To be absolutely raging at my 5mo

[Lammveg]

My DD is 5mo and is waking up hourly and has been for the last week or so. She's fed, clean, is lovely in the day time, super happy etc. Won't settle without boob, but also pinches my skin and bites my nipple when feeding overnight. Refuses bottles and dummies. I'm raging (somewhat light hearted...but also not really). I'm so tired. Tell me it gets better!!?

@Lammveg yes, Lyndsey Hookway is brilliant. There's also Second star to the right, fox and the moon infant sleep, little nest sleep, hey sleepy baby. So many 🤣

As they all say, babies don't need to be taught how to sleep.
My mum was the same as you, just put us in a room and left us.

My 5 month old is still in with us and the guidance is not to be move them to their own room until 6 months (in US apparently it's now 12 months).

Definitely go with the quickest way to get back to sleep, that's usually going to be a b'feed. It's what I did with DD, her sleep was so up and down for her first 12 months and then she started sleeping through the night. Only wakes now if she's not well and she's almost 2.

My bad sleeper is 15 now. His personal best was 26 night wakings in one night. I was so desperate I counted! It does get better. He's still a night owl now and is the definition of NOT a morning person. Some of these babies just have circadian rhythms that don't play ball. It's pretty normal & an evolutionary thing. Hope you all get some rest soon. It's shit x

@Carla2601 @WaltzingWaters thank you! I do actually have a couple of Tommie tippees bought on eBay. Will check the togs x

@Janefx40 its this one we have and it’s so thin I just pop her in a nappy and this

https://www.tommeetippee.com/en-gb/product/the-original-grobag-sky-grey-marl-swaddlebag?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI7ZvpnKzH_wIVD7PtCh3RIw1jEAQYASABEgJjOvD_BwE#530=18044&534=18438

bought at John Lewis

It gets better!! I had similar in last year's heatwave and it was Awful. We had a shit sleeper

If your partner sleeps like a rock, get him to take the morning shift 7am to 9am so you get some sleep.

Fans in the room to keep cool.

Honestly I agree sleep training around this time worked but every time a heatwave hit or teething or a massive leap, it went out the window. It just a phase. Handhold!!.

I really sympathise- my DS (now 11.5 months) was an absolutely dreadful sleeper until about 8 months when I tried the method in this thread: www.mumsnet.com/talk/sleep/1394888-What-worked-for-us-Hope-this-helps It really saved my sanity! He still isn't perfect (last night was his worst in a while but I think a combination of the heat and teething) but he averages 1-2 wake ups a night now and has even done a stretch of over 9 hours on one occasion, which is incredible when we look back to the days when we were lucky if he'd sleep for an hour at a time!

@TopMog

“An occasional small glass of wine or beer (Vitamin B) won't do any harm.”

think op deserves more than an occasional small glass tbh!

Thanks @Carla2601 I have two but they are a few years old and just say "light" rather than giving a tog. But I think I can assume that means 0.2 or 0.5 probably

In the heat it seems not unusual that your baby wants to nurse more frequently. So, if you keep drinking water, you will both be hydrated.

Are you maybe drinking coffee and tea which both contain caffeine, or things like Coca cola or other synthetic drinks - think sugar, chemicals and preservatives, and these are contributing to his wakefulness?

When he suckles are you getting a let-down so that he is getting the later fat content which will keep him feeling fuller? Again, it is well worthwhile to contact La Leche League for expert help.

I've been using homoeopathy for the past 50 years and it has never let me down. Apart from Calc phos 6x, you could also get Chamomilla 6x (calming Chamomile in homeopathic form which works much more efficiently). Cocculus is good for you for emotional exhaustion from disturbed nights. Passiflora co is a gentle tranquilizer without any side effects. It is a homoeopathic sleeping pill. Rather than sedation the remedy gently quietens the mind and allows the patient to drop off to sleep. Safe for any age, it can be repeated during the night if awoken. It also combats the ill effects of drinking too much coffee. Ainsworths will give advice over the phone, and if you can't get there physically, they will deliver.

Human babies are more vulnerable than animal babies so need to be kept safe and so being in the same bed at night as the mother is an age-old solution. Have you read The family bed by Tine Thevenin? It's excellent.

