5 month old fighting every nap and bedtime. Help!

[Laurappo]

Totally kicks off. He is definitely tired. I've tried shortening and lengthening his wake windows. He has an absolute meltdown every time.

Every time. Without fail. He has eczema and is maybe teething but this is different. I really don't know what to do. We have has a routine since 6 weeks. He's been like this for about 2 weeks. It takes me ages to get him to sleep. White noise dark room etc don't work anymore.

Any ideas? I would love to get him to sleep or nap just once Without a fight. I've tried feber method but he gets so upset to the point he rubs his face so bad that it makes his eczema worse

How and how often are you trying to get your baby to nap?

Sleep needs change a lot over the first year and what worked at 6 weeks may not work at 5 months.

It's normal for babies to need a lot if input to get to sleep. It's not uncommon fir parents to underestimate how much help is needed and so to think there is a problem, when it's just that baby needs more work to get to sleep than parents were expecting.

At 5 months I'd be expecting baby to need

• movement
• sucking
• closeness

to get to sleep.

So

• Do naps in something that moves. Bouncy chair, pram etc
• Give a dummy
• continue swaddling if baby isn't rolling and us used to it. Or be physically touching baby - hand on chest or patting.

Also reduce fitness wake windows to around double nap length. So 30 min naps want 60 min awake time.

Do you rock, cuddle or something to get him to sleep usually? Or does he get put down and self sooth ?

It is completely normal for sleeping habits to change at this stage (4 month regression) so don't put pressure on yourself.