5 month old not sleeping, advice please!

[MavisDee]

Long time lurker, first time poster.

My DD is almost 5 months and has never been a great sleeper but over the past month or so is getting worse and worse. She has a great bedtime routine and goes down around 7pm and then will then usually wake for her last bottle of the day about 9 or 10pm. She then wakes continuously during the night and is very hard to settle until she finally needs feeding again anytime from about 3am. Inbetween this she is definitely not hungry, and not particularly unhappy, just awake and loud!

We are starting to really struggle with this and are considering pushing her bedtime back as it seems to us she just is not tired enough to stay asleep even though she doesn't need milk (she is formula fed). Is this a good idea or will we be ruining the only good part of our routine we have?!

She also is not a good napper, she has about four power naps a day of normally no longer than 30 mins.

Any advice would be so much appreciated.

What is she doing while she is awake during the night? DS was very fussy at night so we swaddle him using a swaddleme blanket, which stops him from waking himself up (might be a bit late to start that now?) and I also tried eliminating things from my diet. I don't eat dairy now and it seems to make a real difference - if I have any, he spends the whole night drawing his knees up and groaning. Anyway, I'm definitely no expert but those things worked for me. Good luck!

Thanks for the reply,

Sometimes she is crying but most of the time she is squealing (not in a an unhappy way) and kicking and seems to just want to play! Last night we tried leaving her to it but she just got herself very wound up.

Doh just read your op again and saw she is ff so the dairy thing is irrelevant - sorry! Maybe making sure you do loads with her in the day and she gets lots and lots of fresh air would help?

Sounds like she may have day and night a bit confused. Does she have blackout blinds in the room and no lights on? Does she go outside every day when awake, even to the shops? Are naps in the light and noise of the day?

How do you handle it when she wakes and is happy? Do you leave her to it? No eye contact, no talking, night light only, essential nappy changes only?

Would you consider moving her to her own room? It may be that she knows you're there and wants to play. Or in the complete reverse, just cosleep?

DD is 4m and is a much better sleeper than DS was but she goes down well at 7ish, may wake for feed at 9.30-10ish, sometimes makes it til midnight, then wakes again at 1-2ish, then 4 ish and after 4 ish a wriggly, no -settling whatsit, so at that point I tuck her in with me and she settles again til 6ish. She resettles beautifully after a feed, but DS was a nightmare for months, at your stage he was still waking every 45 mins or so, so it's not necessarily something you can "fix". By 8 months though DS was sleeping 7-7, 3 nights out of 5. It will get better.

I'd recommend to no cry sleep solution book for general advice.

Yes she is out and about during the day, napping in the daylight etc, and we don't talk to her and interact as little as possible during the night. She is in her own room. Sometimes in the early hours she comes in with us, but I would like to avoid co-sleeping, just not for us.

I think you may be right HP, that it is just something we are going to have to ride out. We think she is teething which doesn't help, coupled with a difficult birth and months of colic it just feels like we cant catch a break :( sorry, moan over.

Thank you for your replies

I've a 5.5 mo DS, who had been a good sleeper until recently.

He was doing 7.30-4.30, feed, 5-7am
Now he does 7.30-12, feed, 1-3, feed and in bed with me (or won't settle) and then tosses and turns the rest of the morning.

He sleeps on his front, starts rubbing his face furiously against the bed sheet, I roll him on his back and he rolls straight over and starts again. I actually cried with sheer exhaustion this morning, having had about 2 hour stints of sleep since last Thursday.

I'm considering dairy free diet, I read somewhere about the face rubbing as a sign of intolerance but need to research in context as is probably a coincidence.

Seems to be a difficult age for sleep, hopefully things will get better soon for us Too. I know what you mean about th crying through exhaustion, it is so frustrating!

Do you have GP near by who you could go to for a nights sleep mavis ?
As she's FF, it would really make sense for you both to alternate having a night off once a week, just to catch up and feel more human.

I know with DS I wondered if I'd even survive it and couldn't conceive that it would ever end, but it does. And then you go and do it all again....!

I thought you were suggesting Dr (GP) for a second HP

Don't get that service round here lol!

DS currently asleep on me, I've lots to do but using him as an excuse to watch back to back episodes of The Middle

DD asleep on me too!

Hope you get some sleep soon.

Funnily enough I did sneak off to my parents house the other night, it was just too much. Oh well, the daytimes are fun and she is constantly giggling t the moment so it makes it all worth it, I'm going to keep her ultra busy today an tire her out!