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Sleep

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Original poster

5 month old not sleeping - please help!

12 replies

annamitchell · 08/08/2014 08:07

My LO has just turned 5 months and for the past 5/6 weeks has been waking every 1-2 hours. Sometimes for milk, other times for the dummy to sooth her back to sleep. During her 3rd month we managed a stretch of 6 hours straight but her sleep has regressed since then. When she wakes, she calls out to me and sometimes she is so fidgety and on picking her up she has been a bit sick or burped. She is now on gaviscon for the reflux and I am giving her gripe water to help with wind. As far as I can see I cannot feel any teeth yet and we have a good bedtime routine which tires her out and gets her to sleep fairly quickly but the problem is her frequent waking. Is it that she can't sooth herself back to sleep? Is it the 4 month sleep regression or a phase? What can I try ? Lack of sleep is really taking its toll now, would love people's help or suggestions.

OP posts:

Highlove · 08/08/2014 13:39

Bumping and awaiting responses - I could have written this post!

Original poster

annamitchell · 09/08/2014 07:37

Yeah its hard isn't it? I'm wondering about introducing a bit of food to see if that would help. She's a very lively, alert girl that finds almost anything stimulating. Maybe her mind is too active and she can't switch off or settle back to sleep. Whatever it is I hope it is just a phase as it is exhausting and depressing thinking it will be like this forever!

OP posts:

Original poster

annamitchell · 09/08/2014 07:37

OP posts:

Highlove · 09/08/2014 08:16

Yes same here...everyone always says how slert she is. I think it's because she is going to be super bright. That's what I tell myself at 3am

Highlove · 09/08/2014 08:16

*alert

cogitosum · 09/08/2014 08:21

If he's waking for the dummy this could help

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B001FXDUB2?pc_redir=1407344147&robot_redir=1

It helped my ds and I wish we'd got one sooner.

I had a really similar thing. He was doing long stretches at 3 months then it got awful at 4 months. It began to settle then became worse than ever when we introduced solids (and that seems a common pattern so starting solids is definitely not an answer).

I think some babies are more prone to sleep regression. The 4 month one is a classic!

Original poster

annamitchell · 09/08/2014 10:52

Thank you, I have ordered one of these.. Will let you know how it goes.

OP posts:

lisaloulou84 · 09/08/2014 13:16

This happened to my son too a few weeks ago. Has she learned to self settle yet? and is she rolling over? I think the combo of both, plus some teeth appearing are responsible for my sons sleep issue, he was sleeping through from 8pm-5pm and then he started waking every hour. I read that when they learn to roll, they do it in their sleep too and wake themselves up and if they haven't learned to self settle, they'll just wake. I know this is a controversial method but the last 3 nights we have been trying the cry it out method, and so far it is really working and he only cried for 20 minutes the first night, then no crying 2nd and 3rd night and only woke twice the first two nights and was very easy to settle back down, and once last night. I have been weaning him for 4 weeks, but I don't honestly think this is making a difference, because he's not waking because he's hungry. My son does also have one of these similar blanket toys that he nuzzzles into and has done from day one and i think they help.

BotBotticelli · 09/08/2014 14:53

My DS was like this at 5mo and to things helped us:

introducing solids. I think he was hungry. Not a popular thing to say on MN but I know my baby and I definitely think this is what he needed. Settled him almost immediately and he started napping better in the day too. And cheered up immeasurably. In some other European country (inc Netherlands I think?) the official advice is to wean from 4 months. I think the weird hysteria on mumsnet about not letting a scrap of food pass your baby's lips till the day he/she turns exactly 6 months old is rather unhelpful. You're not going to hurt your baby by trying a little bit of age appropriate food at 5mo.

not rushing into him every time he cried. Tried leaving him for 4 mins (3 seemed too short and 5 was too long) to see what happened. Timed it on my phone cos a minute can seem like a long time when your LO is crying. To our surprise he just managed to calm down and go back to sleep, from full blown crying, about 50% of the time. The rest of the time we would go in to him.

Original poster

annamitchell · 09/08/2014 19:39

Lisa - thanks this is helpful. She only used to be able to settle with the dummy in. I would leave the room, get on with a job and she would cry out if dummy came out, I would pop in, put it back and leave again and eventually she would fall to sleep.
Yes, she is now rolling to her right from back to tummy and tries to sleep on this side now which leads to a fair bit of fidgeting. she can also sit up now so has learnt some new skills recently.

Lisa/Botbotticelli - it does seem that self settling could be the problem here and perhaps her lively/ alert personality making her more vulnerable to this 4 month sleep regression. I decided (not light heartedly) to not use dummy at bedtime tonight and let her cry a little. I put her in her cot drowsy but not asleep and of course she started crying. I waited 5 mins or so, went in for a minute, patted her and shushing and then left again. I kept doing this increasing the waiting time a bit each time and about 40 mins later she was asleep. Maybe just from exhaustion but this seems to be a bit of progress? it was painful hearing her cry and not easy.

I can't practise this during her night wakings as it would disturb my husband and neighbours below so it really isn't an option but do you think if I repeat this each evening it could also teach her to self settle during the night?

OP posts:

lisaloulou84 · 09/08/2014 21:02

I have the same problem of worrying about neighbours (I baked them cupcakes and left them a sorry note!) and my OH, but I've persisted for 4 nights now, even including if he wakes, due to the comments is saw from others on how well and quickly the technique worked so figured if I did it short term it would be much better in the long run. Should also be done at naptimes. I read this blog which really helped. noobmommy.com/2008/11/to-ferberize-or-not-to-ferberize.html

Night 4 and he is asleep after 20 minutes of crying/playing, albeit on his front which makes me slightly uncomfortable but HV says if you're confident he can roll back then it's fine.

My sons issues definitely started when he rolled the same way and he started sleeping on his side. Now he is able to hold his head very high when on his tummy and shuffle around and roll from front to back and back to front is when it's gotten even worse, so my advice would be solve the self settling issue now before she gets even better at rolling, as if she's anything like my LO, it's only the start of worse to come!

She could also be ready to be weaned, I've been doing it since he turned 5 months - he's almost 6 months, but if you do both weaning and sleep training you might have trouble figuring out which is the issue. I have also read in a few places that is a myth that babies waking more is a sign their ready to wean.

lisaloulou84 · 09/08/2014 21:05

Also, downloading the wonder weeks app helped explain this change a lot too, it's pretty good

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