6 month old startles self awake every 5 mins in cot

[katlong86]

Whenever I put my 6 month old down to nap he is constantly startling himself every few minutes before waking and becoming hysterical if I’m not there.
His arms and legs jerk then relax, and it’s as if he can’t transition into a deep sleep.
Has anyone else had a similar experience?

Do you swaddle him? Mine did it when not swaddled.

I think that they are still getting used to space at that age. I often wonder too if they have dreams about falling etc. It must be scary!

We swaddled him initially but stopped a couple of months in as no longer needed it. This is something that seems to have started in the last month or so?..

No advice but my baby is exactly the same. She is 5.5 months and was awake every 25 mins last night, she startles awake and screams. I am wondering if she's struggling to link her sleep cycles hence why she's waking up so frequently

That’s what I think with my little man too, it’s as if just as he dropping into a deep sleep he startled himself awake. So he’s never getting a proper rest, and neither am I! I feel your pain x

Yes my baby is the exact same. I really don't know what to do to be honest. I've done some sleep workshops over the last few days and working on not feeding her to sleep so she can gradually learn to settle herself so when she does wake she can get herself back to sleep again. Taking it very slowly and working on daytime naps first and then will move to nights. I'm absolutely exhausted she has been like this for weeks. Hope we both get some sleep soon!