5 month old hysterical at bedtime

[PatientlyWaiting21]

Losing my mind! Our baby has never had any issue going to sleep until last few nights. As soon as she goes down she’s hysterical.

I’ve given Calpol just incase it’s teething but it’s not made a blind bit of difference. She stops as soon as picked up.

There’s no consoling her! Anyone else in the same boat? Breaks my heart hearing and seeing her like this!

4 month sleep regression?

@PerfectPrepPrincess nope been there and out the other side 🤣

She’s sleeping now, fell asleep on me sobbing her little heart out.

I hope this is a short lived phase. She always goes down awake and would get herself to sleep with no tears. Just not like her!

Reflux. Put down some towels UNDERNEATH the mattress of the cot so it's on an incline, head up as it we're.

Over tired at bedtime? Is she getting enough naps and early enough to bed?

@PerfectPrepPrincess no reflux issues.

@TooMinty yes she’s a brilliant napper gets a good 3-4 hrs through the day. Nothing has changed on our end, she’s always gone down no problem by 7.30pm from about 2.5 months.

Trapped wind? My DD went through a speak of being inconsolable at bedtime and this ended up being the cause

Through a *spell

Ear infection?

Have you started weaning? This can unsettle them whilst they learn to digest solid food

I think as hard as it sometimes they just go phases like this then they come out the other end. Sometimes it's developmental, sometimes they feel a bit under the weather or overwhelmed. I've stopped stressing myself over it, if for a few nights she won't sleep unless she's held then I hold her until she falls asleep or let her sleep with me, usually after a week or so she's back to herself and sleeping in her own cot again without issue.
It's hard when you're going through it but this too shall pass.

Once she's asleep, does she stay asleep? If so then I'd just ride out this phase.

@TooMinty

Once she's asleep, does she stay asleep? If so then I'd just ride out this phase.

@TooMinty yes she does, I assume from exhaustion though. Although after the night feed I’m up a lot having to reinsert the dummy. I’m averaging 4 hrs sleep a night and not sure how much more of this I can sanely cope with.

Our little girl is like this at the moment, putting her in our bed or holding her to sleep generally works. So while tiring, it hasn’t worried us as she wouldn’t happily sleep on us if she was in pain/discomfort. Have you tried her in your bed?

This is a common age for previously 'good' sleepers to change their mind about sleeping I'm afraid. There can be loads of things potentially at play - 4 month sleep 'regression' type changes to sleep cycles, general FOMO as they become more alert and interested in surroundings, separation anxiety can begin around now as they realise they can be separate from you, weaning can cause digestive issues, they can mean they need more milk than they did before now they're getting bigger...all kinds. My 6 mo was a pretty good sleeper for a couple of months, going down asleep alone and waking briefly for 1-2 feeds a night plus the odd dummy wake here and there. But the last few weeks he often won't go down alone anymore and is having three feeds a night plus loads of wake ups for the dummy. I don't even count dummy wake ups though as night wakes, as both my kids have gone through phases of waking every 30-60 mins for them. Unfortunately I don't think there is anything you can do but ride it out at this young age. Terrible broken sleep is mostly par for the course with babies I'm afraid. You could try cosleeping although personally that's not something I've wanted to do. I also want to pick up on your comment that this 'isnt like her' - there isn't really any 'like her' at this young age, babies sleep changes frequently. This is just the next stage of her sleep development, it will change again in time.

Co-sleeping didn't work for me but it could be good for dummy reinserting? You wouldn't have to move much and hopefully would get back to sleep quickly? Also if you have a partner then they should do some of the night wakings so you can get a rest sometimes. Unfortunately I think she's too little to learn to put her own dummy back or to have one of those comforters with a dummy attached to every corner.

Thanks for the replies.

We’re not weaning yet.

Dad does help we split the night into shifts as she wakes every 10-20 minutes after 3 hours of sleep.

Surprisingly she can put the dummy back in but not at nighttime.

Two months of 4 hrs sleep has officially taking its toll!

I think some babies just decide sleeping is for the weak🙈my boy was pretty good, done the 4 month sleep regression thought great we've got this. Then bam from 6 to 8 months we had half hourly wakenings, needing rocked/ cuddled to sleep. We had stopped this and he was ok, wakening for a bottle when he had previously slept all night😅taking agesssssss to fall asleep. then after what seemed like an eternity he settled back down into his normal routine. Hang in there it's rough being sleep deprived!

Thanks @Mrsmch123 don’t think tough is the word I’d use. We need to try something different , I’m back to work soon and can’t keep starting my day at 3am!

Sounds like it could be the start of separation anxiety, just keep doing what you are doing and it will pass