5 month waking throughout the night. ..advice needed

[girl84]

Hi ladies,

My daughter is 5 and a half month. She has never been a great sleeper. At four months old I began dreamfeeding her which would allow her to sleep 8pm-5am. This worked for a few weeks but she is now waking sometimes 20 times plus each night.

When she wakes in the night she cries with her eyes shut. Once I pop her dummy in she goes off to sleep, sometimes waking 10 minutes later but sometimes a couple of hours later. There is no pattern.

She does not want feeding or changing. I stopped dreamfeeding to see if this has disturbing her but it's made no difference. If I leave her to see if she will go back to sleep, she will cry louder and wake up completely.

I'm shattered. Does anyone have any advice?

Xx

If you search 'sleep 5 months' on here or google you'll get a lot of reading on wonder weeks and it being very normal what you've described.

Is she teething?
Are you feeding her in the night?

There could be a whole host of reasons for not sleeping - hungry, thirsty, comfort, teething, hot, cold, pissed off - you get the picture. It is just very very normal for baby's not to sleep through, and unfortunately even more normal to look for solutions which are not there.

You say she's been a poor sleeper but then say she's slept 8-5am which is bloody amazing in my eyes.

Have a read of these links -

www.askdrsears.com/topics/feeding-eating/feeding-infants-toddlers/10-tips-night-feedings

breastfeedchicago.wordpress.com/2013/05/24/5-cool-things-no-one-ever-told-you-about-nighttime-breastfeeding/

www.breastfeedingbasics.com/articles/night-waking-will-i-ever-get-a-good-nights-sleep-again

I would also sleep when she sleeps during the day. Or get someone to watch her whilst you have an hour kip. You need to look after yourself too,

breastfeedchicago.wordpress.com/2013/05/24/5-cool-things-no-one-ever-told-you-about-nighttime-breastfeeding/

I agree with the above post it could be loads of things!
From experience with a baby who has never slept well (8-5sounds like heaven to me) when he cries constantly at night it's usually comfort he needs so we co sleep often which helps settle him and everyone gets some sleep! I sneak him back to his own room after an hour or two and he just stays asleep in his bed!
Good luck

When she was sleeping 8-5 it was lovely lol. or the last three weeks she wakes at all times sometimes every half an hour. She does not want feeding most of the time, she just wakes slightly wanting to go back to sleep. I think she needs to learn how to go back to sleep without her dummy. At the moment she falls to sleep with her projector/lullaby playing as prior to this we had to hold her until she fell asleep.

I will have a look at the links, thanks.xx

Does she have her dummy in the day? I found that when I took DS's dummy away in the day he was much less dependant on it at night, we still have his dummy at nap and bed time but his not bothered if it falls out he still wakes at night don't get me wrong but it's never for just his dummy?

Yeah she does when she is in the car as she cries when she is in it. She also has it for daytime naps. I will give it a try, thanks. Tonight I have given her porridge before her bath,then her milk to see if she settles better. Xx