5 Month Old Still Wont Sleep

My youngest slept in his swing until he was 8 months old becaus of reflux he just couldn't lay flat. He slept better but he isn't sleep all night until well after a year some babies just don't sleep as well as others. You can try a dream feed before you go to bed it might give you one decent stretch.

None of my kids slept through the night until almost a year old, and NONE of them slept more than a few hours at a stretch at 5 months. It's developmentally appropriate for a baby of 5 months to wake every 2 hours to eat, she's most likely just preparing for a growth spurt. I'm sorry you don't want to hear "she will out grow this" but it's true. If she's hungry, feed her. You can't over-feed a baby that age, you are suppose to feed on demand.
I understand what it's like to feel stretched to the limit, and to be sleep deprived. But you do what you have to do, let the housework go for a bit and hold that baby. Rest whenever you can, nap when she naps. Have someone come over in the afternoons to hold her while you sleep for a few if you need it. Not every "problem" (which this isn't) with a baby can be "fixed". It's up to us as parents to adjust our lives and our expectations to fit their needs. Maybe the reason you've heard "it" too many times is because it's true. Good luck.

I have 5 kids with the 6th due in about a month... sorry but only one of them sleep through the night at 5 months actually he started sleeping through the night around 3 month (10pm - 7am), but he was also my biggest and was 8 lb when he was born and almost 16 lb by his 2 mo check-up and he was breastfeed, so I can't tell you how much he drank. My 15 mo old hasn't been sleeping through the night lately, but I think it is cause he has 5 teeth coming in all at once - poor boy!

I don't know of any reall "tricks" to getting them to sleep longer, remember that premes are usually behind on things till they are a bit older. Most of the development makers should be from your due date not from your delivery date. So, if she was 4 weeks early, you can figure she will be about a month behind the development markers... so her sleep pattern should be about what a 4 month olds would be. And if for any reason she is going through a growth spurt, she is going to need more food and be up more.

Is there anyway you can have someone else take a feeding during the night - even just one might help you to get a little more sleep and feel better. One of mine I had to try to get them to realize the difference between day and night... they loved to sleep during the day, but not at night. It took us almost a month to get her set to sleep at night instead of the long sleep during the day. And I did have one colicy little guy... I had to put him down and walk away a few times, regroup myself and come back to try again. I spent a few nights tired & crying on the front pourch because I just couldn't get him to stop crying. So I do understand being at your whits end... but if she is waking there is a reason. The only thing you can try is to see if you can get her back to sleep without a bottle - some kids will drink one just cause it is there. Does she have a binky... some baby's just want something to suck on.

I wish you luck!

Sounds familiar! My ds (now 10 mos) has been a HORRIBLE sleeper, but I can tell you now we are getting better. And no, he didn't grow out of it. For us, it started with acid reflux. He was on medicine, but we had to change it up, then he started getting horrible ear infections which caused him to toss and turn aaaallll night long and he just didn't sleep. We had to finally get tubes b/c we were at the doc's office every week, literally. Third and the biggie for us was that he had an iron deficiency which caused the sleeplessness. Iron supplements, tubes and acid reflux medicine (which we are no longer taking) were our remedies. I don't know about Alimentum formula, but we give our son Enfamil Gentlease and it's been great. I had been nursing (I dried up unfortunately) and had to give up milk and that also helped...could your son have a milk intolerance with this formula? Have you thought about soy? Hang in there! It does get better. Feel free to PM me if you want to talk more. I know how tough this is. I was truly sleep deprived and stressed b/c I just couldn't figure out what was going on. Our doc said to cry it out and I hated doing it, but out of desperation tried a couple nights. He screamed for 2 hrs only to sleep for 15 minutes...even doc said that wasn't normal. Bottom line, you're the mommy and you need to trust your instincts; no matter what others tell you.

I'm sorry, I know your exhausted. My advice is for your to find a way to take a night off. For just one night, have your husband, your mom, your MIL, a good friend, someone else - take care of the baby at every feeding so you can sleep all night. I've been where you are (if you click on my name you will see my desperate posts about sleep). And I understand how hard it it. You need to find a way to get some sleep.

