I never thought I would have to post this but I'm at my literal wit's end (sleep-related, of course).

I don't know what to do. DS is 5 months old. We moved him to his crib 10 days ago because he started rolling over in the RnP. He is miserable. He was already waking up 3+ times a night in the RnP, but now he won't sleep more than 2 hours in the crib and often much less. We are up anywhere from 5-9 times a night. We have tried sleep training (gently because he's still a bit young) and while it worked for bedtime and he goes down easy it has done nothing for middle of the night wakings. He is EBF and I am working hard to not feed him as comfort during the night so if he wakes up and it has been less than 3 hours since he last ate DH goes in to soothe him. He is waking up in the morning cranky and crying and still rubbing his eyes but refuses to sleep. He doesn't have reflux (he did but has outgrown it) and we have tried every teething remedy we can think of, to no avail. Plus - this has been getting progressively worse for almost 2 months. At 2-3 months old he was sleeping 6-7 hour stretches and then 3 months hit and it just keeps getting worse and worse. I work full time and can't function. I'm upset every day, I forget important things (like my breast pump, breakfast) I have almost gotten in more than one car accident in the morning. And the worst part is DS isn't well-rested either! At least if I knew he was getting enough sleep it would be some solace.

I'm lost. I don't know what to do. I feel totally defeated.

I never thought I would have to post this but I'm at my literal wit's end (sleep-related, of course).

Im so sorry

5m is a bit young and it seems he's just doing what babies do. Sleep wasn't consistent for us then it had its phases. Not every kid is the same, you know that already by now.

Honestly, this seems normal to me. I remember being tired and yes it was hard but I kept my sanity remembering its only a year, right? I figured the 9m flew by I just had to rework my mind around her sleep needs.

Hang in there! It doesn't last forever, I promise!

I can't advise on sleep training to cio since I did neither.

Re: I never thought I would have to post this but I'm at my literal wit's end (sleep-related, of course).

I could've written this word for word when my DD was that age. We tried sleep training, we tried to partially wean at night (I did exactly what you did, if she woke and it had been less than 3 hrs from her last feeding, DH would go in to soothe her) and in the end, nothing worked. DD just wasn't ready to sleep at that age, so it didn't matter what we tried, she wasn't going to sleep.

I know it's totally not what you want to hear right now, because believe me, it's not what I wanted to hear either, but it really does get better. This is just a phase and while it's a completely terrible and awful phase, by 7mo, my DD was sleeping much better. She would only wake once or twice a night, and while I was still exhausted, I could survive. You just have to keep the faith, as hard as that is to do when you're completely and utterly exhausted. This WILL pass, he WILL sleep. Hang in there!

Re: I never thought I would have to post this but I'm at my literal wit's end (sleep-related, of course).

Posted by RSquared0907

I could've written this word for word when my DD was that age. We tried sleep training, we tried to partially wean at night (I did exactly what you did, if she woke and it had been less than 3 hrs from her last feeding, DH would go in to soothe her) and in the end, nothing worked. DD just wasn't ready to sleep at that age, so it didn't matter what we tried, she wasn't going to sleep.

I know it's totally not what you want to hear right now, because believe me, it's not what I wanted to hear either, but it really does get better. This is just a phase and while it's a completely terrible and awful phase, by 7mo, my DD was sleeping much better. She would only wake once or twice a night, and while I was still exhausted, I could survive. You just have to keep the faith, as hard as that is to do when you're completely and utterly exhausted. This WILL pass, he WILL sleep. Hang in there!

I never thought I would have to post this but I'm at my literal wit's end (sleep-related, of course).

My DS is 2 and we still have bad nights. I don't think my DS slept through the night on any kind of regularity until close to 9 mons.

Hate to say it but this is just what happens. It just takes time...more for some less for others.

