Sleeping through at 5 months- help!!!

[gondolo]

My ds is 20 weeks now, and is still not going through the night. We've got a really good bath time bed time routine and he's reliably asleep by 7pm. He wakes overnight between 2 & 4, feeds and then goes straight back to
Sleep. He's ebf but I have just started giving a bottle of formula occasionally in the evenings. Ive tried a 10pm dream feed but it makes no difference. Im going back to ft work with long commute in 4 weeks and I'm not going to be able to manage on broken sleep constantly. DP is a waste of space so he can't help with night feeds. Any ideas on how to change routine to help him go through the night? Thanks!

Brilliant Sprite, happy for you! I felt the same, and don't forget only a couple of years ago the WHO guidelines were 6 months so don't feel too guilty. Sleep is vital - good luck.

Another voice saying that that sleep pattern you describe is great for a 5 month old! One wake, baby goes back to sleep straight after being fed - brilliant!

I really wouldn't worry about it - keep doing what you're doing as it's clearly working, and eventually your baby will sleep through. Maybe not tomorrow, or the next day, but it will happen.

OP I too could have written your post, my DS is almost 5 months and sounds like he has the same patterns as your DS - and I too am going back to work so getting worried about it. It's especially frustrating as he went through a phase between 2 - 4 months of sleeping from 10pm till 4 - 5 am on a regular basis, whereas now he rarely goes past 2am. No advice then, but am watching this thread with interest ...

Like someone else suggested, I am just trying to bring my bedtime forward to 9ish, not ideal, but helps me function better!

You might find going back to work refreshes you a bit OP. I went back after a few months with both of mine and IMO it did me the world of good. I still love working and see it as a bit of a 'rest' , from a very demanding baby.

Your baby seems to be sleeping great.

Enjoy x

They can sleep through early my ds' were 6 weeks and 11 weeks when they both did 7-6 and I didn't sleep train them, they were both bottle fed though. but I think you just need to carry on as your are and eventually he'll do it himself, sorry doesn't help ready for back to work!

OP another voice to say it sounds like you're actually doing really well. Some babies just take longer to sleep for a 10-12 hour stretch. My DD didn't start "sleeping through" until 12 months and even at 19 months she still sometimes has stretches where she'll wake in the night.

I know it feels like you won't cope at work but you will be surprised how you somehow find a way to get through. Have you tried going to bed when your baby goes to bed some nights i.e. at 7pm so at least you get 7 hours sleep? It makes for some very boring evenings but at least you can get a good block of sleep.

I've been back to work for 6 months and DD has woken in the night everyday this week for a two hour stretch before going back to sleep. It has been tiring but I have managed (and pre DD I used to struggle on less than 8 hours sleep!) and you will be ok too.

I would like someone from WHO to come and deal with the night wakings if my 20wo ds comes back into our room, every 90 minutes approx., and no more than 30 minutes sleep at once for me because of the noise he makes. Failing that, he can stay in his own room where he's slept soundly for up to 9 hours at a time since 14wo!