The reality is - very few babies sleep through the night at 5 months. Many don't sleep through the night at 1 year. And reflux babies are especially this way - they spit up half their meals during the day, so they need food at night to get enough calories in their little bodies. And they are sometimes uncomfortable, even with reflux meds, so they wake up. So, unfortunately, you do indeed have to wait until she outgrows it.

I feel badly about writing this, I know I was in tears when moms told me this when I asked this question about a year ago. But it is true, and so the best thing you can do is find a way to get the sleep you need when you get desperate, so that you can make it through. Good luck.

My son, also a preemie, did not sleep through the night for a looong time.

He got up every 3 hours for a bottle for a long time. Little bellies get hungry.

I had him in his cradle propped up on a step next to me in the living room or bedroom for months. I even propped up his crib mattress when he slept in there by placing a pillow under the mattress.

People told me to sleep when the baby slept so I did. I would go right back to bed & pass out. I didn't have much help so I was very sleep deprived forever. I'm sorry you are going through this. I know it's tough to be sleep deprived. If anyone else is there to take over a feeding or two, let them. My baby didn't sleep through the night until he was a year and a half but might go to 5 or 6 hr stretches. But don't worry, every baby is different.

So hang in there. Try to take it one day at a time. It will end soon. I promise. Take help when you can. Rest/sleep when you can (when baby sleeps). Let everything else fall by the wayside for right now. Laundry or housecleaning can wait for now. You are doing a great thing for your little one. This too shall pass. You just have to see what you can do on a daily basis to cope. Hang in there honey!

Edit: one thing to add......the "dream feed" someone mentioned saved my life. Right before we went to bed at 11pm, I'd pick him up from his bassinet lightly & quietly, change his daiper gingerly so as not to wake him & give him a bottle in his sleep. He was still asleep but I'd put the bottle to his lips and you'd be surprised........they take it. So amazing. This helped me get a stretch of sleep at that time so even if he woke at that age it might not be until 4 or 5am instead of at 2am That helped greatly.

Make sure he's warm. Mine stopped liking the swaddle at this age. He'd just wiggle out of it so I'd make sure his jammies were warm enough for the cooler weather.

I know at 5 months she probably needs fed at night - but every 1 to 2 hours? This can't be necessary for her. Sounds like she is getting plenty through the day. She is taking the bottle so maybe she enjoys the comfort or something but some babies can over do the formula or do it too fast and end up with tummy aches from it. I knew an infant who suffered reflux bad and had to be limited to only a few ounces at a time because sucking it down was causing more reflux problems. i would work on changing your responses to something other than feeding for all but one maybe 2 wakings at which she may actually want to be changed and fed. After 6 months of age, most doctors agree you can safely work on sleep training which you will probably need to do. Allowing her to fuss and cry so that she can put herself back to sleep if, for example, she just had a bottle a couple of hours ago. If I were you, I would hang in there another month and then hit sleep training hard. We loved "Healthy Sleep habits, Happy Child" by M. Weissbluth. It's very specific and detailed and talks about what can be expected of a baby at various ages, etc. IS she on medication for reflux?

Read Elizabeth Pantley's "No-Cry Sleep Solution" books. Among other things, it has an excellent discussion of what is and is not normal. She also has some great suggestions on how to find a sleep solution that works for your family, your values, your child, and your needs.

In the meantime, I concur with everyone else that this is normal.

If your baby is on a bottle, you've got lots of options. Call in other people to help. Hand the baby to someone else and run away to a quiet bed where you can sleep until you are rested. This might be at your own house. It might be at someone else's house. It might be at a hotel. Just find a place where you can sleep. Talk to people and figure out a way to get this as regularly as you need it to stay sane.

Good luck.

I've had two preemies one with undiagnosed reflux and was colicky so I feel your pain. Waking every 1-2 hours to eat seems a bit too often in my opinion for any baby this age. How much is in a full bottle? Have you tried increasing the amount? Remember any solid food at this age should be considered as extra. All of her nutrition should be from the formula so any increase in the amount of formula might be in order even though she's eating solids. Is the reflux still a problem? Is she on medication for the reflux? Do you keep her upright for at least 30 minutes after eating? Is her torso elevated when laying down? My reflux baby slept almost upright the first six months because it was so bad. Have you had a swallow study done? Or any other kind of testing for the reflux? Is she warm enough? She'll burn more energy and eat more often if she's cold. Good luck this too would drive me a bit crazy.