Mums of 5 month olds - come and talk to me about their sleep habits.

[ipredicttrouble]

Hi,

Just a lighthearted thread to share some ideas/info about how your 5 month olds (or thereabouts) are sleeping.

DD is nearly 22 weeks and has always been a pretty good sleeper, particularly at night. From about 6 weeks she has done stretches of 4/5/6 hours. At around 3 months she was doing about 10 hours or so.

However, she has never slept particularly well during the day...until now. E.g. Today, she has had a 2.5 hour nap. So this is a definite improvement.

Some other info, just started her on solid food but is only taking a tiny amount. Also, I think a top tooth is coming through.

For about a month she's started to wake again during the night, usually just once. I always feed her (FF) and she usually goes back down ok (though not always).

I am getting to the point now though where Im unsure whether she actually needs a feed during the night or whether she is waking for other reasons, full nappy, teeth etc. She often seems disinterested in the bottle and just has a bit as a way of getting back off.

I'm just starting to worry that she's developing a habit that I need to try and break. I offered her water first last night which she took happily but still needed a bit of milk to get back to sleep.

Sorry for the ramble but I'm interested in other people's experiences with babies of similar ages.

Thanks

Hi my DD is nearly 21 weeks and I was thinking of posting about her sleeping habits as not sure that I'm doing the right thing.
Up until about 13 weeks she was sleeping through from 9pm til 7am which was lovely. Then I think she hit the 4 month sleep regression and now possibly a growth spurt. She now goes to bed at 6.30pm, has a dreamfeed at 10.30, and then is up between 2 and 3, and then between 6 and 7 for further feeds, she can't seem to go more than about 5 hours without a feed at the moment. (She's now FF). I've recently had to add two further (small) bottles between her very early morning and late morning feeds, and her late afternoon and bedtime feeds. She really tanks up before bed.
I sometimes wonder if I should be stopping dreamfeeding now and see how long she can last. I don't think at this age that nightfeeding should be stopped as they are still so young in the scheme of things, and I know my dd definitely needs those feeds at night, nothing else works to get her back to sleep so it must be hunger. I don't think you're ceating bad habits by feeding your lo at night at this age. But I'd be interested to know what other people think, as I have some doubts too. I want to know at what age do they manage longer stretches without feeds! My dh starts work very early in the morning sometimes, and I find that I never really get more than 3 hours stretch of sleep, it's knackering me out!!
I too have rambled, not so much advice though but more I'm in the same boat!

My 5 1/2 month old is having a bit of a sleep regression - he was sleeping all the way through from 7.30 to 6.30 but had a cold and woke in the night and now I think it's habit - v annoying. He has just started solids like yours and is only taking a little bit really. He's formula fed so I kind of know if he's had enough to eat in the day and therefore I don't usually need to feed him in the night. Although in saying that he is REALLY hungry at the mo so maybe you do need night feeds - might be a growth thing. We broke the night feed thing by my husband seeing to him (he was breastfed) and then he didn't automatically think milk and got used to going back to sleep.

His daytime sleep is rubbish. He will nap for 20mins at a time and only after a struggle to get to sleep. Does about 4 naps a day but mostly in the pushchair so its pretty exhausing.

My 5 1/2 month old DS is definitely changing his sleep patterns-

He's now often having at least one nap a day that lasts an hour and a half (), I used to be lucky to get 30 mins.

He's always been a bad night sleeper but is very slowly improving. He woke up 9pm, 1am, and 5am night before last (woohoo!), but was back to 6 wake ups (all after 1am) last night.

He's also started sleeping a bit later. He's gone from between 5am and 6am, to 6am to 7am.

I have a completely unsubstantiated theory that big babies sleep worse (he's 99%tile) because they get hungrier so I think the introduction to solids in the last few weeks has helped.

Addicted2DairyMilk my DD also nearly 21 weeks has an almost identical sleeping pattern to yours.

She has a bottle at 6 and goes to sleep by 7. She then either sleeps until 3 and needs feeding or sleeps until 11 and can be cuddled back to sleep before she wakes again at 3. She then wakes again at about 5.30 for another feed.

She usually has 2/3 naps a day of 30-60mins long but will only nap after being vigorously bounced in her bouncy chair because she fights sleep with all her might.

It has to be said though that her nighttime sleep since 11 weeks or so has been rubbish and it has only been this week that she has stopped waking every couple of hours.

p.s. MotherOfHobbit not sure your theory holds, my DD is tiny (2nd-9th centile) and has never slept well :)

Hi ladies,

Thanks so much for your responses, it's so nice to hear other experiences and realise that you're not alone!

At the moment, I'm definitely putting DD's disturbed night-time sleep down to teething rather than hunger. She's showing all the classic signs, bright red cheeks, chewing everything, hard/sharp gums & some nappy rash.

However, last night she slept from 9pm til 6.30am - woo woo!!

I would also say that her daytime 'routine' is definitely calming down and becoming more regular IYSWIM.

