Is this normal for a 5 month old?

[Pushonregardless]

I'm so tired I don't know what's right or wrong anymore. I know they're all different etc but I just want to know if there is a probelm here or not.

DD is an angel in the day. Roughly follows EASY in terms of eat, plays for an hour then naps. Naps are approx 45 mins and have occasionally started to lengthen. She goes down in her cot quite well for naps, mostly. Happily naps in car/buggy

Then at 7pm my baby is replaced with a screaming, difficult to settle monster. Once asleep she wakes around every three hours all through the night but there's never a pattern. She can wake at 8pm then maybe 10pm or it can be 12.30 or even 2. Then again anytime between 3 and six. She generally fully wakes three times a night. Other times she cries out then self settles. Mostly she wants feeding. Sometimes she doesn't but then won't settle and will grizzle for ages until she is then hungry.

There's no pattern, no predictability and I'm finding it so hard. The very early morning feeds can mess up the whole day if she feeds too close to wake up time. This week things have got so bad that her normal wake up of around 7-7.30 has been anything from 5.30, 6,7 or 8.

I'm lost. Do I have a problem? Should she be more settled and predictable. Struggling to keep the creep of anxiety and mental health issues at bay. Feel like I've done it all wrong.

How much sleep is she getting in the day?? Sounds very typical of overtired baby x

Is she going to bed too late? My 6 month old is knackered by 5.45 and we do bath and bed then. My 3 year old is in bed by 6.30 otherwise he's a crying mess. I'd try an earlier bedtime.

But being up that often at night is normal

And it's normal not to be predictable at night too.

Thank you both. She gets between 2.5-3.5 hrs sleep in the day. Too little? Not sure how I'd extend it.

I tried an earlier bedtime last week. Down by 6.20 but she treated it as a nap and woke up wide awake at 7. Tried to resettle or feed but she wasn't having it. Took until 8.30 to resettle her. been too scared to try it again since.

Hi,

I haven't got any useful advice but just wanted to sympathise and to let you know you're not alone. This sounds just like my ds who is 22 weeks old. Good as gold during the day, hardly cries but at night it's a different story.

This week he too has been waking up at 6am (usually up at 7) I try to feed him back to sleep but he thinks it's time to get up for the day, and this messes up the feeds/routine for the rest of the day. I know how frustrating it can be.

Sorry I've got no advise to offer, just a virtual hand to hold. I haven't had more than a 3 hour stretch of sleep since my ds was born. Must just keep repeating to self, 'this will pass!'

I think she needs more daytime sleep! My ds1 was same as you describe. I was demented and constantly anxious so we employed a sleep consultant. I had to fill in a questionnaire before the first meet, her response was "not enough sleep in the day". I was so sceptical and thought we had been scammed. Once we started the plan he went from three hours sleep across 6 naps to 5 hours across three. Once he cracked that he slept through and gone were cranky hours of being upset and multiple wake ups. Good sleep promotes sleep. I think he learned to love that lush feeling of just lying there and nodding off and always woke up happy. I have videos of walking into his room after a long nap and he is beaming! Before that he used to go to sleep moaning and wake up shingling! My advice OP is to try and increase daytime sleep and put to bed earlier!

And I'm not sure that many wake ups are "normal", I would say it might be common but that doesn't make it normal.

Sorry posted too early! I think waking waking twice between 7 and 7 is probably normal and reflective of hunger to an extent! I'm sure I'll get shot down for that :) but when ppl told me 8-10 wake ups a night would pass, I found that much harder than someone saying "no, I think that's too many" which spurred me to sort it rather than live wit bit. I was happier- he was happier x

Thank you cooper. Last night was horrendous. Even when she does go back to sleep I'm awake for hours because I'm so anxious.

Final straw today so I have called a sleep consultant this morning. I don't know what else I can do.

How did the new nap routine work for you? Did it mean she had to nap in her cot and therefore tie you to your house? I don't care if that's what it takes but I'm just interested.

Thank you x

Hi! Our consultant asked for a 10 day commitment. So for ten days he had to have all naps in the cot, you could go out in between but i didn't because he would fall asleep on the move. It was a small price to pay for the miraculous turn around we had after that period!! I'm glad you have got the ball rolling! Good luck! No one needs to suffer sleep deprivation when there is an option of having a happy mum and baby x

Ok that's what I thought. I'd happily do a month right now! Why are baby groups always at 9/10 am when it's nap time!?

Worked on naps all day today. Even one at around 6pm. She's gone down without a peep at 7.15. I'm sure she will be up soon. Might have to go to bed now.

sorry for all the questions but how old was your DS when you used the consultant? Will she just tell me she can't help until he's on a decent amount of solids?

Thank you x

This sounds exactly like my DS at 5 months.... It was a killer! We did controlled crying at about 7 months and he's now an amazing sleeper! It didn't take long because, like your DD he was already capable of self settling (just didn't always fancy it haha!). I found that after about 7ish months he then started having just a morning nap around 9 and a longish nap after lunch. Absolute Bliss :)

Not at all. My DS wasn't weaned when we started. He was 5 months xx

DS1 is almost 7 mths and he was very similar to yours at 5 mths except he would go down happily to bed in the evening at 6.30pm/7pm but hourly wake ups after 1am (or more or less, unpredictable). He started this at 4 mths and stopped it a fortnight ago. I agree to a point about daytime naps but mine has onky ever napped for 30/45 mins at a time. Never more and never managed to change it. He does this 4 times a day so gets 2/2.5 hrs in the day. Honestly not every baby sleeps 4 hrs in the day! We were all set to start cc 2 weeks ago and the same night he settled himself whenever he woke. So now when he wakes, we leave him, and he goes back to sleep. Twice he's slept through 7 to 6.15. If yours can self settle then great. I would wait until she's 6 mths then controlled crying or just leave her! Assuming she's getting enough milk/food in the day. I should add that DS1 was on 3 meals a day and refusing milk at night when he started self settling.