5 Month Old Won't Sleep

he's probably teething.
try Hyland's teething tablets

Read "the Sleep Easy Solution" by Jennifer Waldburger and Jill Spivack. I have a boy almost 3 years old. He's a terrible sleeper and always has been. I was so exhausted - I tried everything. Finally, this is what worked for me. I also have another baby on the way in October. I was desperate to find a resource that could help me with the new baby, too. Check it out. It worked for me.
button-style link

read the baby wise book. it sounds like you are trying the scheduling thing but make sure you read the book. also, depending on the baby's weight he may not be fed enough. dont go by his age. both of my babies were big 8lb15oz and 10lb6oz and were instantly eating more than i could even produce breastfeeding. make sure you are producing enough- dont be afraid to supplement. if you dont know breast milk is thinner than formula....that last before bed feeding is really not a rib sticker. you may try switching that to a breast then formula or formula only. and lastly depending on how your ped doc. and you feel you may put a very small amount of rice in his bottle. take a tooth pick and make the hole a little larger and then put like 1/2 tsp. of baby rice then move up from there. that is what my doctor told me to do around 4-5 mths with both my kids (actually i did it with the 2nd before she told me because i knew that at 4 mths she was the size of a 7-8 mth) good luck

I don't know how much help this will be to you but when my daughter was 6 months old I had the same problem. I asked the pediatrician about it and he gave me a printout about it. The idea is a 3 night plan. Night one...Walk your baby through the house letting him see you turn out the lights and saying to him that it is time for bed, good night love you, etc... The paper says it may not seem like he understands but somehow he will start to get it in a few nights. Put your baby to bed in a dark room, speaking gently to him, This was my big problem... he must sleep in a different room than you. You must leave him even if he cries and if he continues, go back at 5 minute intervals and speak softly to him then leave again. This paper says that it might even take an hour or so. You must not pick up the baby at all. Eventually he will go to sleep. If he wakes up crying, wait 10 minutes until you go in to him. If he hasnt gone back to sleep, he may need to be fed or changed.You are supposed to repeat this for 2 more nights and supposedly like magic... problem solved. I know a mom that used this and it worked in 4 nights and slept all night long at 6 month old but she said it was one of the hardest things she had to do. My little girl is now 15 months and I tried this with her. USELESS. Maybe if I had done this way back when. Anyway dont know if this helps but it's worked for some people.

First of all, you are not a bad mother! You are a great mother because you know that he needs to sleep and you are trying to get the sleep for him!

I am going to offer a LOT of advice...so I hope it's not overwhelming.

1. Bedtime. He is going to bed way too late. I would shoot for having him in bed by 8 or 9pm. If he goes to bed too late, he will be overtired and more likely to wake up at night. Do you have a bedtime routine? I used to do a bath, read books, and nurse. IN that order, every night. I kept my daughter and son's rooms dark and quiet.

2. Daytime sleep. How is he napping? Again, if he is not napping well, he is overtired by nighttime. Do a 'nap routine' which is the same as the bedtime routine, but shorter. Read the same book or play the same music. Give him a lovey (blanket or toy) to attach to. Shoot for getting him to sleep after he has been awake for 2 hours. I know it's tough with baby #2...as sometimes they are just 'on the go'. But if he wakes up at 7am, shoot for his first nap at 9am. Look for tired signs (rubbing eyes, won't look at you, yawning, etc.) You want to get him to sleep before he gets overtired. Also, babies have short sleep cycles, 30-45 minutes. if he wakes after 45 minutes, leave him in his crib until it's been a full hour. eventually, he will learn to sleep longer. it takes a while...but it works!

3. Does he fall asleep on his own? Do you put him in his crib awake and then he falls asleep...or are you putting him in his crib already asleep? If he is already asleep when you put him down, try to put him down when he is drowsy but awake. If you put him down asleep, he is going to wake up 30-40 minutes later and not be able to go back to sleep...because he doesn't know how to fall asleep without your help. Thismight involve letting him cry. He might cry for a LONG time the first few nights...but give it a week. Be consistent. You dont' want to have to feed him back to sleep or be the pacifier police every night.

4. It is normal for babies who were sleeping well at 3 months to not slepe well at 5 months. it's actually very common. Your son is much more aware now. He wakes up and he knows that you are not there. it's much easier for him to become over-stimulated and over-tired.

Some books I would recommend are Weissbluth Healthy SLeep Habits, Happy Child and anything by Ferber. I know it is not easy...and it is horrible to listen to them cry...bu tsometimes that is the only thing that works.

C. :)

ok you are not a bad mom. just a very tired one. with my daughter i found out the key for her was to get her too fall asleep by herself. see we had the routine down pat--bathtime, time with daddy reading rocking etc, and then mommy nurses and rocks. well that meant that when you put her down she would scream her head off. or when she woke up an hour later she realized mommy wasn't holding her and screamed her head off. So what we did was just before she fell asleep while i was rocking i would go lay her down. and now when its 1930 (her bedtime) she gets put down awake and has learned to fall asleep on her own. it took a few weeks, but she is back to sleeping from 1930-0630 everynight almost.