5 month old DS wakes 5-15 times every night

[vtiredmummy]

Please help me!
My gorgeous bright DS has never slept through, and has always been a difficult sleeper, but in the past month it has got me to the end of my tether. He wakes between 5-15 times between 7pm and 7am (I have written it down!) screaming and screaming. We feed him one 7oz bottle in the middle of the night which he takes well, but wakes up loads either side of it. My DH is wonderful and I don't know what I'd do without him, but he is now going to work like a zombie! We have tried so many things: CC - he just cries louder until he sort of hyperventilates, PUPD - as soon as his head hits the mattress he screams, putting him in a cooler tog sleeping bag (he has v bad eczema so his skin itches), leaving quiet music playing, leaving a dim light on...The only way he goes to sleep for any decent amount of time is when we take him to bed with us. I know it isn't the best idea but at 3am after a couple of hours of crying it seems justifiable! We've kept a sleep diary and there is no pattern to his night waking. The GP and HV both sympathise but neither have come up with a solution. We are a family at our wits end, please help us! :-(

Oh that's great VTM. Even if it is just fluke, I'm sure you needed the break - even if you were wondering why he wasn't awake (LOL I remember doing that!)

Hi Lazycow, it's weird abut the daytime sleeps isn't it. And the way it worked for me was that in the end, because I knew he could go to sleep on his own and sleep well during the day, it made it easier when we eventually had to do controlled crying to get him out of the habit of waking during the night. It only took one night - almost like he just had to be shown what to do. (NB; I know CC isn't for everyone...) He's been a really good sleeper since then - and as my mum told me I didn't sleep through till I was 5 - I'm rather relieved about that!