5 month old waking every 2 hours

[Kalamiphile]

My daughter is exhausted with baby going to sleep at around 7pm, waking around 10.30 and then on average every two hours. She is suffering from itchy skin ? excema, but not sure this is what is waking her. She suckles to soothe and then goes to sleep again usually quite quickly until the next time. My daughter feels this is not usual, I have forgotten more than I remember! Any re-assurance, advice please :'(

[randombloke]

Is she colicky? If so, maybe an osteopath could help, especially one trained in cranial techniques. The Vale practice are pretty good. And no I have no allegiance to them, my partner is an osteopath but practices in the city and in Kent.

[Kalamiphile]

No, not colicky at all:'(

[pripolla]

Teething maybe?

[lucyp23]

Hi.

I'm due to have our first baby in early february and have been doing a bit of reading up on routines. There are a couple of reasons why baby may not be sleeping for longer during the night. The 22.30 is the feed that should be able to get them through to about 0300-0330. If baby stays on long enough to get to the hind milk which has more fat and nutritional value they should be able to go a bit longer inbetween feeds. Another reason could be that baby is sleeping for too long during the day resulting in the 2 hour wakes during the night. There is a Contented Little Baby book by Gina Ford which has got some good routines in. Hope this helps.

[Kalamiphile]

Thats interesting, thank you. She only sleeps for about 20-30 minutes, at around 8am, and 3.30, a very alert girl, who goes 3 + hours between feeds during day.

[SR]

My Baby is now 8 months and this sounds familiar. My interpretation of my own situation was that my baby had associated the boob to sleep so couldn't get back to sleep without it. It wasn't hunger as sometimes she only suckled for a minute before dosing back off to sleep. I was starting to co sleep just so that I could get enough sleep and didn't have to get up every few hours. Now that my baby is weaned and I have given bottles to ensure she wasn't hungry I have done some sleep training. Basically shush patting between the hours of 10.30 and 5am not feeding - it's hard at first as she really associated suckling with getting back to sleep and cried but the habit has now been broke and she is now sleeping through. Apparently we all have sleep cycles and have periods of light waking through the night but can almost immediately settle ourselves back to sleep - my baby seems to settle herself now.

So I'd say it is not an unusual situation and your daughter could co-sleep as then it's easy to let the baby suckle or if you want to break the habit she has to stop the association of suckling to sleep which is hard in the short term. 5 months is quite young to break the habit maybe she has to continue for a few more months - it's up to her :-)

Hope that helps!

[Kalamiphile]

Thats sounds close to what my approach would be, I think she is worried that this will still be happening when she goes back to work in April! She is a little resistant to co-sleeping and resorts to it only when she is exhausted. Baby is a very affectionate girl and loves being with you and interacting, so I think co-sleeping would suit her!

[gebbjane]

my daughter who is just over 6 months and Breastfed started doing this at around 5 months, having previously slept through. I put it down to just a sleep regression - if you google it there is a lot of info about a sleep regression at the 5/6 month mark. I offered the boob as she always seemed hungry and would settle back down quickly. I have ridden it out and now she seems to be getting back on track - only waking once at about 3am rather than every couple of hrs.

[sophiechristophy]

I would say it is most likely teething, and will pass. My baby tends to wake like this when she is having bad teething pain - it's like having a newborn again! maybe suggest to your daughter to give her some baby nurofen when she puts her baby to bed. this might help.

[Kalamiphile]

Have looked up sleep regression. Thank you! This sounds just like what is happening with them, will pass the info on and hopefully it will re-assure her that she is not experiencing something abnormal!

[Sanne Panne]

Has she tried letting her baby sleep on her tummy? I know it's not recommended but their necks are so strong at this age... Both my girls have always slept a lot better on their sides and tummies. Just a thought. Sleep regression etc can also play a role although I am a bit suspicious of all the different theories out there - every book/theory has a different truth and they all have so much room for interpretation that they're always "right".

[dollydaydream]

Is the baby on solids yet, if not perhaps she needs something more filling than milk!! Try a rusk or baby porridge.

[sophiechristophy]

Solids won't fill a baby up for the night - if the baby is hungry more milk is preferable before 6 months.

[littleEDfamily]

My wee one is nearly 6 months and we are in a MUCH better place than at 5 months. Firstly, she is now sleeping in her cot for a proper sleep at least once, sometimes twice a day instead of cat naps in car and on boob (and um, yes, also found trying sleeping on the tummy has been helpful).

She goes to bed at 7pm and, like yours wakes about 10:30pm for some milk. I am in the habit of then letting her co-sleep and feed all night as she wants. Just recently though, she is feeding less and less during the night and we are starting to put her back in her cot after the 10:30pm feed and encourage her to stay there for the rest of or at least most of the night. She just 'feels' ready for that next step (as SR suggests shusshing and patting instead of feeding), which I didn't feel she was a month ago. I do think the recent introduction of solids has helped. So my (not very expert) advice is to chug along as you are for the next month or two and the next step will become clearer to you.