My baby won't sleep. WIBU to have a meltdown?

[papavraun]

5 month old won't sleep. When he does it's for an hour at a time. I have no support as his dad walked out. I'm exhausted and just had a mini melt down. Nothing terrible. Baby not sleeping. Me screaming in to a pillow. Why won't he sleep? He was so good at sleeping just a week ago 😥

I totally empathise. My four month old is the same. She only ever sleeps 45 minutes at a time and only in my armd or co-sleeping. Im not a single mum but my husband is disabled and so can’t take the baby at all. It is relentless isn’t it? Is this your first? This is my second and so I keep reminding myself it really does get better. They push you to your absolute limit but you really will get through it. A meltdown is completely reasonable...I have one every few days!! This phase will pass. You’ve got this...one day at a time.

I’m so sorry, YANBU to have a meltdown! It could be anything really, presuming you’ve ruled out hunger or dirty nappy, the most likely are probably illness, teething or learning a new skills like rolling or crawling. If what you’ve been doing at bedtime has worked up until a week ago then I’d carry on doing it, hopefully this is just a blip. And if it’s not once he’s 6 months weaning might help and if not you can look into sleep training if you would like. Fingers crossed he gets back to sleeping soon. Is there anyone that can give you a bit of a break? Even if it’s during the day so you can have a nap.

It sounds like a sleep regression- they don't last but awful at the time
Or maybe over tired- would he sleep in the pram sling or car so he can 'bank' some sleep and this may help him sleep better as not over tired. Do you have anyone could even take for a couple hours in the afternoon even a walk in the pram and you could sleep?
Feel for you hope it gets better soon.

Oof! Horrible. I'm going through similar. I'm dabbling in sleep training as dd has been like it for a few weeks now. I'm trying to stop feeding to sleep and working on a different bed time routine. Will let you know how I get on. In the meantime you have my sympathy and a virtual hand hold. We will get through this!

It happens to all of us at some point. Sleep deprivation is hell.

Do whatever you have to do to get by. My parents loved to tell stories of how they would put me in a playpen watching Late night tv while they dosed on the couch because I just refused to sleep.

Meltdowns help nobody. I'm afraid it's just one of these things you need to deal with. Life will get better (or different) once the dc gets older.

It's not that I'm not sympathetic, but sympathy helps no one. It's just something to get through, as much as you can

Are you breastfeeding?

Feeding lying down and co sleeping saved me. Forget the not feeding to sleep stuff and just do what gets you through the sleep regression.

Have you tried co sleeping?

It will pass! Could it be teething? Mine were terrible at night whilst teething and would wake every hour to moan about it, in the end I would give calpol and they would settle. Sleep deprivation is horrible, if you can nap when your baby naps and catch up on missed sleep that way, house work can wait! Just remember it will pass x

We are co sleeping at the moment but he falls asleep, wakes up 30 minutes later and screams. He grabs my skin so hard he scratches me because he's so upset. Kicks me, head butts me (he's not hungry), and is generally upset until he falls back asleep again. He can repeat this 6/7/8 times a night...

My 6 month old was a great sleeper - then got two teeth at 5 months - sleep was horrific until I clicked and gave her a dose of calpol - 5 hours sleep straight away!
It won’t do any harm giving him a dose, it’s worth a shot!

Maybe teething it sounds like. Calpol and teething gel. Hopefully wont last much longer

White noise? We used to play an eight hour utube clip of a hairdryer it worked on my husband too he slept wonderful

I have no calpol as our bloody cat knocked it off the counter and it smashed but I am going to buy some first thing tomorrow!!

Have you tried the odd bit of calpol in case it’s teething?

How are his naps during the day? Is his grumpy during the day or is this only at night?

You poor thing. Again sounds like a blip... bloody awful but a blip

Whenever my little one is going through a similar phase I try to remember that it's not that she won't sleep but more that she can't sleep. She actually doesn't know how to and she's probably as frustrated as I am! It just helps me to calm down and I think they pick up on our energy. If you've already tried playing white noise then I'd echo PPs recommending co-sleeping. It's saved me on many occasions. I hope this phase passes quickly for you! You're not alone.

Try putting the child in a cot on its own. It can work. Obviously not always though.

Sending you lots of sympathy as my first was a terrible sleeper and I thought I was losing my marbles.

It WILL pass, I promise. It's bloody torture at the time though.

Sending you lots of virtual tea, cakes and luck with it all