Help ladies I am being driven to distraction by a 5 month old who is waking pretty much every hour through the night. Advice please..?!?!

[lou42]

It's been 5 or 6 weeks now. I've tried more naps, fewer naps, to no avail. I haven't the stomach for hardcore sleep training but I'm a bit desperate! He isn't enjoying feeding during the day either. Arching his back and thrashing around. Been trying to bottle and breast feed him as much as poss to get his calorie intake to be a daytime affair but it's not helping. Any thoughts?

[georgina84]

Hi. How often are you feeding? Sounds like he could be hungry and as not getting full quota during day is waking at night? Do you have a routine? My son at 4 months out ate me!! I couldn't produce enough milk. I had three days though were i had to be really strict. I had to get him hungry enough during the day so he would eat the full amount.

this involved stretching his feeds back so i got him into a three and half-four hour apart feed. But i did have to start weaning him at four months. I just took it nice and slowly with him.

i also got him into a bed time routine, same thing every night. So we had bath, change for bed and night feed. This helped him predict what was going to happen. I must admit, there were times were he was not happy but on the whole he is now perfect at going to bed.

i also didn't realise how important lunch naps were until my son was about five months old. I then had to camp in for about two weeks to establish a lunch time routine! It usually takes about three days to train a baby. I read somewhere that a baby cries and makes three high pitched noises and then goes to sleep. I really felt awful doing this but i had no sleep for so long i was going to try anything.

i would let him cry, go in after five min not say anything and then strojebhim.

[georgina84 in reply to georgina84]

Pressed submit before finished...

there is a book i bought which outlines all this. I think it called the baby whisper. It talks about being flexible in a routine. It also analyses your personality and your child's. It saved me!

i hope this helps.

[lou42 in reply to georgina84]

Thanks for your reply I really appreciate it. I am considering weaning and sleep training even though lots of official advice is against it! I agree he's not eating enough during the day and he is also not really able to self settle. Might have to woman up and sleep train! I have been really vigilant about lunch naps but it hasn't seemed to have made the difference I hoped for. Xx

[Hidden]

I've just started breastfeeding and have had a lot of professional help as I struggled a bit. I was told that if he is fighting and thrashing about it is because he is not latching on properly which could mean he is not getting enough milk. Maybe you could get a friend to watch when you feed him and help you out.

[lou42 in reply to Hidden]

Thanks for replying! He was amazing at feeding for ages, but just became a disaster zone. You are right, I could try a local group. hEalth visitor a bit of a waste of space but it might help! Xx

[Jacksonla]

Hey, I posted on here the other week about the same thing, it must be a phase at this age! My LO is 24 weeks and for the last 3-4 weeks he has started waking A LOT in the night. He goes down fine about 8pm but the longest he sleeps for is 2.5 hours, sometimes only 1 hour, before I have to settle him again. He'll want feeding about midnight then he ends up sleeping in my bed because he won't resettle. I don't mind sleeping with him but he takes that as an opportunity to be latched on to the nipple practically all night whether he's feeding or not!! I know a lot of it is comfort, I don't know if he's teething or not but I can't feel any teeth coming yet.

I also don't have the heart to do hardcore sleep training & when you both need sleep in the middle of the night then co sleeping is the best option for me right now!

Iv also tried feeding more during the day to get his calories up but this hasn't made a difference.

I started weaning him yesterday, we gave him some puréed carrot and he wolfed it down! He must have been really ready for it. I'm hoping that once we start to build up his meals after a few weeks this may help him sleep.

He doesn't nap well at all. Only 20-30 minute catnaps really. I know I need to work on a decent lunchtime nap as that is important in teaching him how to go through more than one sleep cycle at a time & would probably help at night. We have a good bedtime routine but I have to work on a nap time routine so that he knows what's coming.

I don't have any advice but I just wanted you to know you're not alone & if you read my last post you'll realise there are plenty of other people going through the same thing & they're all about the same age.

Everyone keeps telling me that although it's hard work, a baby's natural instinct is to be close to mummy so they always want that comfort. Make the most of it as they won't want cuddles forever!

Good luck xxx

[Jacksonla in reply to Jacksonla]

Oh and my LO has also lost some interest in feeding during the day. At their age they become very nosey and just want to look around and experience things which distracts them from feeding. Try a quiet darkened room if you don't already so that there are no other distractions xx

[lou42 in reply to Jacksonla]

Glad I'm not alone, he is better upstairs but not much I'm afraid. Think you are right hr just has better things to do!

