5 month sleep routine

[Est103]

My little boy is 5 months, and is my first so in the best way possible we really don’t know what we are doing and have been taking things day by day, week by week,month by month. Overall things are going well but I just can’t seem to get the sleep routine right. I’ve never had more than 3 hours sleep in a row since he was born and it’s really getting to me - I literally can’t open my eyes at night when he wakes and it’s leading to bad habits (feeding in bed falling asleep, rather than putting him back in his cot).

So I wondered how does my nap/sleep routine sound, and do others have an example of how they manage sleeping around 5 months?
The main issues are daytime naps - still doesn’t like being put down, if he does it’s never more than 10 minutes (sleeps fine in pram/car seat), he’s also a very light sleeper so even if Im holding him he doesnt stay asleep that long.

At night we put him down around 7/7.30, bf to sleep then he wakes up every 30 minutes until around 10/11, then again at 12.30, and again every 2 hours until 4, when he goes back to waking up every half hour. If I keep him in bed with me he sleeps better, but then I don’t as I’m so aware that he’s there!

The schedule is generally wakes at 8, nap at 10. Nap at 12.30, nap at 3.30. All ideally 1 hour but often less. Then around 6.30 we do bath, some sensory lights in a dark room and quiet music, pyjamas then bf to sleep by 7.30.
Then the waking begins…he needs rocking or feeding back to sleep, but does normally sleep again fairly easily.
Sometimes he also falls asleep around 7.30 but is then wide awake half an hour later, as if it was a nap rathe than bedtime.

Anyone have any thoughts or advice? Thank you!

[FATEdestiny]

The easy answer would be to find ways to make cosleeping easier and better for you all, and embrace it full time.

If you want baby sleeping independently (in the cot), you have to teach baby to go to sleep in the cot. That's hard work and demanding.

So before you go forward, instead of the scattergun try-everything methods you are applying currently, best to decide which your parenting style most suits and committ to that.

[Est103]

Thanks - what is scattergun about my approach? Is the nap schedule way off? We want him sleeping in his own cot. Our co sleeping is safe but I just can’t keep it up as I can’t sleep deeply enough to not feel tired.
He can fall asleep in his cot, the issue is the waking up so frequently which I just don’t know if it’s normal, bad nap routine or bad bedtime routine.

[FATEdestiny]

Is the nap schedule way off?

I'd suggest baby is awake too long between naps. Until naps are consistently over 90 minutes then Wake Time wants to be about double previous nap length. So, for example, if you get a 30 minute nap at 10 then next nap wants to be an hour from waking if it's a 45 min nap then 90 mins from waking, and so on.

It's absolutely fine, at this stage of baby's life, for naps to be in something that moves. I would ideally suggest either (a) a bouncy chair or (b) a pram pushed back and forth on the spot.

And to be consistent with this, so always the same place whenever possible. You don't need to work on cot/stationary naps until naps are consistantly longer (90 minutes plus).

what is scattergun about my approach?

I wasn't being judgemental (just in case you thought that, the internet not showing tone of voice and all that). I meant that post-4-month-regresdion needs almost anal-type consistency. Always the same place. Always the same thing. Always the same sequence of events.

He can fall asleep in his cot, the issue is the waking up so frequently which I just don’t know if it’s normal

That's a fantastic start for nights. It's important to be consistent with your night wakes too.

As for waking was frequently, it's not uncommon. But you would hope that baby is easy to settle without a feed at this stage. Waking every half hour would suggest a problem with sleep that could be fixed. The trick is to find the problem.

We want him sleeping in his own cot.

It's really important he learns to go to sleep (consistently) in the cot in that case. This is very labour intensive on your part. To get baby sleeping independently is far more hard work on you.

Do you have a dummy established? This makes independant sleep significantly easier.

Otherwise it involves a large amount of bending over the cot, shushing, patting and whatnot whole baby cries. Seperate feeding and sleeping as much as possible and try to settle for night wakes without feeding.

[Est103]

Hi,

Sorry for slow reply but thanks for taking the time to reply - I altered the nap schedule as you suggested and this helps a lot. Also become a lot stricter in consistency with both daytime naps and nighttime . Still struggling with separating night waking and feeding as he screams until comfort fed, but apart from that things have improved.
Thanks for your help!