Sleep nightmare in a 5 month old - Help!!

[Bouj]

My 5.5 month old was until 3 weeks ago, a brilliant night time sleeper, rarely waking in the night and usually able to settle himself. But 3 weeks ago (literally overnight!) he stopped, and the last three nights has woken every hour, sometimes after 20 minutes. He takes at least 20 minutes to resettle, preferring to be rocked back to sleep though I have gotten away with patting (but it takes longer!) It seems to be getting worse with each night, and I am at a loss as to what to do. He sleeps okay during the day, but needs to be rocked to sleep then. He also goes down okay first thing at night. Usually awake in his cot, falling asleep after a few grizzles himself.

The bad sleeping coincided with starting solids, but he has had no tummy upsets, I was over cautious about introducing new foods and on my HV's advice, cut back to just one meal of baby rice for a few days but to no avail. Has anyone encountered this in relation to solids? I know that it will probably pass really quickly, but at the moment it feels like a never ending nightmare! Any advice would be greatly appreciated....

Blocked nose, teething, earache... Original reason probably long gone and now just confused. Are you breastfeeding? Have you introduced formula?

My ds did exactly the same thing at 5.5 months with no solids, so I doubt its that. We just popped him into bed with us until his sleep got more normal and now he's back in his cot. Still wakes up more than he used to, but is also better at going back to sleep.

He does have a blocked nose today, though seemed okay the last few nights. He's also rolling on to his tummy and falling asleep, but waking up grumpy because he can't get back. He's on formula and has been for 2 months. I might try and bring him in with us tonight if the same happens, but I was concerned about having him depedent on that, oh and he's a dreadful wriggler!

Two things I'd check:

1. Does he need more solids? I understand the HV advice, but for billions of years, us parents took the advice of our intuition, educated by our children, who communicate with us in subtle ways. He may be waking up hungry, simple as that. I'd try other stuff - like mashed bananas, mashed pears etc - and experiment to see if it has an impact. At 5.5 months, my boy was eating like a trooper.

2. Teething - feel his gums - can you feel any teeth under there, cutting through? If so, then you may have a cause - but teething is just one of those crappy things you gotta go through - better for some than others, but generally, they get upset, sleep poorly, get runny poos and all sorts of stuff, just because their teeth are coming through. Think wisdom teeth coming through - cutting through virgin gums - it's painful.

Oh - and it may help to get him into a routine in the day that allows him enough, but not too much sleep (see Gina Ford or similar - there: i've dropped a bomb )

Thanks Bob, my instinct was to up his solids intake, as he has always woolfed it down. I think I will go back to what I was doing. He's had several bouts of teething without any actual teeth making a show. He did have Cranial Osteopathy two days ago - would that have made a difference?? I'm not totally anti-GF, so might dig it out of the pile (again!)

This may not be very helpful - but, as I've said on another thread, my dd went through a phase of terrible waking in the night at about this age (a bit younger than your ds), having previously been a brilliant sleeper.

I had not introduced solids and didn't do so until 6 months and my dd sorted out her sleep all on her own, without any 'extra food' to keep her going.

My suspicion is that lots of babies go through weird sleep behaviour at around this age - they regress having been brilliant sleepers etc. But my experience is also that they tend to sort themselves out with or without extra solids. The mums who give them solids swear that that's what did it, but then there are quite a few people like me who found that the sleep just got better without the food.

One thing I did do is to try to pack in as many breastfeeds during the day, as I could (about 5 feeds between 7am and 7pm in my case). I also did a bit of a GF and made sure the penultimate feed was NO LATER than 4pm, so then she was hungry and I had a fair bit of milk to give her at 7pm. Not sure if this is relevant to you.

And of course your ds is a bit older than my dd was, so you could try timing his meal to make sure he takes on board a good portion of food before the night. If he's wolfing the food and taking his milk then you're doing all the right things.

I hope it works itself out fast - I remember all to well those weeks of desperation, terribly cruel after having had a super sleeper!

