How to get 5 month old to sleep through the night?

[jrwxx]

My daughter is a week away from being 5 months old & is still not sleeping through the night.

We have a routine, bath, bottle, bed around 7pm. She usually falls asleep fine until around 10pm where she will start to fuss and cry, I've started to let her self soothe as I know she isn't hungry. She will fall back asleep until around 12:30 and from then she fusses every hour or two. I give her a bottle somewhere between 12 and 3pm and then she is fully awake at 5:30/6ish.

When she wakes up fussing she is still in a sleepy state with her eyes shut so I'm not sure why she's wakening up🤔

Also.. her daytime naps are always very short, never over an hour and she will only fall asleep through the day in her pram or car seat.

Naps that short are common around this age. How many is she having?

Have you tried giving her a bottle when she first wakes at 10 to see if she will take it? Is she cold? Temperature has dropped recently.

Wait a few years. How do you know she isn’t hungry? Most babies that age need milk over night.

Sounds so normal. I agree with babies needing milk overnight still at that age. Naps being short during the day also normal.

Once I stopped stressing my little girl didn't do the 7-7 straight through I was a happier mummy and she picked up on it. She's 16 months now and I'd say 7/10 sleeps through the night, self weaned from BF. Basic gentle routine is fine but don't be rigid. We worked out our little one needed a later bedtime and suddenly she slept much better than forcing her to bed at 7pm

I think your expectations might be a bit off here. Most 4 mo babies are not sleeping through the night, plenty are having a sleep regression at that age, cat naps are pretty standard until they get a few months older.

Have you tried a dream feed at 10/11pm?

5 months is tiny. The youngest I got one of mine to sleep through was 15 months. Oldest 5 years. That young I'd say just go with her natural rhythm and feed/change/cuddle as appropriate. You can maybe try to introduce elements of routine but it may not be too reliable.

You wait?

DS is 16 months, only started sleeping more solidly around 11 months, he now does 7-5:30. Yes its an early wake but I'll take that over broken nights any day!

not sure why she's wakening up

Because she's a baby and it's not necessarily normal to sleep through the night...

Why do you think she should be sleeping through the night?

DD had night feeds till she was a year! If she goes back to sleep after a feed then I'd just do that. It's entirely normal.

OP I recommend you follow people like Lyndsey Hookway and Kathryn Stagg on Instagram. Some babies never sleep through the night ever regardless of what you do. Some go onto being children and then adults who don't sleep through the night.

Your daughter’s sleep is very normal for her age and developmental stage. She might well be going through what they call a sleep regression too. I don’t actually think ‘self settling’ is a skill they can learn either (lots will disagree with me but I really think it’s developmental) - certainly not at that age. By leaving her to self settle do you mean you’re leaving her to have a little whinge/ wriggle around/ thrash about (all of which are very normal and I think often it’s wind) or you’re full on leaving her to cry. IMO she’s definitely to young to be left to fully cry - just because she’s not hungry doesn’t mean there’s not something else bothering her, maybe she just needs comfort?

I definitely think it’s worth reading up on normal infant sleep so that your expectations aren’t out of line, to talk of her ‘still’ not sleeping through the night means you expected it by this age so it’s no wonder you’re disappointed/ frustrated. There’s some good sleep people to follow on Instagram like Lyndsey Hookway or one called Care It Out which are good for getting an idea of what’s within the normal range and what you can do.

Honestly it’s shit and hard and I really do empathise. We’re still in it to some degree although my 14 month old has had phases of sleeping through but it’s not completely consistent as teeth, illnesses etc always set is back, but that phase you’re in was really tough. It does pass quickly although I know it doesn’t feel like it at the time!

First of all, I never let her cry for over 4 minutes. If she gets really upset I lift her into my bed and cuddle her. I don't particularly agree with the cry it out method, when she wakes at 10pm I offer her a feed but she doesn't want it. That's how I know she's not hungry. She will fuss for under 4 minutes and fall back asleep.

I never leave the room when she is crying either, I comfort her.
I'm just struggling with after 12/1am as she wakes every hour or two and sometimes when I give her a feed she only takes a sip or two then falls back asleep. She never fully wakes up, her eyes are always shut, she essentially dream feeds. She won't take a dummy either so I've stopped trying, they just make her cry.

I'm not looking for a lecture and I'm absolutely not strict or looking for too much from her! I am just asking if anyone has any tips or info on what I could do to settle her and hopefully stop her wakening up so upset every couple of hours. She hardly naps through the day and I'm worried she isn't getting enough restorative sleep.

Do you use white noise etc overnight? Mine loves the sound of ocean waves and that often lulls them back to sleep.

It's normal, you just need to go with it.

Mine slept through at 10 months of his own accord. At 5 months I was just there for him.

Yes, white noise definitely helps, I play it all night for her :)

You just need to be there for her and trust that the frequent wake ups won't last forever. PLEASE pick her Up when she cries, don't wait. It is building trust between you, she knows that you take care of her no matter what.

Dummy? We use a lavender baby pillow spray. Make sure she's not cold. Hand on her and gentle shhhh helps mine or she likes holding my hand. The every hour wake up I found was totally normal at certain ages as well. It's so hard but it will get better

My 18 month still doesn't sleep all night that often. I just live with the fact she will sleep all night one day and will be a teenager before long!

I would focus on getting her to sleep longer for naps in the day. That can really help with night sleeping. Do whatever you need to get her to nap longer. E.g. with my bad sleeper I used to do all naps in the sling to begin with to get the length longer, then used the pram and if they woke up too soon I'd rock the pram gently which would send them off to sleep again.

At night I would try to get them to fall asleep on their own, first by using pat shush and then leaving to grizzle for 5 minutes if not really distressed crying.

This might get you longer periods at night but as others say they may just not be ready to sleep through until much later.

It’s very normal for her age, unfortunately. Most babies don’t start sleeping through the night until after six months, and for many it’s a lot longer than that. My son is 10 months and still doesn’t reliably sleep through. We get one or two through nights a week if we’re lucky.

The best solution is to find ways to maximise your own sleep - does your partner help with nights? If not start splitting them with him so you get some decent stretches of sleep. You can also try going to bed early so that you get a good stretch of sleep while her sleep is best. You might also consider co-sleeping to see if that improves things.

Also on the hourly wakes - I would turn the white noise up louder for a few minutes and this often made them go back to sleep of their own accord

Just for reference - my 17 month old woke every hour last night. 🥱

Does she have a dummy? Have you felt her chest/back to see if she’s cold? What are her daytime naps like and wake windows? Could be overtired.