My little sleep dodger is 4.5 months old. Sleep has been an issue since 9 weeks when he started waking every 45 mins to an hour. That has improved slightly so overnight we now get a 2-3 hour stretch generally, but he can take an hour to resettle.
His naps have reduced to 20-30 minutes even if sleeping on me, and takes an hour or so of rocking to get him to sleep, during which he cries hysterically.
We started pu/pd yesterday, he settles when picked up then screams in fury when put down, and we ended up rocking him in the pram anyway. Overnight very similar, did eventually sleep but only when we rocked the cot /fed to sleep. Both of us are exhausted and not sure what to do. He's too young for controlled crying, which I am not sure I could do anyway and laughs in the face of shush pat ect.
AIBU?
To ask if pick up/put down has worked for anyone?
SpudTato · 05/06/2016 13:18
Yeah, I know ... (Weary sigh.)
I have no problem with co sleeping but even our bloody doctor told us to leave him to cry 
. The number of 'well meaning' meddling nosey bastards who've told me he will never be out of the bed, or 'how long at you planning to breastfeed him for? (He's only 8 months ffs!)
In my mind, they're all individuals- my friend has a baby that's never been into cuddles and prefers bring left by himself to sleep. Ours has been welded to me since day one. We try to keep a decent Routine but he won't sleep in his cot. He seems to need us near and really that's fine. He's tiny.
The constant waking I suspect has a physical cause - we are waiting on appointments to investigate
You have my full sympathy as a survivor of a baby who never slept for longer than about an hour for a full year. Lots of good advice on here, we tried almost everything too, the only thing I can categorically say made a difference was seeing a cranial osteopath.
It was like magic - might be worth looking into? We went from having to pace up and down rocking DS for three hrs to get him off to sleep (fun times, those) to the first night after seeing the CO I fed him, burped him, put him in the crib and...he blinked and drifted off to sleep. Honestly: magic. It was like getting a different baby
For what it's worth, it all seems like a distant memory now as he's a brilliant sleeper. You will get through this, even if it doesn't feel like it at times! 
Sorry it's not got any better, I kind of hoped you'd say its magically improved 
Do you have much support to help you cope? Can you nap in the daytime?
I know what you mean about the stiffness, I sometimes wake up with a dead arm! We change position - switch sides etc, which helps. If you're a wriggler though I guess it's more tricky. For me it's just been trial and error really. It was a relief when I realised it's fine to move and shift position. I find baby settles very quickly when next to me, so I can wriggle about a bit until I'm comfy.
I can't remember your OP, do you have him in a crib next to the bed?
I read somewhere that babies are kind of naturally drawn to mum's chest, and that this position means you're pretty much face to face. Apparently this is great for them because your breath on their face stimulates their breathing so they have leas irregular breathing than if they we're on their own. Of course babies are ok on their own too, I don't mean to give you anything to worry about, but I just mean that safe co-sleeping is pretty safe, even with big boobs Safe being no alcohol/ drugs, safer if you're ebf, no bedding that could get them too hot or wedged in somewhere, etc - there's stuff online about guidelines.
Also - what's the big picture like? By which I mean how's baby's feeding, health, do you wind down before sleep time, could he be getting over stimulated or over tired before you start getting him off, wind/ reflux, etc?
Good luck tonight.
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