5 months.. the hardest stage yet?!

[areandare]

My little boy is just over 5 months old, and why does this feel like the hardest stage yet?!

He sleeps well through the night, sometimes one wake at 3am for a feed which is fine with me. Up for the day from between 6am - 7am, I can’t complain in the sleep department.

However, wake windows are longer (2.5 hours ish) and during this time he gets bored SO easily. We play on the mat, starts grizzling after 10 mins, I put him in his bouncer to watch me potter around in the kitchen, cries after 10 mins. Constantly rolls over on the mat, but gets frustrated because he can’t roll back. He is only happy when I’m carrying him and walking around, but even then the novelty wares off and he starts grizzling again.

Naps are shorter 30 mins - 1 hour MAX, then he wakes to repeat the process.

i am absolutely exhausted with this routine, does anybody have any words of wisdom? When will this get better 🙃

It’s a tough time! He’s probably frustrated by not being able to roll back the other way, but he will be there soon enough. Then comes crawling and you’ll need to develop eyes up your backside

Does he like music? I used to put my DS in a playpen at that age with music on and give him a variety of objects to look at (toys, random household items like wooden spoons, sieves) when I was pottering around the house.

Yeah I do think it’s a hard stage when they get more aware and more bored, but can’t yet do anything for themselves.
For my very very grumpy first baby, things improved massively once she could sit up by herself, reach for a toy she wanted, put it down, get another one etc. She just became a lot happier.

My advice is to go out. Playgroup, swimming, supermarket, cafe. That's half the day gone. Then just cycle through rooms/activities. New room every 30 minutes. Read the same ten books on an endless loop. Yes, it's pretty boring. At five months I was spending hours out walking with baby. By seven months she was crawling, so all it took to entertain her was letting her loose to explore. I know everyone says it, but it really won't last long OP.

I hated this stage with my two.

Aware and alert enough to want to do things, but developmentally not able to move themselves there yet, causing vast amounts of frustration. Unfortunately I have no advice other than to get out and about frequently, and just to ride it out until they figure out how to move.

Fortunately my first crawled at 6-7 months. Unfortunately that was at the same time COVID started, so getting out and about thereafter was somewhat limited. My second crawled at 10 months. That was hard. He was also a very determined and stubborn baby, and was very vocal about his displeasure at being thus.

I will say this. It will pass. It feels like forever when you're in the midst of it, especially when compounded with sleep deprivation and regressions. But looking back (my two are 6 and nearly 4) it really was only a few months. Things will gradually improve, and before you know it your little one will be onto the next thing!

Yep - one of my least favourite. I loved after one!
But it generally got easier and easier from 7ish months for me.

Unfortunately, it’s quite boring. Getting out of the house and getting on with life helps a lot. I took mine on walks, to museums (like grown up ones for me), out to do things I enjoyed doing, very little baby stuff.

Also contact naps to get a break, mine would sleep 1.5 hours on me instead of 20 minutes so all our naps were contact naps or I’d lie down with them. It meant I got a break, could watch tv, read a book, etc.

Yeah they're not just potatoes that sit there and watch the ceiling. It's amazing how much entertainment they ened at that age. We were out of the house for the morning, every day. Then out again after when dad got home (pub or something similar). Mine didn't sleep well either so i was terribly exhausted.

Constant narration of what I was doing and a fair bit of singing stretched the time out a bit for me for things like watching me in the kitchen. Also different toys (or 'toys', i.e., baby-safe household objects) and a place to put baby in every room, rotate round. I got used to doing jobs in bits and pieces. I remember my husband being home one day and utterly perplexed about why I had five tasks on the go across multiple rooms – yet by the end of the day, they were all done with minimal crying.

Seriously as a mum of 6, 5 months was a great age.
He can't move!!

I had one similar to how you describe your dc, I used to use a sling, buggy, walks, etc to keep him occupied.

Remember, this phase will pass.
Take care.

Yep it's not a fun age IMO. They can't move independently yet so get super frustrated. Also sometimes still dealing with "newborn" issues like gas etc. Things improve once they can sit, crawl etc. Try to remember it's just a phase!

Yeah but if it's your first, you don't really appreciate it 😂

I found that this was the perfect age to be out and about with mine…mum&baby classes, museums, walk in the park etc. Seeing things happening around him was just enough stimulation for mine to keep him from getting bored and doing stuff meant that I could escape waving a toy in front of him a day long.

Thanks so much everyone, so glad that I’m not alone and that a lot of others have been in the same boat!

I agree in being out and about, the last few weeks have been awful weather wise so I’ve been finding myself popping down to home bargains / tesco every day just to get us out and for a change of scenery!

We do go to some baby classes, although I find them quite stressful as he gets fed up so I end up having to stand up and walk around with him etc, I think it’ll be more enjoyable when he can sit totally unaided so that he can look around and grab toys etc