Please tell me it gets better!

[mum2alex1]

Hi all, My little one is 5 months old and i am under no illusions that he should be sleep all night. I know he will wake for feeds but he is still up 6 times a night and i am just about to go crazy!

He is breast fed and just introduced solids in the last 3 weeks as he is a big lad and was feeding almost constantly. But I dont understand how he can be waking so often.

I have not got him in proper routine yet as we are on holiday in the uk and knew it would be a waste of time with the time change, we head home next week and i am hoping his sleep improves.

Some one please tell me that it will get better i was expecting at this age he would be up 1-2 times overnight and like i say this 6 times i making me crazy!

Thanks for listening to the winge!

[kar]

it will get better, but my experience was i had to make it get better - why would you voluntarily stop having a lovely warm drink and a cuddle whenever you stirred and lightly woke in your sleep??

i agree no point doing anything until you get home - my son's day sleep totally regressed and his night sleep became abysmal while we were in the US for 4 wks. We just managed as best we could until we got home.

[Wookie1]

That's a lot of night waking. Maybe try offering him water instead of a feed and he might get the message that its not worth waking up for it. Being away makes it more difficult. Hope it improves soon. :)

[rynosmum]

My daughter was still waking up to 6 times per night at 6 months and it was driving me mad. I tried everything - more solids/less solids, formula/more breastmilk, later bedtime/earlier bedtime, more sleep in the day/keep her awake more of the day, water at wakeup etc etc.

I used to keep my computer on standby and update a spreadsheet with every waking start time/finish time and duration - it was the only way I could stay sane, thinking that I could analyse whether something I had tried was making a difference. Not that I ever had the energy to analyse anything, it really just gave me an early inkling into whether or not the night was starting off to be a shocker or whether I could hold out hope for maybe, just maybe a 2.5 hour stint of sleep.:no:

The only thing that changed her was when I resigned myself to the fact that she just wasn't a sleeper. I told her that no matter how often she woke, I would always be there for her. Coincidentally she started sleeping through that very same week and now, at 19 months, sleeps beautifully.

When your bubby is ready, it will get better but I'm not convinced that anything you may change in bubs' routine is going to speed up that process.

I'm sorry - I'm thinking of you, it's such a hard time to deal with :hugs:

[mum2alex1]

Thanks for your replies girls think just knowing that other people are going through or been through the same helps a little we arrive home on wednesday next week so going to start a routine then and hope some thing might change even 2-3 times up is better than 6!!

[Seacretsquirrel]

DS is 9 months (nearly 10 -2 sleeps to go) he has jsut started to sleep through sometimes from about 7pm til 5am but he was a frequent waker and I must admit I went the path of least resistance (feeding him) and still do because I would much rather be up for 5-10 mins giving him a feed to being up for over an hour trying to get him to sleep with out it.

I agree try the water but DS wouldn't have a bar of it and all I got was wet :laughing: I have found if I sneak an extra feed in during the day he seems to go a bit better but that is also a bit hit and miss - typical kids just when you think you have an issue licked it stops working.
You aren't alone hang in their it will get better I promise.....:hugs:

[Lilahh]

Hey I really feel for you. My DS sounds EXACTLTY the same. He was feeding 6-7x per night up until we really ramped up his solids around 5.5 months. He is now 6.5 months and on a good night will only feed 1-2x (yipee!) but when his teeth are bothering him (like now) wants it up to 6x per night. :dizzy: He genuinely seems hungry as he will have a full feed and drain both sides everytime. He has only "slept thru" (5-7 hours without a feed) maybe 5x in his life, all in the past few weeks.

Im the same as SS and just feed him because he will self settle or settle very easily with my help after a feed whereas he will scream non-stop for 40 minutes without a feed, fall asleep and then will wake within 30-60mins again screaming for a feed. So i tend to think DS is really actually hungry. Also, if DS wakes from somthing like a loud noise or he is too warm or something he will settle without a feed, and he doesn't get fed to sleep. So I know he isn't waking just so he can have milk to get back to sleep.

Im just going to keep plodding along and hope he outgrows it by 12 months. I've heard a billion stories like SS, around 10 or so months they just outgrow it. I have my :fingerscrossed: for both of us.


We recently bought a new cot and sidecar-ed it to our bed so DS is always in his cot but I can just roll him in and out of our beds for easy night feeding. Either that or co-sleeping fully in your bed is the way to go. :wave:

[mum2alex1]

Hey everyone, The problem i have with water is he wont take a bottle or a cup! he refuses anything other than the boob!

I am happy to carry on feeding him at night just when he is up that often it seems like i never get to sleep, think it is made worse as i am not getting my daytime sleeps due to being on holiday.

The other reason why i am worrying is i am a nurse and heading back to work in February for 3 days a week and really starting to panic that i wont get the sleep i need to function! I know it is just one of those things and alex will sleep through when he wants but i am crossing my fingers that it is in the next month!

Thanks again for all the support i really appreciate it x