Five month old whining constantly and waking often, will this pass?

[MyWittyGoose]

I’m so exhausted. I have 5.5 month old son, for the past two months he’s been on and off no stop whining. He does it the second he wakes up to the second he goes back to sleep. I love him so much but the noise genuinely drives me insane to the point of tears. It doesn’t matter if I play with him, he will stop if I walk around with him. Sometimes I can do this other times I need to get things done!

He has recently cut his bottom teeth so I thought that maybe he’d be happier but it’s got louder! He’s been checked by the gp & HV.

His naps are around 30 minutes, I try to save them but often I can’t. He also was sleeping better at night but is now waking every 3 hours. He wakes at 7am usually and bed at 7:30pm but a few times recently he’s been up at 5:30!!!

Just need some advice, encouragement or a laugh.. tell me it will get better 😭

The best and worst thing about motherhood is absolutely nothing last forever. It’s sad because all the amazing little stages pass by so quickly but it’s also a good thing because the shit parts like this will also just be a (pretty shit) memory soon enough. None of mine slept before 18 months but my first was a bit like this and it got loads better once he could sit up independent and shuffle around a bit. I used to just baby wear him around the house to get stuff done

Im not going to say it gets better because it won’t honestly but everything is a phase and some phases are easier or harder.
Mine only did 30 min naps until she went to 1 nap. Some babies just don’t need much sleep. Waking every 3 hour is normal at that age. Mine didnt sleep through til 18 months.
get out and do things you want to do whilst baby is not moving. I did lots of ‘bring your baby’ activities like cinema, comedy, pub quiz, just going to the pub, art galleries. Look at the possums approach-babies often ‘dial up’ at home as they are simply bored.

Genuinely, only waking every three hours would have been a dream night for us until well past 1 year. And 12 hours in bed overnight 😳 wow.

I don’t really know what you mean by “whining”? Like grumbling sound? Sounds like he’s trying out his speech, which is pretty cool! Are you looking for suggestions or sympathy? Baby bouncer with stuff for him to grab, books to turn pages etc? Have you tried chatting to him? Just narrating what you are doing? The sling was a godsend with mine too. One of mine loved music, it really doesn’t have to be kid music, make it what you love!

And lower your standards with keeping up with house / admin stuff …. They will get lower, save yourself the angst along the way.

Also you might find you get long stretches with a later bedtime. 7pm is very early for that age. Average overnight is only 10-11 hours for most babies so a 5.30am wake is what you'd expect. I'd try 8pm bedtime.

What’s his weight gain like? Could he be hungry?