sleep issue - 20 week old

[amcateer]

I feel like i'm seriously at the end of my tether already! My LO sleeps absolutly fine during the day, I can put him in his cot and walk out the room with only a little wimper and he'll fall sound BUT he'll on sleep for around half an hour at a time so I feel like he's constantly tired, so tips on getting him to sleep longer would be helpful. At night on the other hand can be a bit of a nightmare! He is in the bath at 7 and pyjamas and bed by 8, where he will go down (usually) without a fight but again will only sleep for around half an hour where he gets half up (still shattered and half asleep) and will scream the house down. I have tried shushing him, stroking his head and he will fall asleep but the minute I go to leave the room he will scream again. This goes on until around 10 oclock where he is so shattered that he cant really fight it anymore. I know that there is nothing wrong with him as I have now changed his feeding(BF) routine so that he is feed when he gets up after the half hour sleep so he isnt hungry. Any advice would be great, i am a single parent so dont really get a break xx

Also it hasn't always been like this. I've also looked into sleep regression but don't think its that xx

Have you thought about trying to move his bed time forward a bit? I know when my DD was about this age her sleep pattern changed. I moved it forward by 15 mins every other day until she was going down at 7 and that really improved things.

Even now if she's over-tired when she goes down she'll seem really fast asleep initially but within an hour she's up again and needs settling even though I can tell there's no other issue.

HTH

Hi there, my daughter is 12 weeks and has been sleeping through the night for some weeks now. I put it down to regular milk feeds making sure that she is getting her recommended amount for her weight/age during the day so that she sleeps through. We do 180mls 5 times a day 7am, 11am, 3pm and then bath at 6, then milk and in bed by 7pm. We then feed again before we go to bed at 11pm and she sleeps till 7am. It is different for everyone but I hope this helps a little. It is really tiring and overwhelming when they won't sleep isn't it. We have loads of problems getting her to sleep in the day so, we're definately not doing everything right!!

Can you try feeding on demand rather than to a routine?

What happens after the first feed when he first wakes up after half an hour?

If he doesn't want to go to bed until 10pm, why are you putting him down then? Why not just cuddle, play until 10pm and put him to bed then when he likes to go to sleep?

TBH, MY guess is that it isn't tiredness that is making him fractious but hunger. Can you trying offering him a feed every half hour during the day for a couple of days and see if the nights improve?

StartingAfresh - I do feed on demand which is his own routine of roughly every 3 hours. I feed him when he gets up after that half hour because if I feed him before bed he just falls asleep and doesn't get enough. It's not that he doesn't want to sleep because he is shattered and I can see that because he is half asleep and will dose on and off between bedtime and 10, so if i keep him up he will be overtired. I will try the extra feed offerings though and see if it helps, Thank you x

Just before he falls asleep each time, have you tried offering the other breast, and then switching again when he slows?

You can get quite a bit more milk in that way that might having him sleeping for longer?

At around 16-20 weeks babies generally need more calories, and generally need them at night due to their made development business during the day.

Haven't thought of switching him over, will give it a go. Thanks again x