Re: I never thought I would have to post this but I'm at my literal wit's end (sleep-related, of course).

i am so sorry you are dealing with this
dd was a bad sleeper at 5 months too and we tried to sleep train but she was just too young. we were able to do cio at 6 months though she dd sttn from 7-6. it is hard to function (working or not) when you dont sleep.
its not a solution to help your LO sleep, but so that you can get some more sleep; can you alternate having DH give your LO a bottle and Bfing so that you can get some more sleep?
also, have you tried a crib wedge; maybe your LO is used to the incline that the rnp had and that will help him get more comfortable at night?
how about a blankie or pacifier? we gave dd a aden & anais blankie and she loves it, she wakes up fussing and as soon as she grabs it really did help soothe her.

im sorry i cant offer any help but i will say it does get better in time.

Re: I never thought I would have to post this but I'm at my literal wit's end (sleep-related, of course).

Posted by jams92

i am so sorry you are dealing with this
dd was a bad sleeper at 5 months too and we tried to sleep train but she was just too young. we were able to do cio at 6 months though she dd sttn from 7-6. it is hard to function (working or not) when you dont sleep.
its not a solution to help your LO sleep, but so that you can get some more sleep; can you alternate having DH give your LO a bottle and Bfing so that you can get some more sleep?
also, have you tried a crib wedge; maybe your LO is used to the incline that the rnp had and that will help him get more comfortable at night?
how about a blankie or pacifier? we gave dd a aden & anais blankie and she loves it, she wakes up fussing and as soon as she grabs it really did help soothe her.

im sorry i cant offer any help but i will say it does get better in time.

Re: I never thought I would have to post this but I'm at my literal wit's end (sleep-related, of course).

Posted by MandJZ

Posted by RSquared0907

I could've written this word for word when my DD was that age. We tried sleep training, we tried to partially wean at night (I did exactly what you did, if she woke and it had been less than 3 hrs from her last feeding, DH would go in to soothe her) and in the end, nothing worked. DD just wasn't ready to sleep at that age, so it didn't matter what we tried, she wasn't going to sleep.

I know it's totally not what you want to hear right now, because believe me, it's not what I wanted to hear either, but it really does get better. This is just a phase and while it's a completely terrible and awful phase, by 7mo, my DD was sleeping much better. She would only wake once or twice a night, and while I was still exhausted, I could survive. You just have to keep the faith, as hard as that is to do when you're completely and utterly exhausted. This WILL pass, he WILL sleep. Hang in there!

Thank you. Did you do anything to encourage the progress you saw or did it happen on its own?

Re: I never thought I would have to post this but I'm at my literal wit's end (sleep-related, of course).

Re: I never thought I would have to post this but I'm at my literal wit's end (sleep-related, of course).

I know he isn't ready to STTN. I don't expect him to. At all. And just to clarify we are not doing CIO with him at this point. But I do know he can sleep for longer than an hour. He has done it. I would even be fine if his wakings were the 2-3 times a night he wants to nurse. It's the other 3-5 wakings that are killing me, and the fact that he doesn't seem well rested at all I just feel like I'm doing something wrong and not taking good care of my baby.

I never thought I would have to post this but I'm at my literal wit's end (sleep-related, of course).

have you tried putting him to sleep on his stomach? It sounds like since he is rolling maybe that is what he would prefer. All my kids prefer to sleep that way and sleep much better in the position.

Re: I never thought I would have to post this but I'm at my literal wit's end (sleep-related, of course).

I know this won't be a popular answer, but maybe he just misses you. My son didn't STTN till well over 10 months old. I spent many nights sleeping with him on the couch, or on my chest while I laid in bed. It meant getting more than a 2 hour stretch at night. Trust me, I have been there. It does pass. You gotta do what you gotta do to function.

I never thought I would have to post this but I'm at my literal wit's end (sleep-related, of course).

