Community› The Bump Month Clubs› February 2012 Moms
February 2012 Moms
New Discussion

5 month old fighting sleep..need help!

lauranoelle09lauranoelle09
in February 2012 Moms

I need a lot of help :/ My 5 month old DS has started fighting sleep (naps and bedtime) TERRIBLY over the past couple of weeks. He used to let me rock him to sleep with just a paci and that was all he needed. Now he has to be fed to sleep. Bad, I know, but I don't know what else to do. He eats 4 oz FF, every 2 hours. He also takes a lot of short naps throughout the day. So say he wakes up at 7:30 am, and eats. Then exactly an hour later he will want a nap (15-20 mins long). I wouldn't really have a big problem feeding him to sleep because it seems to work so well, but when he wants to sleep an hour after eating, he's eating every hour! I know that is way too much. I'm not a big fan of CIO, so I do every single thing I can to avoid that, but I'm thinking I might have to try it since I can't continue feeding him like this. Only thing is, when I try to have him put himself to sleep he SCREAMS to the point of coughing and gagging. I just feel like I can't do that to him...

ALSO, I have read that around this age they need a few long naps per day. Is that necessary? I'm afraid if I try to keep him awake from his naps throughout the day that he will be overly tired, and just be even worse to put to sleep. I'm going to try to do some kind of sleep schedule thing but I'm not sure which one to try. Any suggestions? I'm just very confused and feeling like a bad mother, since everything I've been doing for 5 months is suddenly turning on me. If you need more details I'd be glad to share, I just didn't want to write a novel. Thanks if you read this far!

Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker BabyFetus Ticker
Report Reply to Post

Re: 5 month old fighting sleep..need help!

  • pinkshades05pinkshades05 member
    Hmmm, what if he didn't wake up and eat right away? Is that an option or would he be starving? Sometimes Nat is hard to get down for naps, too. I do let her stay up longer (2.5-3 hours between naps) so that she goes right down when she starts to get overtired. What would happen if you let him stay up an extra 30min-hour and then feed him? These are just thoughts and may not work for you, but I thought I would bring them up just in case. It sounds like your LO may be changing his routine like Nat is. She likes to nurse before naps and bed, too.

    BabyFruit Ticker
    Lilypie Fifth Birthday tickersLilypie Third Birthday tickers
    Report Reply
  • Loading the player...
  • butterandeggsbutterandeggs

    I don't have personal advice to give, but thought I'd share a website that I found to be reasonable and helpful: Troublesome Tots

    She synthesizes info from several sleep books and research and presents several options besides "cry it out." But also explains why some version of CIO might be necessary. And goes into sleep associations and how babies process such things.

    At the very least, the info there could give ideas of where else to look/read. Good luck, I know how hard and frustrating it is when what you try doesn't work.

    Sweet baby boy born February 16, 2012 Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker
    Report Reply
  • lauranoelle09lauranoelle09
    Thank you very much, ladies! I will check out that website.
    Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker BabyFetus Ticker
    Report Reply
  • laura.noellaura.noel member
    No advice, just thought it was interesting that we appear to have the same name :)
    Warning No formatter is installed for the format bbhtml
    Report Reply
  • lauranoelle09lauranoelle09
    Well that's neat! :)
    Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker BabyFetus Ticker
    Report Reply
  • justadogmommyjustadogmommy member

    I know you said you dont want to do CIO but honestly your baby needs to sleep 11 hours at night and 3 hours worth of naps during the day. I did the sleep easy solution with my daughter at 4 months old. it was not bad at all. took 5 nights. she did not cry for very long and sleeps like a dream and goes to sleep easy without feeding. just putting in crib with sleep sack and sound machine. Also babies this age can be up 2-21/2 hours after a nap to the next nap. Try this book and spread feeds to atleast every three hours. I wish you luck. I promise you will love the results.

     

    Report Reply
This discussion has been closed.
Choose Another Board
Search Boards
"
"