Baby Leg Thumping/banging HELP!

[fr4ser]

5 Month old LO is bringing legs up and bashing them down as hard as possible on the mattress in his cot. He does not seem bothered about it, when awake he laughs while doing it, however at night he doesn't even flinch. Legs up, bash down.

However.....my poor neighbours! Our little cottage completely shakes and the other night we are sure the bashing woke the neighbours up. We have VERY thin walls. Any tips on how to quieten it down. I have resorted to sticking a pillow under his legs, however I don't think that is good for his posture, nor SIDS risk so I end up whipping it out after 5 minutes! His legs are so strong I don't think a sheet would stay very long either and I'm worried it would end up on his face.

Any advice gratefully received.

Oh this has brought back very strong, nostalgic memories, I forgot they did this!

My two grew out of it really quickly, I think they just enjoy it because they are making such a good noise.

Could you put something under the mattress to deaden the sound a bit? I recall the wooden slats in the base of the cot rattling a bit so maybe pillows or a folded duvet between the cot base and mattress? Don’t think you can do anything on the top of the mattress for the reasons you say.

They will stop soon, once they learn something else new.

My 4mo is doing that as I type this but he does it while he's asleep!! He's in a sleeping bag but I just put a cellular blanket over his lower legs and tuck it in so he can't bring them up and slam them down

Oh, I remember mine doing this, was noisy in those gro-bag things!
If you can't move him away from the neighbours or tuck him in snug, could you pop round with a box of earplugs, a bottle of wine and an explanation and apology?

Ooh my ds2 does this too, when he's trying to wake up! I didn't know it was a generic baby thing 

I'd put a blanket over his legs and under the mattress so it's really nice and tight.

Mine did this and still does a bit. It can be self settling behaviour, for my little one in certainly is.

Mine LOVED doing this. Takes me back. Bloody noisy though and she was in a gro bag too.

She grew out of it. Nothing stopped her.

Mine (18mo) still does it now when he's awake, usually when he's not happy about going to bed at night. I hate it as he always does it against the cot bars that are alongside the wall with next doors house. It's so noisy!
He used to do it in his sleep but has grown out of it. He also used to shake his head from side to side in his sleep, but grew out of that as well. Apparently it was a self soothing method.

My last 2 did this, DS2 in particular - it was so loud and he would do it for ages. Oldest 2 didn't do it that I remember but they had blankets and youngest 2 had sleeping bags which made it easier to do I suppose.

My 6 month old does it - for him it's part of trying to settle back to sleep. He's doing it far less now that he can reliably roll and stay on his side to sleep.

Mine used to do this on hard floor as well. Don't think this phase lasted long though.