5 month old waking every 2 hours

[Problemorno]

Hi all. DS is 5 months old, very happy and healthy. But still sleeps like a newborn! He normally wakes every 2 hours, sometimes every 3 or every 1.5 hours, but usually every 2. He has NEVER gone longer than 4.

He is EBF and usually seems hungry when he wakes, although occasionally may go back to sleep if rocked. He is a very big boy, 20lbs and in 9-12 month clothes! It isn't a sleep regression as he's always been like this.

I am beyond exhausted. I also have a DD and she was sleeping 5-6 hours straight from 8 weeks so this is new to me. I'm in a couple of due date groups and the majority seem to be either sleeping through or only waking once. Feels like I'm doing something wrong!

You're not doing anything wrong, you just got lucky with your first baby and were lulled into a false sense of security!

Your little one hasn't learnt to link their sleep cycles yet, that's all. They'll get there. You have my sympathy, it's soul destroying being woken up that many times a night, but it is also totally normal! We eventually had to sleep train at about 13 months (my little one had become dependent on being fed back to sleep every 2 hrs, and we needed to break that association) but your baby is still very little so you might just need to ride it out a bit longer.

Pretty normal I'm afraid. My second was like this until 18 months or so.

I think I’d lean towards him being hungry- I have had 4 big baby boys and it was almost always hunger related if they woke! If I was you I’d either give some formula before bedtime or put up with it another two weeks and then start weaning. If he’s a big boy I don’t think starting food a couple of weeks early will affect him at all. Hope you get out of sleep related hell soon!!

Try formula? My 9 month old was EBF for the first 8 weeks and wasn't getting enough milk. He'd wake up screaming. We switched to formula and he now sleeps 12 hours and never wakes in the night. Fed is best.