Like the others said, it's likely a phase and will pass but in the mean time we all sympathize. DD slept beautifully from about 2-4 months usually sttn with just a dream feed before I went to bed. Then she started waking to nurse once during the night, then twice, then anywhere from 1 to 100 times a night for a while. It always went in phases and any kind of cio would land us both with less sleep and more misery at that point. In the end, the best thing I could do was just bring her in bed to nurse and hope we'd both pass out eventually. I never fully coslept but if I was dead tired I would fall asleep and after an hour or two I would wake up and put her back in the crib. Typically I nursed her in bed and put her right back in the crib after about 20 minutes. It "worked" for us bc at least we got some sleep most nights and she never got used to being in our bed all the time however I always think twice about posting sleep advice bc she didn't consistently sttn until we did cio at 16 months. So what do I know, lol?! Usually we only had 2-3 really bad nights at a time before things went back to the normal one or two wakings which I could handle.

Re: I never thought I would have to post this but I'm at my literal wit's end (sleep-related, of course).

I feel your pain. DS is almost 8 months and not STTN – though he probably only gets up 2-3 times now. It’s so frustrating b/c DS #1 was STTN by 9 weeks +/- we were so spoiled!!! But, he was not EBF – who knows but I think it had a part in that.
This guy, when he was maybe 2-4 months, DH would get him when he woke and bring him to me. I’d nurse him but started falling asleep so then I’d wake up and try to get him back down in his bassinette/PNP. It was starting to take upwards of 2 hours and we just couldn’t take it any more so we started just letting him stay in bed. SOOO not what I ever planned or wanted.
Now he wakes around 12-1:00 AM (we’re only getting to bed by 11:30 most nights ) and we bring him into bed. He nurses for a while until he either pulls off or I decide it’s too much and try to take him off myself. Sometimes he’s ok with it, sometimes he freaks and we try again. Now he’ll usually wake up again to eat maybe around 4-5:00 though sometimes he’ll nurse, yell, nurse, yell – all while I’m BEGGING him to let mommy sleep until the alarm goes off.
It’s so not ideal and so not what we wanted to do, but we at least get 3-4 hours of sleep at a time. Hoping after my busy season at work to try to get him trained better, but right now, it’s SURVIVAL!!

And it HAS gotten a lot better than it was – so have faith. It won’t be forever!
Good Luck!

Re: I never thought I would have to post this but I'm at my literal wit's end (sleep-related, of course).

Have you considered co-sleeping? I EBF also and I have found it to be a life saver. Some people (my mother included) say it will encourage bad sleeping habits, but Kellymom says it's completely natural and babies will grow to sleep on their own just fine.


Kellymom

Re: I never thought I would have to post this but I'm at my literal wit's end (sleep-related, of course).

Re: I never thought I would have to post this but I'm at my literal wit's end (sleep-related, of course).

Posted by MandJZ

Posted by Maybe-Baybe

Have you considered co-sleeping? I EBF also and I have found it to be a life saver. Some people (my mother included) say it will encourage bad sleeping habits, but Kellymom says it's completely natural and babies will grow to sleep on their own just fine.


Kellymom

I would love to cosleep. DH is vehemently against it and my marital status is important to me On top of that, the times I tried to lay down with DS in my bed to nap went horribly. He didn't really seem to like it.

He likes his RnP. He had a great nap today strapped in to his RnP so that he couldn't roll over (this was after DH tried for almost 40 minutes to get him to nap in the crib. He said he got to the point of inconsolable so he put him in the RnP with his paci). DH built a nice nest in the crib and we decided we are trying one more night. If it is not better than it has been we will go back to the RnP until he is a bit more mobile and can find himself a comfy position in the crib.

Oh and yes, we did try his tummy. He was having none of that. Apparently I birthed a VERY stubborn kid! He wants what he wants and ain't nothing gonna get in his way - I can't be too upset at him because he gets it from me.

Thank you all for the suggestions and commiserating.

Re: I never thought I would have to post this but I'm at my literal wit's end (sleep-related, of course).

