5 month old - sleep gone to pot!!

[GlummyMummy]

My 5 month old baby has been sleeping dreadfully at night since 14 weeks and rather than getting better, it's getting worse. The last few nights she has gone down at 8pm with her dummy, had a dream feed at 10.30pm after which she goes down without a dummy, but has then been wakening regularly from 1am to 6am with us up and down out of bed like yoyos putting the dummy back in. It's annoying as previously she only woke at 4am, we put the dummy straight in and she would be fine till the morning. We know she can sleep through as prior to 14 weeks she was sleeping for 9 hours straight. Don't know if it's related as in last few weeks every morning she has wakened up drenched in sweat/pee so have been having to wash her entire bedding daily.

Anyone any tips or advice as we are getting desperate!!

I have no advice but my 19 week dd's sleep has gone to pot too she was going down at 7ish then either sleeping til 3 then up at 7 or up at 1, 5 then 7 but like you we are up numerous times a night last night she went down as normal but woke at 10.45 and didn't go back to sleep til after 2 then stirred at 2.45, 5.30 but I managed to get her to go to 7.30 Im putting it down to a sleep regression it's very tiring I feel your pain!

Drenched in sweat! She shouldn't be at that age, could she be too hot?

Hungry maybe?

Oh dear, poor you- that sound exactly the same as what we are going through!! Do you use a dummy overnight and if not, how do you manage to settle your baby?

Hollie84, presuming she's not hungry as she 's never needed any food during the night since she was 8 weeks. Sorry that previous message was meant for butterfly86- I'm new to this!!

Quitelikely- we aren't sure if it's pee or sweat. The room is 19 degrees and she is in a 2.1 tog sleeping bag and long sleeved baby grow so can't imagine she would be too hot

Thanks all for your replies

She's bigger now than she was at 8 weeks, so may well be hungrier! I would try feeding when she first wakes and see if she settles better.

If she's weeing through her nappy maybe you need to move up a size, or change her at the first feed?

glummymummy yes we use a dummy but she pulls it out all the time so I'm constantly putting it back in I try to just rest my hand on her and shush her but on the bad nights Ive got her out and tried to cuddle her back to sleep. We had a good night last night she went to sleep at 6.45 woke at 1.30 for a bottle then got up at 6.45 I had to shush her once or twice but she didn't fully wake up I hope it carries on!

Honestly, just feed her when she wakes up. Her needs are changing all the time, just because she didn't wake up at 8 weeks doesn't mean she won't at 5 months.

Also, echo the idea about changing her, but be doubly sure it isn't sweat as that sounds worrying.

She's getting ready for weaning too so her appetite will be changing.

The only constant is change with kids I'm afraid!

Butterfly86-that's great you had a better night, what did you do differently!! It's always funny when they do go longer at night as you start analysing everything they did during that day!!

DeadCert-thanks also for your suggestions. We are assuming it is pee as it's only up the back of the baby grow and not all over her. Changed her nappy at 4am and gave her a feed last night and that got her through to 7am. We were brave and put her down at 7.30pm with no dummy. She cried for 20mins while we patted and shushed her but did go to sleep. After she woke at 4am, was fed and changed, we really struggled to settle her without the dummy so we gave up and put it in.

The only thing we did differently was put her down a touch earlier, the previous night we had tried her in the cot as she's getting too big for her moses basket (it's a big basket hence why she's still in it) but put her back in the basket when she wouldn't settle and last night she was in her basket as I was desperate for sleep lol! Sounds like you had a pretty good night too can I ask why you try to settle her without the dummy if she settles well with it just curious :)

The reason for trying to ditch the dummy overnight is that she only ever sleeps for 45 minutes with it in, spits it out and then starts crying so we end up having to keep getting out of bed to find the dummy and put it back in. It does settle her quickly but it's a short term fix. She is at the stage where she can pull it out herself now too so sometimes it only quietens her for 5/10 mins. Is this what others are experiencing??

Yes exactly the same she constantly pulls it out put can't put it back in so I give up in the end back to a bad night last night we've been up for the day since 3.50 and she is yet to go to sleep she is shattered and so cranky!

We were up at 4am this morning too but thought that was a good night as she went down at 8pm! I was quite pleased to get 6 hours sleep but who knows what tonight will bring! At least our day time naps are okay at the moment though sometimes it does take me 30 mins or so to settle her- I feel for you butterfly86!