Still not sleeping through..!!! Helllpppp

[Nicshev]

Hi everyone,

My little girl is 5 months old and still waking in the night.. I don't feed her during the night but need to get up usually 2-3 times to give her, her dummy. The time she is awake for varies - sometimes 5 mins other times 2 hours! She doesn't usually cry when she wakes up but if I leave her too long she ends up even more wide awake and thinks it's time to play!

She has a great bedtime routine and goes down around 8 or half past! I have been trying this 'dream feed' around 11.30 but she still seems to wake! I go back to work in 3 weeks and will try anything to help settle this before I go back to work...thank you :) xx

My DS Has never been a great sleeper (still not sleeping through at 12 mo) but was worst between 4-7 months. It's a pretty bad time sleepwise for many babies (google 'four month sleep regression).

It might well get better on its own but from 6 months you could try a bit of sleep training. Can your DH/DP help out, if it's just giving her the dummy? You could do shifts - he deals with wakings between 9 and 2, you do 2 until 7 etc - that way you'd each get five hours' uninterrupted sleep.

Gosh, from your title I was expecting a 4 yr old!

I think most 5 month olds wake at night don't they? Both of mine still night fed at that age.

It's hard and exhausting and you have my sympathies, but I think it's normal.

Nicshev Morning It can be very tough but unfortunately, for some reason, our culture seems to perpetuate a myth that babies should be sleeping through the night by 6 weeks and if they don't we are either bead mothers or they are bad babies.

The truth is that most babies do not sleep through until over one year old,and even then it is only the medical definition if sleeping through that counts. One, 5 hour stretch after midnight.

Some interesting studies here

exactly, allhail!

"still not sleeping through" - was expecting a much older child!

she is still TINY - this is very normal, and you and your DH will just have to deal with it until she develops more and can sleep longer.

also, you say you want to "settle this" before you go back to work - unfortunately, it really doesn't settle for a good while longer yet - there are so many developmental hurdles which cause sleep disruptions - when she learns to crawl, when she starts solids, when she learns to walk etc.

also be prepared that things will go downhill when you start work, as she might be affected by the change in routine/circumstances etc.

you say you don't feed her - she might need a feed or at least a drink during the night.

As a first time mum I wasn't sure what was 'normal' guess my situation is... Thanks for the helpful advice.

Nicshev - I wonder if you feed her when she wakes the first time, whether this will help? I have a 10 month old and he was a great sleeper from about 8 weeks but as others said, it does change. He started waking during the night at around 9 months and now most nights sleeps solidly but this morning he woke at 4.45am, so you never know.

I work full-time and have done since he was 3.5 months so I do understand your anxiety about returning to work and getting enough sleep. I was very worried about this but you know what? You actually cope better than you think and you can work on not much sleep.

Just to add, my DD was about 21 months before she reliably slept through every night!

She had a dummy and often just needed it giving back, or a cuddle in the night when she was smaller. She was rarely up for ages, but we did have to get up to her.

Ds2 has only just started sleeping through and he's (touchwood cos it's not consistent). Ds3 is 17 months and can mainly sleep through so they're all different. Your dd sounds very normal at her age and the dream feed sounds like a good plan. The other poster who said you'd be amazed at how little sleep you can function on at work is true. I have 3 kids and am usually up 2 times a night with ds2 and 3 and am 35 weeks with ds4 and I'm still functioning at work. I just find I go into a very deep sleep quickly nowadays.

Hi there, I wonder if the dreamfeed coupled with the late bedtime could be disrupting her natural sleep cycle. The dreamfeed works really well but most of the advice I've read has been to do it a bit earlier, around 10 - 10.30, with the last 'wake' feed at around 7pm. Is there a reason not to bring bedtime forward a bit? Keep lights dim / no talking.

Otherwise, it may be hunger waking her up, perhaps? Have you started transitioning on to solids yet? The advice to start giving solids around six months is flexible depending on the baby - some are ready for baby rice / apple sauce as early as 4 months. If they can hold their head up / sit up unaided and have lost their tongue-thrust reflex they're ready. Just a thought. My DD started waking at 3am at about 5months because she was hungry: as soon as we added baby rice it was zzzzz all the way through.

My DD was 22 months before she slept through the night, this is normal for a five month old. I went back to work when DD was 7 months, but I was still breastfeeding. She reverse cycled and fed every 2-3 hours in the night, I was shattered but still managed to work and breastfed until she was 22 months. I coped by co-sleeping for a lot of the teething months.