When she was younger she rarely slept during the day but I now tend to get 2 naps out of her lasting between 30 and 60 minutes. Her feeds are also more regular and she can last a lot longer between them which is good.

So there are a lot of positives . I think if her top tooth comes through then we might just be ok !

Keep the stories coming, it's good to share!

Any more mums of 5 month olds??

I have one. You are definitely not alone in wishing the tooth would appear and your baby would settle.

He naps 10.30-12.00. Not the last days though just an hour. Or today 30 mins! falls asleep on me or after a walk in pram.

He then naps about 2ish for anything from 30 mins to 3 hours. In pram or on me then put in pram.

Then another nap at half 6/7 after his 4.30/5.30 feed. Has last feed at half 8. Then asleep by 9.15 in my arms then put in crib.

Cries out a lot in night just replace dummy, shush and put musical seahorse on.

Will not self settle and pick up, put down he just laughs. I use a gro bag and held his arms down whilst stroking his face last night.

I doubt this is of any help but as I said you are not alone I am struggling too!

He naps 10.30-12.00. Not the last 2 days though just an hour. Or today 30 mins! falls asleep on me or after a walk in pram.

Hold on, I'll just ask her:

"Sleep? What's that Mummy? Oh no, I don't think you need worry. I'm doing just fine without it, honestly!"

and at everyone else (except thesecondcoming - apart from the sleeping for 9 hours bit)

and much sympathy

What are these regular naps of which everyone speaks? DD has no pattern whatsoever - only that no "nap" lasts for more than 30 minutes. I am now resigned to it and I am existing on an average of 3-4 hours sleep in 24.

DS slept 11 - 7 for the first time last night... however it was preceeding by every hourly wakings the night before so I'm not getting my hopes up.

He normally naps around 9am and I can get it to stretch out to 2 - 3 hours if I go in before he wakes and resettle him when he comes into lighter sleep. Then has 30 - 45 minute naps for the rest of the day, normally 2 or 3 of them depending on what we're doing.

Feeding to sleep and pushing him in the buggy are no longer guaranteed ways to get him to sleep. It has to be in the dark, in his cot with his mobile and white noise. But at least he settles for the whole evening so me and DH can spend 8pm till 11pm together...

thesecondingcoming DS used to take a gaint 9oz bottle of EBM for his dreamfeed at 11pm, but as time has gone on my supply has dropped (this feed has always been exclusively expressed) and have had to top up with formula. Last night was the first night I didn't bother expressing, it seems such a fuss for 3 oz when I know I'm gonna have to make a bottle of formula anyway.

There appears to be a difference between FF and BF babies.

I came on here to post my DS' habits but am sick with envy at the length between wakenings for some DCs.

DS wakes every 2 hours at night, currently refusing to settle after unless lying on me. Hence I get no sleep. he is nearly 5 months old. He naps well in the day mainly in his pram.

Personally I have not had more than 2 hours consecutive sleep for 2 months, or more than 4 hours broken sleep per night. I am beyond exhausted and dread going to bed tbh as know what's ahead of me.

DS refuses a bottle which means I can't even fill him with formula to extend time between feeds.

Add to this a 4 year old who likes to get up at 5.30............

Oh Fifitot, very unMumsnetty (((hugs)))

I have a 4 year old too. Thank God he doesn't do 5.30 but he was doing 6.30 until pretty recently. I'm currently staying at my parents without DH (who is stuck at home in northern Scotland) so there is no back up overnight at all. In the past 3 weeks I've had DD waking every hour some nights, and in the past week have also had a midnight trip to A&E with DS (croup) and two nights where he has refused to sleep point blank. My whole night is spent keeping DD quiet enough so as not to wake DS in the next door room.

I know exactly what you mean about dreading going to bed. It is totally totally crap.

Another hug fifitot, it is hard to relax when you get into bed as you never know what to expect or how long you're going to get to stay there!

My DD is FF, don't know if it makes any difference but there you go.

Well she went down at 8pm this evening so we'll see, I'm not holding out much hope as to how long she'll last.

Will update in the morning if anyone's interested.

Aw thanks for the hugs ladies. It also helps to know that in the desperate wee small hours, others are suffering with me! I also sympathise with gaelicsheep - trying to keep one child from waking the other is an additional nightmare.

Secondcoming - I am getting to hate BFing too! Would stop immediately if DS took a bottle. I had always planned just to do 4 months with him as learned my lesson with boob dependent DD but of course DS has other ideas that don't involve bottles of formula.

I know it's best for baby but it's not particulary best for knackered mums and the rest of the family.

My LO won't take a dummy either. I suspect that is a real help with your baby and yes I am jealous!!!!!!

Woke every 2 hours last night zzzzzzzzzzzz10, 12, 2, 4,6.

DS wont take a dummy, and he woke in the night last night as well...no where near as much as fiftot's lo though

I'm DD's dummy - an artificial boob won't do. I suspect therein lies the problem.

I had a good night last night, for once. Only 3 wakings between midnight and 7 - yippee. Fifitot - much sympathy.