5 month old sleep challenges
My 5 mo little boy is on the Gina Ford routine. He follows it well in terms of going down to sleep with exception of the following:
- does not sleep more than 40 minutes on the naps - how do I extend the naps?
- does not sleep through the night - waking 2-3 times a night - how can I stop this?
He sleeps really well from 7pm until we wake him at 10:00pm to give him bottle of formula (only time he has formula all other feeds are BF). If we didn’t wake him he can last till 1am most of the time. He also is a nightmare to get a bottle into - we use the non constipated stuff which is thicker but even when we used the normal stuff he never finishes more than 5oz.
He then wakes 2 to 3 times in the night, I try to not feed him but then this just extends the time I’m awake.
The not sleeping is really getting me down - even if I could get 2 hours back in the day would help. Any ideas?
Replies
I followed Gina Ford loosely too.
40mins for a nap isn't bad at all, so i really wouldn't worry about that - as he gets older, this will likely become a longer nap - what times is he napping?
Also, he's is only 5months old (and sometimes babies have a sleep regression at this stage) so waking 2-3 times a night isn't bad too! Remember, they are babies and little individual people, so no matter what a book says, it's not always going to match up.
I would try not offering that 10pm bottle at all, and when he wakes, give him a good feed from you, and see what happens. Unless you're convinced that feed makes him go to 1am?
You might want to try a larger sized teat as that hungry baby milk can be super thick.
Honestly, sounds like you're doing a great job though!
Thanks very much - you are the second person today to suggest dropping the 10pm feed and I had just ordered number 3 teats so will give that a go. His nap times are 9am, 12pm and around 4pm - just like the book. Thanks for your motivating comments - I keep saying least he’s a happy baby something must be working. Just wish I was less tired to enjoy it more!
You know that 4pm nap seems quite late to me - how long does he normally sleep for then?
I reckon deffo try dropping that night feed - see how it goes, but give it a few days to see if any changes happen.. and as you say, he's happy and healthy, this phase shall pass - it's so bloody tough when you're living it though!
I changed the teat and had one night where he woke at 4am and then 6am. And then last night 2:30am and 6am. So better - not perfect.
Yesterday’s nap time at 12 which should be 2 hours he last 30 mins and was unable to get him back to sleep. But day before got him to do 1.5hr.
he shouldn’t have the 4pm sleep really as he should have had 2 hours at lunch but i will continue to try.
Thank you for your support 😄
Just wondered how your night was last night? How was your routine yesterday?
Still one wake up but didn’t want to go back down so we had a bit of a stand off as I wouldn’t pick him up. So hard to sleep train and have a life as we didn’t do the nap training yesterday as had to travel In the car to visit my mum so think why we potentially had fall out. I am not sure if he actually hungry at night, I think it’s more comfort as I nearly got him back to sleep before I caved! We continue to try to sleep train 😬
YES! So hard to sleep train when you want to leave the house - hope you had a better night last night. Be proud though, you're trying to get there!
So little update - he will now sleep in the middle of the day for 1.5 hours. Not sure how to get the other 30 minutes out of him as I try and he just lays in the cot crying until it’s then time to get up. I’m there stroking his head and saying it’s nap time but he’s not happy.
Back to 2 wake ups a night - exhausted. He is not massively interested in the 10pm feed. Last night when he woke I gave him a bottle of formula as wanted to see if genuinely hungry rather than comfort and he drank it very quickly. I just can’t seem to load him in the day so he sleeps through he even has few spoons of baby rice But to no avail! 😞
He is however a lovely baby in the day 🤗
I was wondering how you were getting on!
So 1.5hours is a big improvement - no morning nap?
Have you started weaning yet? Do you want to run through your routine again - can only give you my view as a fellow mum, but happy to have a look!
One more q - how much milk did he take at that 10pm feed last night?
Ahh thank you super helpful to get your opinion, so this our routine so far however I had dentist this morning so it’s gone to pot, currently sitting in a car park while he sleeps before I take him to get weighed!
7am wake (he normally wakes around 6:30 but he just plays in his cot) and breastfeed (not that interested normally too busy being cute)
Play with toys etc
9am nap - lasts 30-45mins can’t get a full hour
play some more
11am bottle formula feed plus a taste of food mixed with baby rice
12pm nap for 1.5 hours working towards 2 hours
2pm/2:30pm Breastfeed
5:00pm a little top of milk followed by some baby rice
6pm bath massage story followed by breastfeed and sleep by 7pm
10pm/10:30 formula feed sometimes he wakes for it other times we wake him. Last night he drank 3oz but had to work at that keeping him awake.
he woke at 1:30am I put dummy in and he went back and then 2:30am so I got a bottle of formula 4oz and he drank the lot - I put him down awake and he mucked about a bit but soon was snoring and woke at 6:30am again not massively interested in a feed.
just saw health visitor and they said normal for his age!
what do you think? I mean it’s not bad but want the night to sort itself out!