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Frequent wakings- any ideas for 5 months old

6 replies

Toadsrevisited · 20/06/2014 08:25

Part of me thinks posting this is useless because babies do wake up a lot at night, and one should always ignore peers who say their babies sleep through.

That aside , I am exhausted and think I must be doing something wrong. DS was always a good sleeper, and from 1-3 months slept most nights 7-10,10-3,3-7, feeding properly at each waking. He is EBF and we cosleep.

I have tried getting him in his cot and sometimes it works with no fuss for a couple of days, or even a week of starting the night in it, but then mostly only sleeping in my bed will settle him. I'm not prepared to do any kind of CC. I'm also too miserable and tearful to do it anyway. His sleep is the same in or out of his cot. He naps really well in the car, next to me in bed or in his pram, at least 4 per day, as soon as he rubs his eyes. I've been worried that I'm feeding him to sleep and making it worse, and have had some success with feeding him then a five minute walk around the house then sleep holding his muslin for comfort. It doesn't always work but I think the problem is that he can't self settle.

For the last 6 weeks, he has woken every two hours or more at night, sometimes having a full feed but usually just a quick feed for comfort. I am so tired and unhappy and don't know what to do. I am at the point where I don't want to go out because I am confused and crying from being so exhausted.

I'm not sure what I want from posting this. I just need to write it down.

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Roxie85 · 20/06/2014 09:33

I really feel for you and although i dont have any useful advice (my 6 month old dd is not a good sleeper overnight) I just wanted to let you know that its ok to feel exhausted and emotional.
Its really tough and i for one find the sleep stuff the most difficult to handle....oh god the screams!
My dd slept fairly well from 2 months until about 3 months and then something happened and it all went to pot.

Its good to write things down as you need to get it out of your system. I have had some really helpful advice on here that i am going to try so am sure someone will be along later to give you some tips.

NoisyBrain · 20/06/2014 10:22

Have a Google of '4-month sleep regression' or look at the sleep regression threads here, you'll find others in the same boat. I had no idea such a thing existed (and neither did my best friend, whose 3 DDs never went through it apparently, not that I'm jealous, oh no).

My DS was 18 weeks when his sleep went to pot after 6 wonderful weeks of sleeping through, but it's possible your LOs started it on the earlier side. It took around 8 weeks for nights to return to what I considered to be OK (1/2 wake ups) but others get through it quicker. I can only offer sympathy and reassurance that it's totally normal, as I don't think there's anything that 'cures' it other than time. The best advice I was given was to ignore any 'rod for your back' comments and just do what works to get baby to sleep when things are tough. They all get there (self-settling) in the end.

Toadsrevisited · 20/06/2014 10:42

Thank you both. I've read up in the sleep regression but everything seems to suggest 2-4 weeks and Im worried he's past that and now I've made him a bad sleeper by feeding him to sleep. I feel so desperate.

OP posts:
sarahmarine · 20/06/2014 18:52

I am in the same boat. My DD slept through from 8 weeks, with one waking for dummy at 4.30 then straight back to sleep until 645. At 13 weeks, she one day woke up at 545 instead. The next night 445, then so on until it got to 2am. All she required was a dummy putting back in and she would go straight back to sleep. However she would then wake up every hour after that pretty much bang on. A very experienced midwife told me it was classic sleep regression and I googled my arse off - I couldn't believe I might have to deal with this for 6 weeks, especially when these night wakings started earlier and earlier, eventually starting at midnight.
Well we are now in week 9. Everything is getting worse. I have tried to stay positive the whole time, thinking 'well at least she naps well in the day/goes straight to sleep in the evening/we have the whole evening even if the nights are a mess...' All of these things are gradually becoming untrue.
She has always been a sleepy baby and used to have 1-2 hour naps -She will now nap for maximum 30 minutes in the day, and she is taking longer and longer to settle for these naps, even in the car or buggy. She has also started waking up in the early evenings, again initially it was easy to settle her (just plug in dummy) but now it's getting harder.
At the moment she's waking at 1130 every night (just when I'm getting into a really deep sleep) and just won't go back to sleep for more than 10 mins. She's not hungry, but I have tried feeding her anyway (bottle) and it just happens the same. So then I get her into bed with me which I really don't want to do, and she will sleep through until 7am. So this presents a real dilemma to me, as I really don't want to create a rod etc, my husband has to sleep on the sofa, but at the same time, me and DD get a decent 6 hours (I always try for a couple of hours to get her back off)
I also feel that the sleep regression has probably been and gone and now I am just dealing with various hideous sleep associations that I have unwittingly created.
She has always had a dummy (but only for sleeping or when distressed with trapped wind - has been a big problem for her) and I am worried that endlessly plugging it back in has now made her even more reliant on it. I want to wean her off it/cold turkey but I do not have the energy for it, and also feel at 20 weeks she is still a little young to have it just taken away? I know they recommend after 26 weeks.
I would like to try cc, but she would only be going to sleep out of exhaustion, not from self settling, as she needs a dummy to sleep (although in her buggy and in the car she doesn't need it)
I just have no idea what to do. I am just so lost, exhausted and at nights, totally and utterly miserable.
Please help!

qumquat · 22/06/2014 13:52

I'd kill for 6 hours sleep! If bringing her in to bed with you works Sarah, I'd do it! It used to work for my dd and it was blissful cuddling her to sleep. Now nothing works!

CaramellaDeVille · 22/06/2014 21:13

No advice but I'm in the same position so checking in for advice!!

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