Can't take these horrendous nights anymore.

[Writerwannabe83]

I think I'm going crazy and just don't know what to do.

DS is 5 months old and is waking constantly throughout the night. I'm shattered and can't cope with it anymore.

It's 00.40am and he's been awake for over an hour. He just won't sleep. I'm lucky if I get 6 hours sleep in a 24 hour period and even when I do it's usually in three blocks of 2 hours.

Things are just getting worse and worse. I'm sitting here and just want to cry.

He will be awake for hours and even if he does drop off it will only be for 2 hours maximum.

The other night he only slept for just over 5 hours in a 13 hour period. I just don't understand it.

I can't take it anymore though.

Writer I didn't want to read and run. What's his daytime routine like? X

Oh you poor thing, do you co sleep? Do you get them up when they wake? What is your routine like?

I read a book called Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child and found that helpful when mine was being awful.

We used to have a great routine but then my DH broke up for the summer holidays and his permanent presence confused DS and things went out of kilter. Throw in his immunisations making him a bit under the weather, teething, 4 month sleep regression and development of reflux and things are all over the place.

I know I'm moaning but I just needed to get it of my chest last night.

He fell asleep two hours after waking (01.15am) but was then up again before 6am.

I do bring him into bed with me which was effective but I don't feel safe doing that anymore - DS is now always rolling and always sleeping on either his side or his front. He used to be content lying on his back so I wasn't worried about co-sleeping but now I'm scared he's either going to roll into me and suffocate or roll on his front and suffocate as my mattress isn't particularly firm.

We used to have problems with his daytime naps and had the horror of an overtired baby at bedtime but his naps have been much much better over the last week.

His bedtime used to be 10pm and he'd sleep through until 4am but now he seems to have bought his bedtime forward to 8-8.30. It's nice having my evenings back but now he just keeps waking up during the night. He seems to treat the period between 8-11pm as a nap and then wakes up raring to go.

When he used to go to bed at 10pm he'd have a feed at 4am, be back asleep by 5am and then sleep for another 3 hours - it was lovely and perfectly manageable. However, with his earlier bed time he's frequently waking and then up for the day at 5am. The lack of sleep is getting to me now - I don't think I even got 4 hours last night

I feel your pain! My little girl is 14 weeks and we were getting ok at sleeping (max 5 hours, but for a bf baby I think thats ok) but for the last week it's been horrible. Constant waking in the night and I am dead on my feet!

My only suggestion would be to look at the daytime routine. Making sure they get regular feeds, good naps in the day and also looking at your bedtime routine so that they know its definitely bedtime not just nap time. It doesn't always work and I am thinking our sleep problems are to do with a 'wonder week' but a good routine certainly worked for us before.

Hang on in there, it will get better!

I feel you for, I really do. I've just come out of the other side - 5 months of hell from my now almost 14mo. The fun started at about 8 months. At her worst she was up 15-20 times a night. Would only go to sleep being breastfed. Could not be consoled by daddy. I was an emotional wreck, sleep deprivation is fucking worse than hell. I was angry most of the time.

I was lucky and found a 'sleep easy' clinic, run at my local childrens centre. 1-2-1 sessions with a very understanding HV/early years coordinator. She helped and listened and gave us direction on how to change her sleep behaviour. Have you tried your local area to see if they run the same? This woman has literally saved my sanity.
(It was a London borough)

Some things that helped us were reevaluating and changing her whole bedtime routine. This included very quick and functional baths, not the massive play time that I gave her. Stopping BF to sleep. Own room. Blackout blinds. Time. Time. Time.
What are the outside noise levels like where you are?
Can his daddy do the bath and bed routine? He could be integral to changing the whole sleep behaviour.
Have you started weaning yet? That may help.

It's important to give yourself a break, just for a night or a good few hours in the day but a night is better. My Husband was amazing throughout, I really don't know how I would've coped without him.

You have my sympathy & understanding OP, sleep deprivation is a killer...
We are in a similar situation with our 8 month bf fed baby . Previously no day time routine for naps & unpredictable nights . Following a recommendation tried cranial sacral therapy ( ...some kind of baby massage) and it does appear to be helping. Now has 3 regular daytime naps of an hour and nights have got ( comparatively ) better waking between 3-5 times. Might be worth trying?