Normal for a 5 month old?

[RedLemonade]

I just need someone to tell me this is normal and it'll all settle in time.

DD is now 5 months and waking maybe 4 times a night, but often the 12am and 3/4am wakes leave her very much "awake". She'll feed and start to drift off on boob but as soon as she's put down again (cot or bed with me) she wakes right up and starts chatting/mooching/shouting.

Co-sleeping and holding her hand usually eventually settles her but we're up 60-90 mins for those periods and I'm a wee bit knackered.

Am I doing anything wrong or should I just ride it out with BF/co sleeping/whatever it takes?

Naps are great in the day- she'll go in to cot for 30-45 mins, sometimes an hour, for two naps while I'm at work. Then she'll have a good 90mins to an hour in the sling when I'm home, and then a 6.30-7pm bedtime.

Just the wakeful nights. Sigh. Anyone else at this craic?

[RedLemonade]

90 mins to two hours in the sling that should read.

[FATEdestiny]

She'll feed and start to drift off on boob but as soon as she's put down again (cot or bed with me) she wakes right up

So this is the age this happens. The answer is not to transfer.

Either feed to sleep and leave in-situ exactly where she fell asleep and make no attempt to move baby. So realistically this means embracing cosleeping as a long term solution (not a temporary solution) and feeding/sleeping lying with baby.

The other option is to go the independant sleeping route. That essentially means embracing use of a dummy and lots of other sleep support to help baby go to sleep in the place they will wake up - which means in the cot not on the breast.

That might involve a dummy, establishing a snuggle toy for when older, cosleeper cot so you can cuddle up into the cot, swaddle (if used when newborn), movement for naps (bouncy chair, pushchair).

[RedLemonade]

Thanks FATE.

I'm tired enough to drift into co-sleeping right now but I don't want that for the longer term so I guess it'll be option b and I'll have to up my game.

I have a little teddy in the cot with her that she tries to chew occasionally but obviously she's too little to be much attached to it yet. Very verrrrryyy sadly she just won't take a dummy. I keep trying every week or so but it's a no go. Which is a killer because I know it's the sucking she wants!

Even getting her down for bedtime now is a challenge. She fed till dozy tonight but wouldn't accept the cot even with me lying beside her holding her hands and cuddling in (this used to work most of the time), then continued crying and resisting if I tried rocking her in my arms (this used to work nearly all of the time), only settled on the boob. I had a circuit of this for a good hour and a half till she presumably wore herself out and accepted the cot with a brief eye opening and then sleep.

Gahhh!! She's DC2! I was supposed to know what I was doing this time round!

Funny she'll settle relatively easily for cot naps during the day (for now ) - maybe because she's more tired? And the sling works a charm for her- yet she won't let me rock her to sleep in the same position minus sling at bedtime.

Babies eh? With DC1 it was the naps that drove me to the edge- she always fed and settled really quickly at night. Maybe if I have a DC3 they'll crack day and night time sleep. Or maybe they'll be crap at both.

Sorry for the ramble. But thanks for the solid advice, as always!