What to try for 5m old sleep issues??

[Sleepybuttons]

Hoping anyone has words of wisdom or encouragement for me...

Ds is 5m, we have been co-sleeping from day 1 which worked well for us but seems to be less effective now, currently he wakes anything from every 45 mins to every couple of hours, he bf to sleep every night and constantly wakes for the comfort. For naps he also feeds to sleep, if I leave him he's awake within 10 mins so I've been having to lie with him everyday, up to 3 hrs in the afternoon!! This would be lovely if all I wanted to do was lay in bed all day but I'm desperate for a bit of me time and for him to be better rested - he's currently quite grumpy as I just don't think he's getting enough unbroken sleep.

We are also not getting out much as he refuses to sleep in his buggy, he's fine while alert but screams as soon as he gets tired, I've been using a sling from early days but its getting increasingly difficult to settle him in this now too, he just wants to lie in bed using me as his dummy!

I've read ncss and although its the soft approach I would prefer he does come off the boob himself so it's not really helping the issue.

I've now thought that I'm going to give pu/pd a try and get him into his cot, but I'm worried that this wont work (if my dh tries to put him down he screams till bright red, sweating and choking) and it will just end up with both of us traumatised and exhausted! I'm also struggling with the 'put down when drowsy', he's never heavy lidded, either awake and fussy or asleep, shush pat has no effect, if I try to stroke his face he just grabs it to suck on!

Thanks if you've got this far, I'm just sending myself loopy trying to find the right solution and could do with some outside input! Xx

This is exactly my DS!

At 6 months I tried pu/pd and had some success. I stood by his cot and cuddled him till quiet, then put him down over and over and over. He finally fell asleep just from exhaustion I think, but it was against my shoulder, not on the breast and I hadn't fed him! I got him in his cot and he slept for about half hour while I sat at the end of the cot convinced he'd wake up any second. Though it seemed like ages to get him to settle the first day I don't think it was much more than an hour. Second day I was getting him down for naps within 10 minutes. My DH could also use the same technique to put him down after just 2 or 3 days. I also bought the ncss and used the ideas from it where I could. I think the most useful though was breaking his latch consistently after each feed so he couldn't just suckle all nap/night.

There were downsides though - he'd only sleep for max 45 minutes each nap, and still ended up in bed with me overnight. I got a little of my day back though, and he got used to the cot. If he woke after a short nap and was still tired, I could cuddle him back to sleep and get him back down.

At 7 months I moved him to his cot in his own room, and slept on a camp bed in there with him. He stayed in his cot all night - but still only slept a max of 3 hours - usually 1-2 hours. I breastfed or cuddled to sleep each time.

At 8 months I did CC. He cried for 10 minutes the first night before falling asleep, woke his usual 6 times, but settled himself each time. Second night he cried for 2 minutes and slept 7pm - 4am! He's improved now to sleeping 7-6 without waking up at all during the night. He's also happier in the day and easier to entertain.

Not sure any of this is much help. I've been where you are though, and it does get better!

Thank you stacks, that does help, I'm sure a lot of this will get better with time I'd just love to be able to get on with things while he's asleep! He doesn't want to suckle throughout his naps but will root a little while into his nap and if I'm not there he will wake.

I'm going to try and give pu/pd a good try, just feel like I need some success stories/encouragement to stick with it and not just confuse him by doing it once and then giving up!