Ahhhh! 5 month old is awake for HOURS!

[rainoclock]

My lovely adorable and infuriating 5 month old (DC3) is back tracking horribly on what was becoming a nice, normal sleep routine.

He would wake around 7, sleep around 9 for half an hour/hour, then have a nice long lunchtime nap (2 hours) and then we would either push through till 7pm or have a brief cat nap around 4/5pm. He would then, as I imagine most 5 months old would, sleep till 10ish when I would wake him for a night feed. We would then have 1-2 night feeds (I am EBF) - which was fine because we had a routine and I HAD MY EVENINGS BACK!

Now, for reasons I cannot understand, he wakes around 15-30 mins after I have put him down at 7pm and is then awake till 10. If I don't pick him up he is inconsolable. This sometimes means that he hasn't slept since his lunchtime nap and would have essentially been awake for 7 hours!!

He has also increased his nighttime feeds to 3-4 (he is co sleeping in a sleepyhead) and I am completely knackered!!

Can anyone shed light on why he would be so awake during the evening?

What can I do to get him to a. Go down and stay down at 7 and b. Sleep through the night????

That sounds like a good routine and plenty of daytime sleep (although I'd probably still include a 3rd teatime power nap every day, rather than just sometimes).

Is baby being put into the cot when already asleep?

It sounds like he is getting ready to go to sleep where he stays asleep. So that when his body does a brief environment check to ensure all is well, he isn't freaked out by being somewhere different to where he was.

Going to sleep where he stays asleep can work by either feeding to sleep lying down, leaving baby there and cosleeping. Or start looking at ways to get baby going to sleep in the cot.

5 months is also going to see an increase in calorific need, alongside gross motor skill developments. So getting more daytime calories in (by feeding more frequently or bigger feeds) is likely to help.

My DD now 7 months had the exact same routine at 5 months but went through the night from the last feed 10.30pm. However she was having 24 ounces of formula a day. Sounds like maybe your DS is having a growth spurt and needs to cluster feed between 7-10pm due to not getting enough in the day or if he is a hungry baby may he be showing signs of early weaning needed? Might be worth discussing with your HV.

Hi rain, my little one was pretty predictable with sleep up until a couple of weeks ago. I think it's sleep regression arriving late for us (although I don't mind having her up with us, and she sleeps later!)

Have you thought about going with a later bedtime and when that seems to click, start bringing it forward by 15 mins every few days?

My little one doesn't go down awake - I find if I put her down asleep too early it will end up being a nap but if she goes down between 9-9.30 she'll tend to sleep fine from then on (other than the past couple of nights which have been 11.30 due to heatwave!)

X

Growth spurt

Yep agree with above it's also possibly growth spurt

Just cos they sleep through at xmonth does not mean they're going to sleep through forever .they have growth spurts which means they will wake

Just go with it and feed on demand.it will settle when baby builds your supply to what they require

I would agree - none of these things last

FTM 👍

Thanks so much everyone. Fingers crossed it will all settle soon!

If you do not move your DS after he falls asleep, it may actually sound like a start of teething.

My DD is teething now (at 6 months) and she takes much longer to settle. Teething powders/gels help but she still rolls in her cot for 30 minutes before going to sleep. I can tell she is uncomfortable and does not understand what is going. Following a routine actually helps a lot but it is still hard for the LO. I really hope it will get better soon.

I've literally just posted something that sounds very similar about my 5.5 month old. Sorry no suggestions, but I'm hoping it helps you to know you're not alone (it's just helped me!)

Thank you!! He's just gone down at 9.15!