5 month old (not) sleeping.

[Kk101]

My 5 month old has suddenly stopped sleeping - day and night. She's probably getting at most 7 hours in a 24 hour period and never sleeps for more than 2 hours. She won't nap during the day unless we're out in the pram and as a consequence she gets over tired. We've tried bedtime routine - bath, milk, book then normally more milk. She may go down eventually around 11 after tears but wakes soon after. She also won't self soothe. She's never been a great sleeper but until a month ago would occasionally sleep for 8 hours so I know she can do it but at the moment she need two feeds in the night. Other than the feeds she wakes up normally another 4 or 5 time and won't go back to sleep unless cuddled. Any advice?

Might she be teething? My daughter started teething at 5 months and went from being a decentish sleeper to being really disturbed and wriggly. Even if you can't see any teeth coming through, if she's dribbly or has red cheeks then that might be it. Have you tried giving her some Calpol to see if it makes a difference? Mydd now has the second lot coming through and the merry go round has started again - it really does make her miserable.

Or maybe she's getting hungry and might need some solids a bit earlier? I know the official guidelines are 6 months, but some babies just can't wait that long! Maybe discuss with your HV/GP?

Good luck! If you find any winning tips then do share with the rest of us!

poor you. She must be massively overtired which is a complete bugger to deal with.

Honestly, my advice would be to use the pram lots and lots before that stops working too to get the naps into her and reduce the overtiredness. I think she needs about 3+ hrs naps per day at this age iirc? and actually she will need much more if she's not sleeping 12 hours at night and has built up a sleep deficit. if you can spend a few days doing long pram walks and making sure she gets loads of naps, she should become much less overtired and easier to settle.

however, you may still have a cuddle to sleep association to deal with even once she's not overtired. this means you may still get multiple wake ups. if so, you may need to use some sort of sleep training (whatever sort you're comfortable with) to teach her to self settle rather than requiring cuddles. but no sleep training will work while she is overtired, so get the naps in first.

She is definitely teething - she already has teeth. I think the teething can account for why she is waking up but she's also refusing to go to sleep. She wriggles and kicks her legs and smiles. She'll then cry a lot. She's clearly over tired but nothing we do can get her to go to sleep until she basically passes out. Sometimes she'll nurse to sleep but she's also started getting distracted - I've tried feeding her in the dark but she still pulls away. I do go for extra long walks with her and she will sleep for a whole but not long enough. I know that some babies don't need as much sleep but its clear she needs more than she's getting. It's almost like she's scared of sleeping or doesn't want to go to sleep in case she will miss something.
She's not started solids yet but I think we're going to try her on baby rice this week to see if that helps.