5 months won't sleep

[Crazycatlady87]

DS is 5 months and a couple of weeks old and he's never slept through the night. He's awake every 20-30 mins. How long did it take for everyone's bubbas to start sleeping, or mostly sleeping?

Mine is 2 and a half and yet to sleep through the night. He wakes up twice for feeds and once just because he needs to see me. It's so much better than before. At 5mths he would nap for about 30mins every four hours day and night!

Crazycatlady87, how and where is your baby going to sleep?

FATEdestiny what do
You mean? He sleeps in his cot in our room. He was in his Chico next to me crib, but has outgrown it. We tried him for a weekend in his own room and he didn't sleep so
We have brought him back in with us. Sometimes he manages 30-40 mins at a stretch, but generally no more than that and he cries and we pick him up for a cuddle. Recently I've started giving him a bottle again to see if that helps but it doesn't. He isn't hungry. He has 5 x 8oz bottles in 24 hours. X

Look up the 4 month sleep regression. Ours hit at 5 months too and my daughter woke every 45 mins. It lasted a couple of weeks. I wouldn't necessarily 'expect' baby to sleep through though as you might set yourself up for disappointment! Some babies do when they're newborn, some don't until they're 2 years plus (my husband was one of those babies). It will get easier though he will start waking less x

We just had a big improvement with our 4 month old's sleep by putting him down in the cot awake instead of rocking to sleep and then transferring. I read that at 4 months their sleep becomes more adult so they will wake up briefly in the night to 'check' their surroundings and if that's changed e.g. because they went to sleep in your arms and wake up in the cot, they'll be alarmed and wake up properly. Sure enough, this seemed to happen with our son who went from once a night waking to every 1-2 hours for a while Suspect he was teething as well.

So now at night (10pm ish) I put him in his sleeping bag, feed, cuddle, sing a song while rocking then lower into cot and tuck in tightly with a blanket (he was flailing and waking himself up so the blanket really helps). Then I keep a hand on his chest and stroke his leg with the other while shushing, till he goes to sleep. Very dark room helps. The first night it took 40 mins, second night 20 mins, now averaging about 10 mins. If he wakes in the night, I comfort him in the cot, hands back on and more shushing. He mostly grumbles rather than cries but if it's a proper cry, I pick up, cuddle until calm and then tuck him in again. That said, he mostly sleeps through or at most one wake up - hasn't had a feed at night for weeks now. Maybe worth a try?

Crazycatlady87 - baby could have outgrown the crib, many like to stretch out wide. How about bringing the big cot into your room next to the bed? You can remove one side off most normal cots to make a full sized cosleeper cot.

Baby could do with going to sleep where he stays asleep. That could be in the cot (a dummy helps with in-cot settling without crying) or in your bed. It's just important that baby stays where he goes to sleep. That is why I asked how baby goes to sleep - rocking to sleep, feeding to sleep etc need to be done with realistic expectations that they could affect how well baby stays asleep.