There must be another way

[Mangomammy]

My 5 month old baby is currently waking 10 times a night, not an exaggeration. I have a few ongoing health conditions, EBF (baby won’t take a bottle), a 4 year old to contend with and my husband is working too much.

I don’t want to sleep train, but is this the only way? I cannot physical or mental continue like this but the idea of leaving them to cry is also breaking my heart.

YANBU: sleep train ftw
YABU: do not sleep train (advice welcomed/ please)

I feel you. Many of us have been there. The answer is (sorry) there is no right or wrong answer. Some babies will grow out of it by 6 months, others (looking at you DS) will be still waking hourly at 1. The trick is to think in less binary terms. You don't have to hard-core sleep train to be working on it. Look at building sleep associations, for instance. If you do follow the Ferber method, it won't harm your child in the context of an otherwise loving, predictably available family. Meeting your baby's need for responsive parenting should not be at the detriment of your ability to parent your existing child or at the cost of your own mental wellbeing. Good luck!

i would keep trying the bottle and not give up. You need to look after yourself not just the baby

I don’t want to stop breastfeeding, or combi feed daily tbh.

Thank you.

There are other methods of sleep training than cry it out. 100s of sleep consultants out there that don’t believe in that method so I don’t really feel like it’s all that or nothing.

There’s a big sleep development around 4 months so probs just that. Hang on in there

Does the baby sleep with you/beside you? I only got through it by having to do as little movement for night feeds as possible.
(obviously while being extremely careful for safety if co-sleeping)

next2me, but there is a gap between the bed/ cot. Our mattress is pretty soft so bed sharing isn’t really an option? They’re not feeding at every wake, just wanting a cuddle most of the time.

What happens if you just put your hand on their tummy to soothe them rather than lifting?
I mean you could try that as a kind of sleep training. 5 months too young for the just leaving them to cry type. It's very hard I know!