Help sleeping with nearly 5 month old.. going mental!

[mrspookie]

Hi

Please can someone offer some advice, I'm literally going crazy. DS is nearly 5 months old and since birth has basically slept with me, in my bed, on my shoulder etc.

He has baby eczema which is quite bad, it makes him want to scratch especially at night, we have a variety of lotions which we apply that seem to be keeping the condition under control, but not the scratching.

He is exclusively breast fed. We are trying to get him to sleep in his cot, we have removed one side, aligned the height with the bed and put it alongside. Even when we get him in the cot or indeed he is sleeping in bed with me, I have to keep one arm under his head so that he knows I am still there. If I don't he's up straight away.

The slightest bit of sound wakes him up. He is now waking up every 45mins-1hr it will then take me 15 mins to settle him and put him down again. I need some advice how do I get him to

1. sleep in the cot
2. sleep for longer than an hour
3. settle down without having to be fed

I've basically not had any proper sleeping pattern since he was born. I snatch an hour here and there. I talk to other mums and their experience seem completely different. Even getting him down for 4 hours will be a god send! Perhaps the breastfeeding doesn't keep the little guy fed for long enough, he is feeding fine, putting on weight and wetting nappies etc.

Thanks to anyone that can suggest anything that I can do to create a routine.

Hi MrsSpookie,

It would be helpful if you could write down his average day of feeding, playing, outings, grumpy's and sleeping.

Also how you settle him to sleep.

We could then offer suggestions for changes

Thank you for your quick response. His average day is something like this;

8am wake up, plays for around 2-3 hours, has a nap with me on the bed for around an hour if we're lucky. Then we might go out or he plays at home on his gym and mat, song singing, reading stories. Again he's awake for around 3 hours. Then another nap which is longer on the bed again for 2 hours, this is normally the longest time he actually sleeps for continuously.

Around 6pm he has a bath, we were bathing him everyday as per instruction from the hospital, using oilatum in the bath, but now we are bathing him every other day. Around 8pm we try and get him down to sleep again.

His normal way of getting to sleep is to be breast fed until he dozes off along with some gentle rocking and basically holding him in my arms. From 8-9pm we've now tried to get him into the cot and he sleeps for around 45mins to an hour. At which point I breast fed him again until he dozes off again, and this continues throughout the night.

As I said before the eczema causes him to scratch at night, we are using gloves on him continuously as well as various lotions all provided by the hospital.

We really want to get into a routine where he doesn't require feeding to sleep and he actually starts sleeping for longer than an hour straight at night so that we can sleep too. He seems to be a very light sleeper, we are trying hard to be quiet around him but the smallest noise seems to wake him up.

Any advice is gratefully received.

Kind Regards

Probably not the best person to give you advice as I have just started a thread about sleep problems with my dd2! However, my dd1 was very similar to your LO, and we managed to get her to settle in the cot by using the Baby Whisperer's pick up/put down technique. It worked really well and I will definitely try it with dd2 once she reaches the right age (it's not recommended before 4 mths). Not sure if you're familiar with this method? I can go into a bit more detail if it sounds like something you would like to try.

Hi francesrivis

I'm not familiar with it, love to hear more. We are open to any suggestions!

Hello,

MY DS is 9 month and until 2 weeks ago, he only slept BFeeding and in my arms. He would wake up the very second I put him down.
It was starting to get really bad, he wasn't sleeping enough and he fell from my bed, so I decided to take action.
He was much older than your DS though, but I did leave him to cry a little (not very long at all, and I would come and pick him up when he was getting very annoyed). But it got better pretty fast and he has been sleeping on his own in his cot for the last 3 nights. The day naps are still not great.

I am not sure this will help as DS is 9m but I thought I'd share. Good luck!

Hi

Sounds very familiar to DS2 and you have my full sympathy. He also had bad eczema which really bothered him at night. I eventually cut out dairy from my diet and his eczema cleared within a week. He then started settling much better at night. He was later diagnosed with a severe milk allergy. Worth considering?

TobyTortise, Funny you should mention milk alergies, I've just returned from an appointment with the hospital dietitian and have been handed a list of food items that do not contain milk and milk products, certainly an eye opener.

I am going to start a dairy free diet from now, fingers crossed this will help matters.

Try bring the evening routine forward.

I have looked after a 7 month old who didn't sleep well, we played a repetative cd in the background at sleep times and it helped with the noise wakings and we stroked her face, made a shh shh sound and made no eye contact to help her settle to sleep and she was sleeping for 3-4 hr stretches in 4 days and 11-7 within 2 weeks with no waking.

The pick up/put down thing basically involves putting him down in his cot and picking him up when he cries. Then as soon as he stops you put him back down - if he cries, pick him up again - repeat ad infinitum! It's hard work but it did work wonders for my dd1 - did it throughout two daytime nap periods and she didn't sleep at all, but that evening she settled on her own in her cot and has done so ever since. HTH

Hello, my DD didnt sleep thourgh the night until 7 months and work every hour until then to be breastfed. I was at the end of my tether and decided to let her cry it out which I know some people don't agree with but it worked for us. I did go in every 10 mins or so and patted her and she did get very angry which was distrssing. However, this only lasted for 2 nights and she has slept thorugh ever since. If you can get your partner to go in (if you have one) then that sometimes makes it easier, or put some music/story on. Its not an easy soolution but it is an effective one. I had to so it as I was going completely mad with exhaustion - hadnt had a full nigths sleep in 7 months as she wouldn't take a bottle. Good luck - you do have to think of yourself too!

I can only imagine how worn out you must be!

My advice is regarding daytime naps - in Denmark where I come from all babies are put outside for their naps - at home and in nursery.

So if you are fortunate enough to have a garden, I would suggest putting your ds in the pram preferably under a tree so he can watch the leaves when he is ready to nod off. No rocking and no walking with him - he may complain for a short while the first couple of days, but he should quickly be getting used to that being put in his pram means sleeping.

They tend to sleep for much longer in the fresh air and this helps their night time sleep as well.

Hope it helps - if you decide to try it out.