Coming into bed with us didn't make him depend on that - it just meant we all got more sleep. He sleeps brilliantly in his cot now. It righted itself - but it took a month. Solids were not a factor as we've only just started.
What helped was a trip to the UK where he got an awful lot of stimulation during the day. The poor boy was almost collapsing with exhaustion by about 5pm, so we put him to bed and started night then. He still slept until a sociable time in the morning (waking for feeds obviously)He's still having a really early bedtime and this seems to be working great, he's even packing in an extra sleep during the day. When he's up he's full on so its a bit of a relief really.

i went through it and improved just few weeks ago. now waking up once. retrospectively i think it was constipation at the beginning, seperation anxiety and teething and all ended up with ds being able to fall asleep only in my arms sucking bottle. i tried to take him to bed but it wasn't what he wanted. he just wanted me to put him back to sleep every time he drifted to the lighter sleep. had him checked physically and asked hv if i'm feeding him right. everything was alright so went through few days of crying and now he falls asleep on his own (also during the day, and actualy i think naps drove us to this stage) and sleeps much better. one tooth is through so he was in pain but second is just there, stil growing and i'd swear it wasn't the whole story. i think there is something about this age, ds became much more conscious about everything- my presence or absence and his routine too, so it became very important at that stage. i'm not very experience, just sharing what happened to us. hope all opinions will help you make up your mind, it took me 1,5 month! good luck

i ment it improved FEW DAYS ago!!!

Thanks jedy, that sounds exactly the same. I think actually he may be a bit constipated, but that's not the main problem. My instinct has been that it is a new awareness - as he sleeps much better before DH and I go up to bed. Did you actually have to resort to controlled crying, or did it ease of its own accord? Not sure I'm strong enough for it yet! DH and I are going to sleep in the spare room tonight and see if that helps. DS will be in his own room when we move as of next week, so if being in seperate rooms does help, it will only be one week on an uncomfortable sofa bed!!

Have just had the same problem with dd and have resolved it around the same time as Jedy. She went from being excellent to a nightmare, literally overnight. I do not know what the reason was, I do think that you are onto something when you say that they develop a new level of awareness - not just with noise but being seperated from mother etc.

It has resolved itself, but I have had to let her cry. It took 2 hours the first time, but then only a few minutes and sometimes not at all. For the last few nights she has slept through from 7.00pm to 5.30-6.30am, getting longer every night.

The conclusion that I have come to is that she is just more of a determined little monster than her brother was It is a good job we love them. If dh woke me up every 2 hours I would have left him by now

PS - being in her own bedroom will probably make a very big difference - good luck

i had to be very sure what i'm going to do.once i decided i want to go trough it never picked him up again. it was a good job i knew i could settle him rubbing his back in the (cot). i couldn't stand the crying too, so took it in steps- let him suck water in the cot, gave dummy and rubbed his back until he fell asleep, to give him idea what i expect. it was easier during the day and once i left him to cry discovered he settled pretty quick, never took long than 20 min. once i realised he can fall asleep on his own it was easier to stand the crying. i think if you'll concentrate on naps and evening, nights will come easier after a while. there has to be some crying, but after 3rd day which was the worst we never looked back. sorry if i'm not very clear, i don't think straight today

Thanks for all the advice - we had a better night last night. Only 2 major disturbances and a couple of stuck on tummy episodes. DH and I camped out on the sofa bed whilst HRH had our entire room! Seemed to work though, and I think I slept better, actually being able to breathe without fear of waking him up! I did leave him to cry for his morning nap yesterday (only because I couldn't stand the sight of him) and he settled fairly quickly, and was even better this morning. I am also trying to really tire him out more in the day to see if that works. Thanks for all the help, it's nice to know its not abnormal, and it will get better!

Personally, I'd put him in his own room now. We all slept better in our house once that happened, though he still didn't sleep through, just the sleep I did get felt deeper as Iwasn't afraid of waking ds up all the time.