Baby regressing at 5 months

[Mushroo]

I’m a FTM and I could be overreacting but just wanted to understand if what I’m experiencing is normal, or if I need a chat with the health visitor.

Up to about 16 weeks my LO was progressing really really well. Babbling away, sleeping through the night, starting to roll from belly to back, rarely fussy. Generally a delight.

However, the last few weeks she seems to have gone backwards? Her sleep is awful, waking every few hours and fighting every nap. Won’t even contact nap without screaming first.

She’s lost all interest in rolling and rarely babbles. Generally a bit whiny / grizzly once she’s been awake for an hour.

Shes still very smiley and laughs a lot, and has discovered her feet, but I just feel this last few weeks have gone downhill a bit.

Does this sound ok? She’s five months next week.

@Londonscallingme yes to the catnaps as well!

It’s so hard to get her to nap, and having to do it 4 times a day for a 20 - 30 min nap is never ending!

I’ve signed up to baby classes everyday to get us out the house and stop me going insane. There’s only so many times we can do tummy time especially as she hates that too

Both my children have be utterly tormented when going to sleep so whilst they may not have been actively fighting sleep, it certainly didn’t come easy to them at times. I’m talking screaming whilst also intermittently dozing off and coming back round to scream again. I think you’ve missed the point people have made - no one is saying babies actively try to stay awake, just that falling asleep is not always an easy process for them, despite obviously being tired.

It’s frustrating isn’t it?! I have just invested in a rockit. He doesn’t sleep any longer than he would if I was pushing him around but at least now I have the option of parking him up at home and getting something done while he’s having his [teeny tiny 🙄] naps. Previously if he was asleep and I stopped walking he’d wake up instantly.

repeat after me - “it won’t be like this forever, it won’t be like this forever… “ 😂

edit to add - good move getting out, it’s the only way to stay sane imo.

but I think some parents using the phrase "fighting sleep" DO believe their baby is actively trying to stay awake, and this is a really unhelpful way to think about the situation, because it is blatantly untrue

Hmmm - maybe, I wouldn’t say that’s necessarily been my experience of what people mean though. In my experience people think of it more like an involuntary struggle that babies seem to have to drop off peacefully despite clearly needing too.

edit - needing *to

I'm in the depths of this also! She teased me with sleeping through for a week, I felt absolutely great and then 💥 I feel worse than I did when she was a newborn 😂

They go through phases unfortunately. It all sounds perfectly normal

I blame all these stupid apps which are trying to make you believe all babies need the exact same amount of sleep and have the same wake windows... It's utter bullshit. Stop trying to make your baby nap and follow her cues to get her to sleep when she's ready! That would help massively. Re: any other sign of regressing -- babies often focus on one skill for a bit then forget about it temporarily as they develop in another area.

Just feed her to sleep! It's biology! She's following her instincts.

This only works so far.

If my baby regularly wakes before they're hungry and has to suckle each time they need to get back to sleep I'm ending up with a gassy baby and sore nipples