Handhold needed - super overtired baby

[orangesquirrel]

Aargh, I am so angry at myself, as well as DH and his bloody inability to leave gatherings at a good time and really everything under the sun! DS2 is 5 months, normally goes down just after 7pm and sleeps through until the morning. Today we saw friends who live about an hour away and I couldn't get DH to leave - ideally we should have driven back around 4.30pm, so even if baby fell asleep in the car it wouldn't have screwed up bedtime. But no, DH (and DS1) could not possibly be dragged away when the time came, so we ended up driving at 6pm. Of course the baby fell asleep in the car and now will not go down. He's overtired, rubbing his eyes, there is nothing wrong with him, calms down when I go into the room but then starts playing with me and winds himself up again when he realises I'm not engaging. Nothing works: he doesn't want to be rocked, doesn't want to be held, doesn't want to eat, nappy clean, no temperature/signs of illness. I tried staying in the room with him, but he just gets excited that I'm there and then annoyed that I'm not playing with him. And the cycle starts again. He's absolutely exhausted (barely manages to stay awake 2hrs between naps during the day and it's now been almost 5 since last nap). Frankly, I want to kill my husband right now as the baby being so upset is incredibly distressing. I am sure he'll go to sleep eventually, tired babies and all that. Until then, handhold please!!!!

I know it can be stressful when they won’t sleep and you can see they are tired but try and put it into context- it’s one evening and a chance to see friends.
Baby will survive and normal routine can be resumed soon enough
It’s hard to be constantly tied to a strict schedule and sometimes living in the moment has to take precedence.

Just get the baby up for half an hour and have a story or a bit of time downstairs on the sofa and then try putting him down again.

Although he might be over tired he sounds full of beans and trying to play so little point in fighting it.

Failing that stick him in the pram and let your DH take him out for a late stroll.

Big breaths OP

Thank you :) yes, putting it into context is the right thing of course. I struggled to see wood for the trees a bit as was very tired myself. Baby eventually took a small amount of milk, despite declining it only 15min before, and settled down for the night. So all was well in the squirrel household eventually.