It absolutely will get better. My second child was an absolute nightmare. I’m not exaggerating when I say that I ran on 2 hours of broken sleep a night for quite some time. 5mo was the peak of it, I could’ve happily walked away. I was a dead woman walking, total zombie.
She’s 4 now, and still not a great sleeper but SO much better.
You’ll be ok, I promise. My mantra is “this is only temporary”. It might feel like an eternity, but it’s temporary - just keep telling yourself that. Your child WILL sleep. Maybe not tonight, or tomorrow, but eventually they will.
If you can rope in a friend/family member, maybe take advantage of getting a couple of hours sleep. I had very little family support (lockdown baby), but my best friend was a lifesaver.

Babs is nearly 6 months old and has NEVER slept through the night. I don’t think I’ve slept more then a 2 hour block in about 3 months.
Everyone else’s baby seems to sleep long stretches - when I go to baby class everyone else’s baby’s seem to do 5-6 hour stretches and they look at you like you’re an alien 😂😂
We co sleep, every nap is a contact nap - I just want a few hours without this tiny human attached to me 😂

You are allowed to be frustrated, but i'm sorry in my view to even say you are raging is wrong. Your little one is 5MO, they don't know whats the matter, they just know something doesnt feel right, its our job to figure it out. If you are frustrated, and theyre fed, and clean nappy and the right temperature, leave the room, shut the door, leaving them crying fir a bit is better than trying to soothe when your angry with them

Good luck to you folks.

Second time round the sleep is just as erratic but not bothering me nearly as much because 1) I have accepted it and am not spending any time researching what I am doing wrong/second guessing myself and 2) I know in my bones now that everything with kids is a phase and it WILL pass

If it's any help.... at around that age, I had a bite baby too... he lost the boob on the second bite so I knew it wasn't a mistake... unhappy baby.... it happened the next day, he lost it on the first bite... he didn't do it again.... but he bit by mistake a few days later and looked totally panicked.... he did not lose it that time.... he never bit again.... he's 14 and we have a great and trusting relationship

My DS didn't sleep through the night until he was 3 and it was so hard. But he turned 3, without diapers or a bottle and then slept through.

I can remember feeling as if I was going mad! But it does get better!

You can totally nap with her in the day if you embrace cosleeping for naps. Sweet Dreams by La Leche League has great info on how to do it safely.

Oh I remember the rage! There is nothing like the instinctual rage that comes from being forced awake abruptly and given no choice but to get up no matter sleep deprived you are. I get it. My daughter also regressed (several times) to hourly wake ups. I found during the actual feeds that reading an ebook or binge watching a programme helped distract me enough to get through the nighttime feed without wanting to throw her out the window! Good luck and well done, your doing amazingly

How long did it take to change? My 2.5 year old still wakes every two hours 😭

Oh I haven't seen your post but was up and then every hour after 😭. Mine is nearly 5mo a d everything else exactly as you described for me too. Only that my DD slept really long stretches from about 4 weeks old onwards and we (I!) was totally lulled into thinking that will stay (never napped though only on me). About a month ago she started waking up and now wakes up more and more often 😩. Apparently this is the 4 mo big leap that is the hardest on parents but when does it end 😩😩😩.
Not helpful but try WonderWeeks. Surprisingly accurate to tell you when these leaps happen and what is she learning during these etc.
also - and but ! - my twin boys did none of this :( they slept through by 4 mo and improved from then on

I bf mine a year each and they were both like this. They’re tweens now and I get 5-6hrs solid a night and have since youngest was 5 - hang on in there, it gets easier! Well, not easier but you do get more sleep!

probably teething. have u tried everything u can for this, especially ashtons powders, work wonders!

It gets so, so much better. What you're in now is one of those state of emergency situations where countries upend all their laws for a bit.

Don't think ahead, just plough through each day at this point. There wil;l be a number of these stages but they don't last as long as you think, and there are respites.

Hang in there, this too will pass.

May be teething. My daughter used to really suffer with it and wake hourly.. if she is biting apparently children bite when teething is painful. The topical things didn’t work for us and we ended up with calpol and neurofen. Hope it improves for you!

The 'no cry sleep solution' book saved my sanity

It does get easier….or should I say there’s different challenges ahead. The early stages are incredibly challenging.