PUPD, but not calming down, even with me there!

[noeyedear]

Hi, My DS is 5 1/2 month old. He's started not going down to sleep until about 9pm, even though he's exhausted. I have to feed him and feed him, then he just sleeps on me. I've tried formula, which he gulped down, has a few breastfeeds and still does the same! I thought I'd try PUPD, but he's still screaming after nearly an hour. I've even tied putting him back on the breast because I thought he must be starving, but he just seems to want to drop off on the breast. He wakes up as soon as he's put down. My first son was a terrible sleeper for almost 2 years and it nearly caused me to have a nervous breakdown. We almost didn't have another one because of it, which is why I am trying to nip this in the bud. Now we're here again! I don't know whether to persevere with sitting with him while he screams or to give in.

I don't mean to be ride but are you doing PU/PD correctly and is it always the same person doing it every night?

rude, not ride.

Thats what I wasn't sure of- I put him to sleep, when he woke up, I comforted him then put him down ,cried, did same again, but after 3rd time, he just didn't calm down and just screamed and screamed in my arms. Therefore because he didn't calm down, I didn't put him down, although eventually did and just patted and shhh'd him. I got fed up after an hour and DH took over. He eventually went to sleep, from sheer exhaustion, I think and slept for quite a long time. Does that sound right? Last night was the first night. I did have every single book about child sleep, but got rid of all of them in disgust after the disaster that was DS1!

We used it to get DS2 off the dummy and got the plan from the Baby Whisperer book. It was also a wayof trying to stop night feeds as the HV said he didn't need them anymore. This is what I did.

He was breastfed then put to bed. When he woke up I would go to him and pick him up. I would hold him until he calmed down, not talking or looking at him (very hard that was he is very cute and then when he calmed down I would lay him in the cot and leave the room. I would go back and do the same thing as many times as I needed too. It took 4 nights and each night it was less times that I had to go in. I think the first night might have taken an hour.

HTH and ask if I can help at all.

Thanks. I'll see how it goes tonight. I didn't really get the chance to go out of the room last night. Hopefully it's less traumatic tonight. I'm toughening up his routine too before bed.

Ooh, I'm in exactly this situation with DD2, 5 months 1 week, won't settle till 9pm, just wants to sleep at the breast! What is the best way to do PU/PD? (and she does this amazingly cute smile when she's awake and thinks I'm going to pick her up and bf her some more ... definitely hard not to look and smile back! but should I not be, I gather?) was it any better last night OP?

Miles better last night, 15 minutes of PUPD and he was off, BUT so far tonight, back to an hour screaming by the looks of it! I know they say with CC that the 3rd night is the worst, before it gets better. Hope it's the same here! I don't think you are meant to breastfeed on pick up. I haven't been doing it. The only problem is that he works himself onto his front, then goes to sleep, so I have to then sit with him until he's totally asleep and then turn him over! Hopefully tomorrow will be a massive improvement, but not holding my breath! I don't even know what I'm trying to achieve, because I still feed him a couple of times in the night, as he's not on solids yet so is still hungry about every 3 hours. I just want to be able to put him to bed and have a bit of an evening!

Let him sleep on his front - if he can roll and has good head control then there's little to worry about. DS started sleeping on his front just before 6 months. The risk of SIDS falls dramatically after 6 months.

Yes, I'm a bit worried because he's not really rolling yet. He sort of arches his back when he's in a temper and flips his legs over. I'm not sure he'd be able to just roll back if he got into trouble. He's been OK today, however- just a few minutes and asleep on his back. I think I will let him sleep on his front if he ends up that way. As you said, the risk of SIDS drops at that age, and he's not asleep long before I go to bed, and he's still in his sidecar cot right next to our bed.

Perhaps try and keep as much out of his cot as possible - DS only had one comforter and an airwrap bumper and slept in a sleepbag.