My baby will be 5 months next week and has never been a great napper... even as a newborn much to my astonishment he managed to stay awake for 16 hours straight on many occasions. He was a very unsettled baby for 3 months ... lots and lots of crying. That seemed to settled down a lot. Well I suppose a little part of me hoped that the naps would come in time... but they've only got worse. He will nap for 15 mins -30 mins is the absolute max- this will be once a day, twice if I'm extra lucky. It doesn't make a difference if it's a contact nap, he will wake up soon after. His night time sleep wasn't too bad from 9 weeks until the last few weeks. He would wake once for a feed and go back to sleep. I could handle the no day naps because I had a good rest at night.
Welll... the night time has also become a challenge. The first stretch he has about 3 hours and then he's awake every 1.5-1 hours. He wakes for the day between 5/530. I'm literally surviving on about 3 hours total sleep. He's breastfed and I desperately want to get him to take a bottle so I can get a little break but he simply will not have one. I've tried soooo many times since he was 6 weeks. My mums tried, my partners tried. I even left the house so he couldn't smell my milk. He's not taking a bottle. I speak to these other mothers at baby groups and I literally can't believe that their babies nap for 1 hour, maybe even 2, a couple of times a day. I find it bizarre because I've never had that.
I'm very tired and snappy and I feel like crap all the time with no energy.
Please can someone give me some advice or something? I am aware of the 4 month regression but it's not like he napped when he was younger either. We do a lot of things so he's getting enough stimulation- baby groups, walks, playing, socialising etc etc. I even tried a week of not so stimulating things and staying in more and he wasn't any different. I've cut out dairy since he was 7 weeks as Dr thought maybe it could be an allergy keeping him from sleeping.
Thanks for reading if you got this far.
Please don't suggest co sleeping as I've tried it and it's just not for me- he doesn't sleep any better this way.