If he's waking up more often, I'm wondering if he needs more calories/nourishment during the day. Have you started him on solids yet?

Re: I never thought I would have to post this but I'm at my literal wit's end (sleep-related, of course).

I think as other people mentioned it might be a phase (and a really crappy one). My DS had the same exact issues. .He was EBF and slept the best from 2-3 months then bam it got worse and worse from there. When we transitioned him to the crib from RnP we kept the swaddle. We would start in the crib and finish in the RnP. We also started v. modified CIO at 5.5 months where If I had recently fed him and knew he wasn't "hungry" my DH would go in and try to sooth him after 5 minutes. It was really rough. He was up every 2 hrs at that point and at first I just kept trying to feed him back to sleep but realized he wasn't really "hungry" just waking, definitely send your DH in at that point otherwise he will only want you as he knows he will get a snack. By 6 months DS kept breaking out of the swaddle and finally one night he rolled onto his stomach with his legs in the swaddle and arms out and literally slept the entire night in the crib for the first time. He has been belly sleeping and sleeping through the night ever since but months 4-6 were hell. Interestingly we had tried to put him down on his stomach at around 5 months to see if that would help and it didn't. It's almost like he had to do it himself. The stomach sleeping also stopped the need for the swaddle because he didn't Morrow reflex all the time and wake himself up. I know your pain (I work as well and it is really really tough)
Hope you get to the other side soon

Re: I never thought I would have to post this but I'm at my literal wit's end (sleep-related, of course).

Re: I never thought I would have to post this but I'm at my literal wit's end (sleep-related, of course).

I'm a bit of a sleep nut I don't think 5 months old is too early for some sleep training. I did CIO at 3.5 months and it worked like a charm, though I know that's not for everyone? Do you nurse him to sleep? That could be starting the nurse/sleep association causing the middle of the night wakings...?

This website saved my sanity in the early months... www.troublesometots.com

Now, at 10m, DS sleeps 12 hours straight at night and takes 2, 1.5-3 hour naps. Awesome sleeper.

Hope you get some rest!

Re: I never thought I would have to post this but I'm at my literal wit's end (sleep-related, of course).

Posted by melbalalala

I'm a bit of a sleep nut I don't think 5 months old is too early for some sleep training. I did CIO at 3.5 months and it worked like a charm, though I know that's not for everyone? Do you nurse him to sleep? That could be starting the nurse/sleep association causing the middle of the night wakings...?

This website saved my sanity in the early months... www.troublesometots.com

Now, at 10m, DS sleeps 12 hours straight at night and takes 2, 1.5-3 hour naps. Awesome sleeper.

Hope you get some rest!

Re: I never thought I would have to post this but I'm at my literal wit's end (sleep-related, of course).

Posted by MandJZ

Posted by melbalalala

I'm a bit of a sleep nut I don't think 5 months old is too early for some sleep training. I did CIO at 3.5 months and it worked like a charm, though I know that's not for everyone? Do you nurse him to sleep? That could be starting the nurse/sleep association causing the middle of the night wakings...?

This website saved my sanity in the early months... www.troublesometots.com

Now, at 10m, DS sleeps 12 hours straight at night and takes 2, 1.5-3 hour naps. Awesome sleeper.

Hope you get some rest!

I stopped nursing to sleep 2 weeks ago. It almost immediately helped with bedtime but we can't seem to get the night wakings under control.

CIO is just not for us, I'm afraid. At least not right now.

Re: I never thought I would have to post this but I'm at my literal wit's end (sleep-related, of course).

It sounds like he is reverse cycling, and wants to nurse at night to make up for while you are gone during the day. I think by limiting his feedings at night, you might actually be making him more upset/having him wake up more. Weaning night feedings in EBF babies is not recommended until age 1. I am right there with you, up every hour at 8 months. When it gets unbearable I sleep holding her while shes nursing.

I never thought I would have to post this but I'm at my literal wit's end (sleep-related, of course).

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