Think I might try weaning, it has to be worth a go! Xx

[mummymummy]

Could be teething they can get pretty grouchy at night cos the gums are throbbing.... my hv told me they can teethe from 2-3 months even though there are no teeth the process starts and some sail thru some suffer... Try giving some calpol as a one off to see if that helps and I use the teething powders which are great they are the ones in the white box not the teething granules. ...I haven't tried them. .. my son went thru a phase of thrashing around getting angry...I don't know why but we got thru it. ... has he got a routine in the day? Do u feed on demand or at set times? Maybe write down when he feeds and how long for I only feed off one breast for a good few times before I give him the other... Have u always mixed feed? What is happening at night? Sorry for all the questions just trying to get a picture. ..u could try the pick up put down method. .. Where u pick them up when they cry and put them down when they stop and continue to do that till they are so tired they fall asleep basically it's best to do it now as over 6 months things change slightly and u go onto the more controlled crying I think. .. Not sure though u would have to look into it. .. Have u had a chat with yr hv? Hope u get it sorted as having such broken sleep is torture! !!!!! My lo still wakes a lot in the night and I think he is having a growth spurt so is waking even more at the moment so i feel yr pain I've got to try the pupd method but I'm so tired at mo but I have to do it ASAP as he is six months on Monday! X

[lou42 in reply to mummymummy]

Hi there thanks for your reply, I was EBF but about 6 weeks ago (same time as the sleep regression) my milk couldn't keep up and he wouldn't take a bottle. Now he will take a bottle and prefers it during the day so I am stuffing him full of as much as poss of both, but not at regular times. At night he is surfacing throughout at 45 mins or 90 min intervals and wanting food primarily as a pacifier. but he does have one or two longer feeds at about 1am and about 5am. Have tried

Pupd a bit but he goes nuts when I pick him up!

[mummymummy in reply to lou42]

My lo won't take a bottle! How did u get him to take it? ??? X

[Lizzie13]

It is normal around this age for babies to start waking more for feeds. Mums often think its a sign that babies need solids or aren't happy with breastfeeding but its not the case. Babies get more interested in their surroundings are get easily distracted around this age so tend to feed more at night to catch up with what they haven't taken during the day.

[lou42 in reply to Lizzie13]

Thanks Lizzie!

[pebster]

Sorry for sounding stupid but you're all talking about lunchtime nap. Can someone explain about it please? Isn't lunch time for feeding then nap time after? My lo only sleeps for max half hour at a time and is soooo nosy and everything other people have said sounds like him. It's obviously stage they all go through (he's nearly 20 wks)

[lou42]

No worries I'm sure what with sleep deprivation I am not at my clearest! He struggles with daytime naps and nighttime. He's now much older and not much better! As you say, so blimmin' nosy that he can't focus on drinking milk during the day if we are upstairs before a nap in a darkened room, otherwise it's a sip and off to explore. I have now managed to get him to nap for 1hr 15 mins in the morning, but it's only about 20-40 mins in the afternoon so he's now super tired by bedtime. Weaning definitely helped though, wish I'd done that earlier! Six months was way too late for him, but I"m sure they are all different...

[mysticmamma]

I had this problem with my baby at 4 months.At first he was breast fed,He was always hungry and i know from my past babies they dont suffice with my small supply of b milk,So he was given a Breast feed first and a few ounces of formula after wards.In the evenings when it was quiet i just breast fed him sometimes for hours! not sure if he was full but he had burps and hiccups so I knew he was getting a good amount of both my milk and formula.At 4 months he lost interest in my milk and wanted the bottle only even at night, I became so frustrated at his thrashing about and not taking my milk ,So I weaned him and although i missed feeding him he established a great routine where he only got up once after a dream feed from the bottle at 11 or 12 pm/He would be exhausted by 7 or 8 in the evening and be put to bed and pretty much sleep through till morning once he was on baby rice and formula ,He also had an amazing growth spurt and in weeks was in 6 to 9 months clothes.I think he just wanted more formula and a different routine,I thought he was teething but he ended up cutting 8 teeth at 13 months,and now is walking and talking,so hang in there,some babys just want a cuddle or feed a lot at night but they get better with time.Mine is in his own cot but he does shuffle around a lot and occasionally i dont mind giving him a feed to settle him,They are still babies after all and cant explain what they feel or want.