Help!!!

[blahblahblahblahblahblah100]

Hello,
I'm a first time mum to a 5 month old and I have no idea what I'm doing...I'm getting really stressed out as baby is so hard to settle and not great with sleep in general.
I know they are all different and that there is no text book...but looking for some help/guidance to help things settle down please.

Can you share with me your routines....

I feel like crying through sheer exhaustion and feeling helpless

White noise (Well running water noises) was a game changer for us. Tried it?

I agree white noise! Godsend for us. My DD was extremely fussy and hard to settle. We put the white noise sound on our phones (like the old fashioned unturned radio) and she'd settle in a matter of seconds.

Although divisive l found the Gina Ford contented baby routines fab for mine...my preemie dd slept through at 4 and a half months from 7.30 till 5.30 with a brief sleepy feed at 11pm...also napped for exactly 2 hours in the day with no fuss.....
You do have to prioritise the routines though, for me a very small price to pay for freedom at 7.30pm and a decent nights sleep.

I did it with my Ds too and he was sleeping as above by 6 months...

They were only 16 months apart, but for a long time both napped together at 12.30 for 2 hours and went to bed at 7.30 pm with no crying or fuss...

May be worth a read and see if you want to try it?

White noise is great!

Personally I wouldn’t worry about a routine at 5 months, unless you want to throw all your energy into a Gina Ford routine, which could either work or drive you crazy.

If baby is difficult to settle I would concentrate on awake times and putting down for regular naps. Feed on wakening and then put the baby down for another nap 90-120 minutes later when they show the first signs of tiredness. You may want to give another feed before the nap if it makes them easier to settle. If baby is only sleeping for 30-40 min (quite common), you may find they’re having 5-6 naps a day. This is fine - better to get lots of short naps in than trying to settle an over tired over stimulated baby. Also do whatever’s easiest to get them to sleep - mine generally slept in the buggy or sling and I only started to work on cot naps when they were a bit older.

Thank you everyone...was worried I would get horrible reply's on here.
I think it's naps we have a massive issue with, and he then try's to nap late (around 6.30) which then causes havoc for bed...I put him in cot at 6.30 asleep and up by 7 😩 still awake now and no sign of giving in!!
I know I must be doing something wrong, but can't figure where, as I've never done this before!

Sounds crazy but my husband won't let me use white noise...please don't laugh 😳 but he believes it allows spirits in
🙈🙈🙈
I've tried telling him that's barmy, but he truly believes this and made me sell the my hummy I bought....do you use the crackly noise ones or of an object say Hoover for instance?

It doesn't have to be static type noise you could try rain falling or we use the noise of a fan for our boy

@Rosebud1302 funnily, I had a fan on in his room last night and he slept 10.30-7.45 with one stir which dummy quickly sorted! The only downside is the monitor picks it up, but not sure I can do anything about that

If you have Spotify there are some Great white noise for baby playlist not just static sounds all sorts like hoovers, fans and rain etc

Could your husband reframe that to include good spirits who may help your baby sleep contentedly?

@Footle honestly he went mental when I put the MyHummy on as its static noise...he is a believer in all that, so was having none of it 🙈 don't think he will be persuaded even with good spirits!
I think I will try noise ones...he likes it when I shhh him, but all the apps I found are a little harsh in the way they shhhh

I don't have Spotify, but have amazon music, so may look on there at what they have!

There is an album on Spotify called perfect sounds for baby sleep. It has heartbeat sounds on it which my baby really liked.

@notanaturalmum I will have a look...thank you

@blahblahblahblahblahblah100 the fan in our room constantly on is what made me realise he likes the white noise so when I tried getting him to nap downstairs without it I would wonder why he didn't settle. Tried it and it worked a treat. He has a fan in his room now but if it isn't on I play it from my phone.

@Rosebud1302 do you have a monitor in child's room? And does it pick fan up? The fan in his room is ancient tbf so quite a noisy one!

@blahblahblabblahblah100 yes we do but it isn't the best monitor anyway so no noise from the fan is picked up! It's a quiet fan though.

Hi, I know you've tried myhummy with the static noise.. what about the olly owl? Would your husband feel comfortable with that as that plays music or a heartbeat sound when baby stirs during the night. Also it's great for bedtime association, it plays for 45 minutes then goes off so baby will be fully asleep.
Or have you looked into different Mobile toys, that play music you could just turn it off once little one is asleep there's also ones with projectors to comfort to sleep. Can be quite expensive but Shpock and gumtree can be very helpful!!