5 month old still not sleeping

[hmac123]

Hey guys, my 5 month old still won't sleep through the night and it's really starting to take its toll. I am up a minimum of twice a night atm and it was 5 times the other night. Then she wakes between 5-6:30 which would be fine if the rest of the night was uninterrupted.

She is not a great eater and only takes 5oz per feed about 4-5 times a day. One of these feeds is usually over night and the only time you can guarantee she will drink a whole bottle. I'm trying to add more calories to her diet like baby rice as I think if she ate more during the day her sleep would be better but she's still super fussy.

Sometimes she wakes up hysterically crying until I pop the dummy back in and she goes off. Or she will toss and turn and shout and make noises. I wonder whether I should leave her longer til she settles herself, but then I worry it will wake her up more and I will be up hours with her.

Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated!

I know it’s hard OP but really your baby is still very young and a lot of babies don’t sleep through at 5 months. My DS didn’t sleep through untill 11 months. Frequent waking is very normal in the first years.

Baby rice also has no nutritional value or real calories. It just takes up room in her tummy, meaning less room for her milk.

You could try white noise? That worked well
For us. Do you have a DP/DH that can share some of the load with you? Are you able to nap during the day when baby does.

I found the best way to cope was adjusting my expectations, prioritising sleep, going to bed early and accepting I was going to be up

DS will be 5 months in a weeks time and we have just gotten him back to good sleep habits after the dreaded 4 month sleep regression. They need to learn to self sooth or will wake during the night and won't settle themselves back down.

I read a book called the happy sleeper by Heather Turgeon it really opened my eyes in regards DS's sleep.

DS still has a night feed but this feed falls anywhere between 11pm and 4am so initially it was hard to tell when he was waking for this.

When they wake up give them a while to see if they settle back down. DS used to thrash his legs up in the air and slam them back down which I thought was a sign of distress but apparently it was him trying to self sooth as his head rocking and chatting to themselves. I would have jumped in immediately to try sooth him before now I leave him. I also used to rock him to sleep in my arms and then transfer to his cot, again completely wrong. You need to calm them down and then put in their cot drowsy but still awake, again allowing them to self sooth. Now I put him down say night night and leave the room. Sometimes he goes to sleep sometimes I might have to pop back in to pop his soother back in and say night night again (sometimes his happens multiple times )

It's drastically helped his sleep, he had the ability to self sooth but I was hampering it. We've now introduced a comforter which I popped in my bra for a few hours so it smells like me. I'm hoping his adds to the reassurance when he wakes up.

We started weaning DS onto tastes of solids from about 4.5 months but steered clear of baby rice as it has zero nutrition in it. Try puréed veggies instead! Funnily enough food did nothing to help his sleep.

I completely feel for you I was on my knees with the tiredness and at one point was hallucinating it was horrible. You will get there you just need to find what works for your baby.

I’m afraid mine is a year and has never slept through. Have you tired co-sleeping to make t easier? I think some just take longer than others.

I'm in the same boat so watching with interest. DD (5 months) has always fed to sleep, but was at least sleeping in her own cot in our room prior to the sleep regression. Now she has to sleep in our bed, and wakes 5-6 times a night. I am at my wit's end too...

Thank you @Smurfybubbles that's really helpful! I will definitely give self soothing a go! Yes my baby also thrashes herself around and turns on her stomach and screams 😂. So difficult to know how long to leave it!

I will get a comforter too! I will try anything at this point. I'm useless at napping in the day as I feel I always have too much to do and I'm also trying to get out and exercise which always guarantees a nap. So I'm too busy. I do have early nights though.

So tired of hearing my friends talk about what good sleepers their babies are. A friend of mines 4 week old is already sleeping through! You can imagine my reaction haha!

Seriously look into self soothing! DS started sucking his thumb a while ago and I thought hurray we can now get rid of his dummy which he looks for during the night but it was short lived and we are still dummy dependent.

I need to look at his daytime naps too as they are all over the place at he moment and he's missing his last catnap before bed which means he's massively overtired come bedtime! Daytime naps are so important for night time sleep so make sure you have those sorted too.

Also don't feel guilty for going to bed early, I was asleep by 7.30 last night meaning I got 6 hours sleep before he woke up for a feed. I feel so much better for it today. I don't do it every night but sometimes the sleep deprivation builds up and I need it. DH is on baby watch until he goes to bed at about 11.

Do you have a partner that can help? DH takes DS 1 or 2 nights a week meaning I get a full nights sleep, I wasn't functioning without it and to be honest it was all that got me through the relentless rough nights.

Yes we are getting there with day time napping apart. She's useless out and about though as she's such a light sleeper. We don't let her sleep past 4:30 atm. Which seems to help. Soon as she shows signs of tiredness we then take her up for a bath usually between 6&7.

We have also got into a habit of pushing her to sleep on her changing mat which needs to stop. It's fool proof mind. Anything for an easy life haha.

Yes but he works long hours and leaves very early. I also have only stat maternity pay so he is working over time. Very difficult to get the balance. I also feel guilty then asking him to get up on his only day off.

Sorry to jump in here OP, I’m having the exact same problem! @smurfybubbles with the self soothing, are you supposed to pick them up again if they cry? I keep putting my Lo to bed drowsy and the minute she is out of my arms she is wide awake and if I leave her there she eventually cries until I pick her up and rock her again! The instant she is in my arms she relaxes and goes drowsy again, it’s a never ending cycle. Eventually I just give up and rock her to sleep.

@Aspenn17 my DS at one point could only be rocked to sleep but after the 4 month sleep regression it stopped working for him. I think the idea is to slowly move away from it so for DS I started by rocking him for a min until he calmed down then popped him down and then rubbed his hand or patted his bum until he went asleep. Overtime he needed less and less input from me.

In that book I mentioned there's a technique called the sleep wave which is a variation of controlled crying but the time span left crying is never more than 5 mins. It's all about consistency in entering the room, saying your one line like night night and leaving again, only to enter the room again after 5 mins, repeat until baby is asleep. CC isn't for everyone and I haven't gotten to the stage where I've had to use it.

Don't get me wrong he still has bad nights but not as bad as it used to be. Tonight for instance he's been awake since 12, he's had a feed but is refusing to go back to sleep. He's not crying just chatting away in his cot driving me up the walls, I already know I'm going to be dead on my feet tomorrow. I reckon it's teething