so what's amazing today might turn pretty awful tomorrow and you won't know why.
My DD is 5.5 months and we had a couple of weeks wehere she was waking every 1-2 hours, but she did her first 8 hr stretch ever last night and I have no idea why. It can also go pear shaped tonight.

[AMagdalena]

I also used to worry about feeding to sleep, but it's judt a phase. It won't last forever. BF is amazingly, naturally relaxing for babies, so why fight it?

[FortheloveofJames]

Her wee tummy may not be ready for food yet and it’s making her more uncomfortable. You’ll get loads of different opinions about early weaning and you know your baby best but it could be the food that’s upsetting her. Easiest way to tell is to stop the food for a few days and she if she improves. If she doesn’t you know it’s not food related.

Also, i terms of filling her up BM is faaaaar better for her at the moment, at this stage of weaning it’s mostly just fruit and veg which is limited in calories and really just fills there stomach. That could also be the other reasons she’s feeding more at night

[Tmgc123]

Thanks guys... I suppose it’s a bit of a risk starting early with the food, although... it’s funny she doesn’t get upset when she can attach herself to my boobie when she likes 🤣

Yes maybe I’ll give it a break and then see what happens, I love BF anyway so it’s not like I want to stop anytime soon!

[Tmgc123]

By the way, she is technically 5.5months, so I am early early with the food, but not as early as it seems! However, I will give it a break for a good few days and see what happens! She loved eating so I don’t have any worries about feeding her. (I did want to start too because sadly when I go back to work I will be away overnight and I really want her to be ok with things and happy)
Thanks guys, I’ll let you allknow the result in a few days when herdisgestion has cleared!

[Tmgc123]

So last night it wasn’t every hour, it was anything from as little as 7minutes, to as long as 40minutes. No problem getting back to sleep on the boob, but waking up screaming like in pain.

Gave in and gave calpol around midnight which resulted in sleep thank god. Who knows... could be teething? I suppose just got to keep seeing what happens x

[Tmgc123]

So an update: we stopped weaning and nothing’s improved. In fact it’s worse.

She’s now got into a habit from about midnight of falling asleep on me, and when I put her in her cot she screams. She’s recebtly developed a high pitched scream and she uses it.

She can be happily asleep on me, but when I move her as I always have done she either wakes immediately or after a few minutes.

Prior to this I was able to put her down awake in the cot in the night and she’d fall asleep.

If she was in pain she wouldn’t be able to sleep on me. She sleeps flat so it’s not reflux/ear infection. She can’t just sleep in my bed all the time. What is going on??

[Tmgc123]

My OH says let her sleep in bed (because then she doesn’t wake at all) but then I barely sleep, and soon I’ll be going away for work and she needs to learn how to sleep not on me. She’s currently fast asleep sprawled across my lap as I sit up in bed. I tried to let her settle herself in the cot and it was hell.

[RebeccaNoodles]

You poor thing.

It sounds to me like the four month sleep regression arriving bit late. Google it, it's universal and nothing you've done wrong. There are different ways of dealing with it - from sleep training (which we eventually did) to just riding it out and co sleeping. I really hope you find something that helps ... meanwhile is there any way you can get 4 or 5 hours in a row, can your partner help?

Silicon earplugs are best just to take the edge off the screams so you can sleep a bit if she screams with your partner. Good luck!

[Tmgc123]

Thank you! If it’s a case of riding it out I’ll do that... I’m
Just worried about creating bad habits where they didn’t previously exist :( I can get some sleep if she’s attached to my nipple or lying on me. It’s very lovely that she needs me to sleep, but it’s not very practical for either of us! X