At the end my tether now

[Shushshessleeping]

My nearly 5 month DS has decided to stop napping for more than 30 mins. As a result he is exhausted all day but will not go to sleep. He will scream for half an hour ( please dont judge i had tried everything else for 2 hours before this) and then I give in and take him into the front room. He will then be happy playing for half an hour before he completely melts down and grizzles again, burying his head into my shoulder and rubbing his eyes.

I then start the nap time routine again, 3 lullabies followed by white noise ( which works like a dream at bed time and he will sleep no bother until half 10) dummy in and sleepy time now etc. he will sleep ( maybe if I'm lucky) for half an hour and no amount of trying will get him to sleep longer.

I've tried feeding, rocking, shush Pratt, starting routine again, taking for a walk- I've walked upto 2 hours with him wide awake, sleeping for half an hour and then awake for remains journey home. I've tried the car which works but he wakes as soon as I stop.

He didn't do this a month ago, I put him down awake, and he slept for an hour and a half. Because of the awful day sleeping, he sleeps badly at night as he's over tired.

I've tried waiting an hour after waking in the morning and putting him down, but he spent an hour and a half gurgling, laughing and then finally crying before I needed to go out. I've tried waiting until the first eye rub and then doing into joy. I've tried waiting until he's very tired and that was even worse. I spend ALL day just trying to get him to sleep. I wouldn't mind but he's so grumpy as a result, he needs to sleep, he's not happy.

My DH took over on sunday and he slept each nap for an hour and a half so I know he can do it! And he was such a pleasant happy baby between the naps!

What else can I do?! Sorry it's so long.

Ps I know it's a sleep regression

Ha ha that should be shush pat

Will he sleep in the day if he's held? Or in a pram? Can you go for a walk with him in a pram or sling and then come back when he's settled?

My DD1 went through something similar at about 9 months. I used to carry her in a sling. She was so nosy that sleep sort of caught her out and she'd just drift of whilst looking around.

Much sympathy though, lack of sleep is dreadful.

No he won't be cuddled to sleep, I wish he would. I've been on 2 hour walks and he will only sleep for half an hour of it. Every day last week I went for an hour walk to see if this time he would, but nope! Thanks for yor suggestions

Maybe his nap routine is changing? I had a week or two from hell at 5 months where she would barely nap as she adjusted from 4 naps to 2. I had to start from scratch after I nearly lost my marbles. Waited until she was really tired before even trying to get her to sleep. But during that couple of weeks nothing would get her to sleep. Hope it passes soon, it's no fun.

What about if you bring him into bed with you and have a nap together?

We did start co sleeping and I've gradually managed to get him into his cot for all naps and most of the night. We have napped together in the day but it's a last resort and I have to feed him to sleep. I think I may have to keep trying that just to get us through it.

Thanks for everyone's input, readi through other posts I think there a few of going through the same thing

My 4.5 month old DD won't nap for more than 30 mins in her cot, but if I walk her in the pram and time coming home just right, she'll sometimes stay asleep in her pram even when it's not in motion any more. It's hit and miss though, sometimes I have to just keep walking to make sure she has a decent length nap.

I feel your pain. My 11wo DD was such an excellent sleeper, she'd be awake for 2 hours at a time and then have two long naps a day of 2.5hrs at least each. She was also sleeping through the night (12/13hrs) and able to self settle. However she would only nap in the car seat, this I decided had to come to an end. She won't sleep in the crib, I can get 45 mins out of her max. It's that transitional point when they go from being in a light sleep to falling into a deep sleep. My problem is that I put her down for her first nap of the day and it coincides with her next feed, so she wakes, I feed her, pop her back to sleep and then she only goes for another 45 (because she's had some but no enough). Today is day 4 and she's definitely happier in the crib (before she would scream the house down), today she can be in there without crying. When she was sleeping in the car seat she'd need to go for a nap after 2 hours of being awake. Perhaps now she needs to sleep earlier, so tomorrow I'm going to take her up to the crib about 1.5hrs or so after she's first got up. Maybe this will help? All you can do is keep trying and hope it's a phase...

maybe just stop stressing so much and take him out for a walk in the buggy (if you can)? I have been thru phases like this with all my DS' and found that just getting them to sleep was important, less how I got them to sleep during the day, and that as they got older it was then easier to get them to sleep where I wanted them to. It was almost just getting them used to having a nap at roughly the same time. Sometimes DS3 gets put in the buggy in the front room for a morning nap if he won't settle in bed and I can't take him out!
I have found that stressing about it made my day miserable and they probably pick up on it!
The other thing is that as babies get older their daytime sleep routine may change. Mine have all been less about sleep at set times during the day, but at roughly the same intervals - so 2 1/2 hours after waking up needing to sleep, then as they get older 3-4 hours after waking up.
Have been having night time problems which we are just fixing with DS3 at the moment so I do know just how exhausting it all gets, and just how important it is to get some peace and quiet in the day!