5 Month Old Frequent Nightwaking

My daughter did the same exact thing. You aren't alone. I got a mobile that plays soothing music and that seems to do the trick. I come in, let her know she's ok (hug, cuddle, soft singing) and put on the mobile. By the time the songs are over (generally 2-4 minutes-its a wind up one), she's knocked out. She's now 10 months old and slowly getting out of this phase. Good luck--

I'm a Mom of 4 boys all breastfed....my youngest is 7 months. He also slept throught the night around 6 weeks. My son started the waking in the middle of the night 2-4 times. I am a very scheduled Mom with Naps, and bedtime routine. 2 things it most likely is 1-teething with a little tylenol or motrin....this would be kind of obvious with crabby through the day and drooling with hands in the mouth. The other is HUNGER...I started my youngest on solids + nursing a week shy of 6 months...I also gave him a little cereal an hour before bed with a little pureed fruit. Did the trick!!! Just recovered from another bought of sleepless nights. and Yep! The 2 top teeth came in this morning! Good luck....keep plugging away!

I would agree with feeding him if he needs it. You might be creating additional wakings by not doing that the first time. Yes, they go through spurts and phases. The are not maipulating you, something is going on and he needs you and/or food. This type of thing will happen through out the next year, so get ready! My 16 months old is teething like crazy! She sleeps through the night for about a week and then it is 3-4 days of waking at night needing tylenol and hugs, kisses and rocking.

My son, at 6 months, is a good sleeper, but will go through periods where he wakes up more frequently in the night. I feed him every time; however, this is in-part to help maintain my milk supply - plus, now that he doesn't require a burp, he falls right back to sleep. I do co-sleep, however, and it enables me to get much more sleep when he wakes up in the night.

If he is waking up due to gas, check your diet and make sure that he's getting a burp in before heading back to sleep (mine burps when I sit him upright - he stopped needing a burp at about 5 1/2 months). The other thing that helps my fella stay asleep is that I still swaddle his arms and/or use the Magic Merlin Sleep Suit. I find that without it - he startles himself awake. If you are concerned, you could try to rule out an ear infection. But seriously, check your diet - I found that when I started eating brussel sprouts, it affected his digestion and caused him to wake in the night.

My daughter did the same thing - came home from the hospital sleeping 5 hours straight until 3 1/2 months when she started waking every hour or so screaming. I thought she was going through a growth spurt, but it didn't end. Turned out she has a protein intolerance for dairy. She is exclusively breastfed, so I stopped eating dairy and things got better. Not sure if that's what's happening at your house. good luck.

If he is fine during the day and going to sleep at bedtime then I would say that teething is not the issue , but probably hunger , he may need to start on some rice cereal to fill him up so that he is able to start going through the night again.

I went through a similar situation with my son. He was exclusively breastfed and slept 8 hours by 6 weeks and then at 3.5 months old he stopped sleeping. He was continuously waking up in the night and not sleeping very well at naptime. After a lot of testing and trial and error I finally found out now (at 2.5 years) that he has a moderate dairy allergy and that was what probably caused his problems as a baby. He screamed a lot and always seemed to scrunch up as if he had gas. If you can't find anything else wrong then you might want to try eliminating dairy from your diet to see if that helps. I think they say it can take up to 2 weeks to get out of your system. If he doesn't seem like he is in pain then this probably isn't the case but you did say he would scream. I hope you figure it out quickly.

S.

It might be time to start feeding him other than breast milk. He's probably hungry.

Your story is almost identical to ours. Our third child turned 5 months on December 20th. She had been a fairly good sleeper and a happy pleasant child until about 3 weeks ago when she stopped sleeping through the night and started taking abbreviated naps during the day. This really hurt her mood. She was upset most of the time she was awake because she was so sleep deprived. Anyway, we started giving her solid foods during the day, but after some reading I realized that MOST babies do not NEED to be fed during the night unless they are premature or underweight. They have become accustomed to these feeds however and the cycle needs to be broken. Anyway, because we have two other children and wanted to reach our goal quickly, we let her cry it out. It took 2 nights of crying. Each night she cried 2 separate times with the longest being 30 minutes. By the third night she slept completely through the night and her daytime naps are consistenly longer and she is a MUCH happier child (as are we!). I think you will receive alot of anecdotal stories, but the bottom line will be either pick a method and be consistent or accept that this is a phase that will eventually pass. Good luck!

I'm really not trying to be a sarcastic wench but, are you serious? Why are you only giving him the midnight feeding? He's only 5 months, he should be nursing more. Breastmilk is very quickly digested so he's probably hungry at those times. Or since he's only 5 mo. old he just wants the comfort of the boob. he could be having a growth spurt. In which case he'll wake more at night to nurse. All babies are different. None of mine slept all the way through the night 'til they were about 2. If co-sleeping isn't out of the question, do that. We do and we get fine sleep. You don't always have to go by "the book" rules. Like I said, all kids are different. Don't wear yourself out over this. If someone tells you you shouldn't sleep with your baby, that's just their opinion. Do what you need to do to get the best sleep.

So....don't listen to Traci (the 'sarcastic wench' at the first). If her kids weren't sleeping through the night until they were two, I'm pretty sure that she's the last person that should be giving advice on getting your kids to sleep.
That being said, 5 months is still pretty young to expect them to sleep the night, even though your son was obviously doing it before. One thing that struck me as something to do differently is to lay him down while he's still awake (REALLY awake - not on the verge of falling asleep) and let him fall to sleep on his own. Learning how to fall asleep on their own is a critical part of babies making it through the night, since waking and falling asleep again are common for everyone. I think feeding him once through the night is fine - he shouldn't be hungry more than that (ESPECIALLY not every hour). People, including babies, are creatures of habit, and I think at this point he is just waking up as a course of habit. Feed him once at night, and the rest of the time let him scream it out. He'll soon figure out that he needs to just sleep.