5 month old won't sleep

[steffyjo]

Hi everyone I'm new to this site so please bare with me

I'm really starting to struggle with my little boy
He is 5 months old and will not sleep in his bed for naps or night time
He is still being rocked to sleep as he can't self soothe soothe. If he Isn't rocked to music he will scream and thrash around until he is shaking and will make himself sick.
When he has finally fallen asleep I will put him down in his bed but he starts screaming until I pick him back up again and when he does manage to go down he will wake half hour later and I have to repeat the whole thing again

This goes on from 8pm until 7 am the next morning and the most he will sleep is an hour until I have to rock him again

I'm exhausted.

how do I break this cycle? I'm desperate for sleep. I can't do cio as He gets himself into such a state I know he wouldn't give in

I've not had a single day without him since he was born as he is ebf and won't take a bottle I need some advice

Thanks xx

Hi

Firstly, have these: . Sleep deprivation is hard, very hard.

Have you tried a bouncy chair and dummy for daytime naps? This is my go-to for no cry sleep training.

Babies, toddlers and children cannot self sooth like an adult would (ie tired, lie down, close eyes, sleep) until school ago - so the sooner you stop chasing that impossible dream, the better.

Until school age they need something t assist then to self-sooth. As you've found, you being the one who soothes (feeding to sleep, rocking etc) is not a great long term plan. So you need a hands-off method to teach baby to sleep. Some options for sleep props include:

• Dummy
• Thumb/finger suck
• Special toy
• Special blankie
• Patting
• Tickling
• Hair twiddling (when older)
• Movement (bouncy chair, pushchair, car seat)

Your son sounds completely and utterly overtired. My 5 1/2 month old has 5 hours of daytime sleep and 11 hours at night. Initially try for frequent, short naps.

Every two hours through the daytime:

Feed (15 minutes)
Activity/Play (1 hour)
Sleep - Bouncy Chair (minus arch) & Dummy and you sit on the sofa and bounce bounce bouncy into sleep oblivion, reinserting dummy as required. Keep bouncing for 45 minutes and then stop and wait for baby to wake naturally.

Then start again with the feed repeat the whole process, over and over through the day.

Thanks for your reply

The only problem is he flat out refuses a dummy :(
He's even worse when he's awake he won't go in his pram, bouncer, car seat or play mat he just wants me to carry him around all day and it's getting so hard

If I put him in his bouncer he will try and climb out and just scream until I pick him out

I'm at my witts end we've tried everything we can think of

My mother who has 4 kids and 8 grandkids can't even cope with him, she said she's never seen such a miserable child.

it can be so bloody hard sometimes and sleep deprivation can be just unbearable. No wonder they used to use it as a form of torture.
It sounds like you have tried most things.
Is co-sleeping a possibility at all or something you would consider? It's not always ideal but sometimes you simply run out of options. It sounds like he just wants to be with you which is lovely but you need a break. Do you ever get the opportunity to have someone come and watch him during the day so you can go grab a few hours and catch up on some sleep?

Sleep deprivation is just has bad for your baby as it is for you.

He really, really, really needs more sleep.

Sleep anywhere, anyhow. Don't worry about anything else apart from getting that baby to go to sleep and stay asleep.

If you have tried everything and he is still not sleeping them my next go-to answer would be that he is hungry. Does your baby strike you as hungry? How often do you feed in the daytime and nighttime?

It's a sensitive issue with breastfeeding but I will not beat about the bush here. If your son isn't getting enough calories then he will be unsettled, not sleep well and need more comfort (in the form of carrying). More calories may help all of these issues.

Oh stuff, I'm so sorry. this sounds like my DS (7mo).

we've always resorted to bouncing on a yoga ball.

the big change happened when I realised that what I thought was reflux was not, it was more likely a food sensitivity. he had reflux like symptoms and eczema.

I've cut out dairy, soy, eggs and wheat for the last month and have a different child! he started a long afternoon nap this week (starts in the crib for 30-45 min, then on me for the remainder of the 2-2.5 hr). He's being tested for food allergies next week. before this, you could set your watch to his 30 min naps.

I hope things change for you soon. not only is it exhausting, I found that I wasn't enjoying my days with him as much because I was so tired and almost resentful! I really feel for you.

can you still swaddle him? it's easier to put them down when the arms and legs aren't all over the place!

we're JUST starting to wean off the swaddle - eczema had him scratching too much - and we have the love to dream convertible hands up swaddle. good so far.