In some serious need of sleep I need help!!

[emiwo]

My DS is 5 1/2months and has never slept well in the night. But the last 2 1/2months he has got worse and worse to the point that im getting 2hours sleep max. He is very active during the day and I have a routine consisting of 6am Morning feed (hes BF) 10am feed then nap 11 walk me not him 1pm weaning 2.30pm feed then nap then play or swimming then downtime around 6ish for bed.l He is perfect up until this point. After his final feed i put him in his cot in the dark where he will play with his blanket for about 1hour he will then scream. I dont take him out of his room but i settle him until he falls asleep. As soon as i move away or put him back in his cot the whole process of screaming starts again and this will go on until i give up and put him to bed in our bed where he falls asleep instantly. I then end up on the floor as i dont want him to associate me with the bed. I have tried music i have tried mellow lighting i have tried warming his cot with a hairdryer i have laid in his cot before he got in it i have sat with his blankets around me to see if that works. He plays in his cot in the daytime. Basicially i want him to sleep in his cot and im seriously running out of ideas. I cant understand whats so different between his cot and our bed. Please help im going insane! i dont want to spend the rest of my life on the floor.

Also have left him to cry it out and he can impressivly rack up 40mins of ear splitting screams before i physically cant bear it any longer.
God thats a rant sorry guys:o

This seems like an odd question but do you think he's getting enough sleep in the day?It sounds like he could be a bit hyper and overtired and can't switch off?
My DS is nearly 5 months and has a nap approx at 9,12,4 and goes to bed at about 6:30pm.
If you can get him in his cot for his daytime naps then he will start to get used to it.
It's worth trying to sort this out now as you don't want to be doing this with a 1 year old by the sound of it(although many are happy to).
Maybe have a look at The BabyWhisperere pick up/put down technique.it will take some commitment but if your nights are crappy anyway you might as well try it.Consistency is the key to these things.

If he dalls asleep straight away in bed withyou, then put him in bed with you. He's only little - whatever gets the most sleep for the largest number of poeple is the best way thing to do!

My DD couldn't last more than 2 hours without sleep during the day at that age - and 1.5 hours from first waking. I would also try and see if your DS will have more daytime sleep - the knock-on effect on nights is usually good. Overtiredness can cause frequent night time wakings.

If he won't sleep in his cot during the day, try other methods: pram, car seat etc. It shouldn't set a bad precedent for night time, it doesn't usually work that way.

And yes, if co-sleeping is the only way you and DS will get more sleep, I would definitely consider that for the sake of your sanity...

HTH

I think you're waiting too long before putting him down for morning nap - my DS needed one after, at most, two hours of being awake.

Also he probably needs atleast three naps a day, maybe 4 if only 45 mins long.

my DD is 5.5 months and very similar. She was always BF to sleep til 3 weeks ago, and then we used to transfer her into cot, cue lots of freaked out wakings as she got older so we had to change. We did a sort of PU/PD- DH did for first 2 weeks and it instantly reduced her amount of night wakings. At the moment she will wake once or twice but will go back in her cot after her feed (hallejujah!!)

Prior to this we co-slept, as she never settled more than 2 hours in cot we always ended up doing this which she loved...would kick her legs in glee at coming in mums bed :) it takes a lot of effort to change so be sure to have DH on side and involved as makes so much easier.

Oh and I don't sweat HOW she gets her naps (as long as she does) and so far has not impacted her night time sleep. So she sleeps in her baby bjorn/pram/carseat/on me sometimes and thats okay- because a rested baby is MUCH easier to put to bed and mostly then I get 1 long stretch of sleep at least 6 hours from her, which allows me to have dinner with DH, relax etc.

Agree with Igglybuff and InmaculadaConcepcion. You could try soothing to sleep for the first nap after 1.5-2 hours of being awake to avoid overtiredness. My DS had 4 x 45 min naps a day at that age.

I'd work on getting him to sleep more easily at bedtime before worrying about where he sleeps. It feels like you'll be doing it forever, but you really won't. :)