Baby wont sleep now!!!! Pls help a very tired mum

[KaransMom]

My 5 month old DS finally started to sleep from about 8pm to 6am with 1 waking for food/comfort. Hes now learned how to roll which is great but not great at bedtime! He now sleeps diddly squat :( He rolls in his sleep and ends up crying as he cant roll back and go to sleep. We take it in turns to rock him back to sleep and tuck his grobag into the mattress but within minutes hes up and squealing. I'm at my wits end and I don't know what to do. I sometimes wake up and hes sleeping on his side with his neck at an awkward angle so move him slowly to his back but he moves within seconds. What the hell can i do? Today I've ended up bringing him into the bed as we have a family event tomorrow where we have to attend and if I don't get any sleep it'll be a nightmare to get through. I don't want to create a bad habit of him sleeping in the bed. I so wanted to move him into his own room in a few weeks, at this rate he'll be in our room till hes 18! Pls help.

It won't create a bad habit and if it means you get some sleep then do it! Being tired is really no fun. If it's difficult having him in bed with you, could you side car his cot?

As above you just do what is needed to get some sleep. Its a long time ago now, but my own DD was like this when very tiny & I did end up with her cot along side the bed.

What really helped though was soaking an epsom salt bath(ask for bath grade), it gets magnesium into them, which helps regulate sleep, stress etc, used to add a few drops of Roman Chamomile & Lavender aromatherapy oil to the bath too - again good for sleep & stress & for skin flare ups too. On nights she wasn't soaked in a bath, I used to massage a couple of drops of lavender oil into her feet - all are safe even for newborns & can really help.

Im also wondering given his age, if maybe he wakes now because he is hungry? - this happened with DD too & though she was EBF to that point, I took the good advice of adding a bed time formula feed, it fills them up more & lasts them through the night - that worked like a dream

Hope this helps, but don't worry about setting bad habits, getting the sleep is the important bit now, the rest you can sort out later if you need to, but you probably wont need to at all - good luck

I'm sorry you are suffering op,2 of mine didn't sleep through until they were 5.
Can I ask why you are tucking the gro bag in ?
I've not heard of that & I wonder if that's why baby is waking up & can't turn back ?

It could be that baby is hungry,restless or needs the comfort of the breast but I'd be tempted to either not tuck the gro bag in or do away with it all together.

Teething pain is also something to consider at this age,have you tried powders or gels on baby's gums?

I've just re-read your post & wonder why are you moving him if he's asleep ?
Don't move a sleeping baby !!

Raise the cot mattress either side with a small towel rolled into a long sausage placed under mattress. One on each side and make him lay on his back at night. Also, slightly raise the pillow end, again another small rolled up towel under mattress. I had two rocker rollers and this helped. Good luck, this may not work for u though.

Create some kind of safe wedging system so he can't roll at all.

It could be the sleeping bag? My daughter started to like being swaddled; the trick was to make sure the blanket is under the head on top of your arm while feeding so as to keep the warmth of your arm when putting down.
I then tucked a blanket over her both sides of the mattress really snuggly.
Worth a try

Mine have both been like that. Things get worse before they get better. Night crawling, teething etc. It gradually improves. If you value your sleep, cosleep with cot sidecar or sleepyhead.

I feel your pain, no sleep is so shit. No one tells you how shite it can be having a non sleeper. It also feels like anyone else around you who has kids, have kids that sleep! As you can see im writing this at 3.53. I have a 1 year old who on a normal night, as tonight, goes to bed at about 11.30, and is up for the day at 7am. Inbetween this he will wake between 4-5 times. And that isnt even a bad night.

Im not saying this to say ah boohoo im worse than you etc, just that i know how hopeless your probably feeling and that you probably feel like your the only one. And also with facebook and friends etc you always have to say things like 'no sleep again but oh dear darling child is still gorgeous and i love every minute of parenthood blah blah' but you know what? Sometimes its shite. No matter how much you love them it can be so devistatingly crap sometimes, especially when your exhausted and all you want to do is sleep.

Practical things we have done than have helped us get through the non sleeping nights:

• do things that you said you never would, just to get a bit more sleep. Dont make yourself feel any worse, if bringing them in bed for a bit means you all get a better night then so be it. When your all better rested you canndo your nornal routine again.

• get some help from someone if you can. My mil has ds overnight once a week (give or take some weeks) which has been a godsend and i am eternaly greatful for. Really you need someone to take them over night to give you a proper rest. Failing that even a few hours in day from a friend or childminder if you can afford it.

• when its really bad, use any moment at all to sleep or nap. Ive been known on my day off to get ds ready in a cosy pram, clean nappy and cosy bottle atvthe ready, gone around the block for a walk as i know that will lul him to sleep and then head home as soon as he fall asleep, park him next to me bed and crashed out. Sometimes you have to.

• use any comfort method that works at the moment for night wakings, especially if it means they stay in cot. Rocking to sleep, cuddle, for us its as soon as we hear a whimper we dart through and shove a bottle in.

• accepting that sometimes nothing works and residing yourself to the fact that your not going to get a sleep right now. I know that sounds disheartening but its not meant to be - honestly. The worst nights have been where me and my partner really want to sleep and are going back and forth cursing why the child wont sleep and that we just want to go to sleep, and going to and from our bed to his cot. When you stop and say to yourself - right, tonight isn't going to happen no matter what i do, lets just make the best of a bad situation and just right off tonight. We normally start with the 'routine' if that doesnt work then try anything else that might work i.e: bottle, cuddles etc. If all that doesnt work then, and admittedly we do all the stuff your ' not meant to' - we either bring him in with us (although that doesnt mean he will sleep either tbh) or we just give up and go through to the living room with just a lamp on and let him play with some toys or read a book or even watch a movie with backlight dimmed whilst we sit there and have a cup of tea. This is when getting a hand off soneone is good as in these moments you can say to yourself - ok im not getting a sleep tonight, but next week on tuesday im getting the night to myself and oh am i going to enjoy it.

Oh and just a point, my ds loved to be swaddled then iver night he couldnt stand having anything touching him even now, he can be dead asleep and if you put a blanket on him he wakes instantly. We just dress him warm enough so he dosnt need anything else - vest, fleecy pj top and botton and bed socks

I have to move him, he looks like he's going to suffocate or break his neck

He's not going to suffocate or break his neck. Leave him be. Don't tuck thr grobag in.

He's rolling over now. He's not going to sleep on his back all night.

And I do sympathise about the tiredness thing, sorry that wasn't at all apparent in my last message.

Taking him into your bed is fine too. He will not be there when he's 18!

I read someone else try that n tucking the mattress in worked for them

Haha certainly feels like he will be in there till 18!
Seems unanimous advice is leave him be so I'll just let him figure out how to roll back. It's just when he cant roll back hes gonna squeal and wake me.up! Oh how I'm looking forward to no sleep :(

.

I had the same issue recently. Eventually (after 3 weeks or so) he learnt to sleep on his stomach and now he prefers it and has hugely improved his self settling

We went through this when our baby started to roll. It was awful but it only lasted a couple of weeks until she could confidently roll both ways, then she actually slept much better than she ever had before. Hang in there!

Leave him be. He was asleep until you moved him.
Dd sleeps on her side now . I put her down on her back and then she finds her own position.