5 month old dd won't go back to sleep after night feed

[Aisha's mum]

Hi everyone

I am in desperate need of some help. My 5 month old dd usually has one feed in the night can be anytime from 2:30am - 4:30am. However, even though she seems to be 'asleep' or certainly very drowsy when I put her back down, she starts fussing 10 minutes later and it takes about 2 hours to get her back to sleep. I try to avoid picking her up, so it's just me patting her and reinserting her dummy... I am dead on my feet, and finding it really hard to cope - my dd is a really bad daytime napper, so it's not as if I get much time to catch up on sleep. Also, dd is starting the day so tired, and often needs to go back to sleep after an hour, which throws her whole routine off track (she's on 3.5 - 4 hour EASY, depending on how much sleep she's managed to have).

My dh and I were thinking of perhaps trying to do another df at about 2:30am hopefully before she wakes up, but I am worried that this will backfire in the long term.

Please help!

Tara

[Katet]

Can you post a rough day time routine?
How does she fall asleep at bed time & for naps?

[Aisha's mum]

Yep, she's on 3.5 hour EASY (some days we manage 4 hour but she's super spirited and tires herself out after 1.5 hours, so often needs to go to sleep sooner...).

It's roughly like this:

7am                        Wake-up and eat
8.15 - 8.30am          Sleep
10am                      Wake-up / activity
10:30am                 Eat
11:30am - 12pm      Sleep
1.30  - 2pm             Wake-up / activity
2pm                        Eat
3.30 - 4pm              Sleep
4.30 - 5pm              Wake up / start bedtime routine
6 - 6.30pm              Eat
6.30 - 7pm              Sleep

...we've got a long way to go, I know. As I said, my dd is very spirited, gets overtired very quickly and is incredibly wilful when it comes to routine. I do have to rock her to sleep - she hates PU/PD, and pat/ssh makes her even madder. I've actually hired a sleep consultant whom I'm seeing in a couple of weeks time but don't know whether she'll be able to address the myriad of issues we've got to deal with.

[wylsie]

[Katet]

If you have to rock her to sleep at other times, she is needing you to rock her to sleep after her night waking too, which may be why she takes so long to get back to sleep, it is the only way she knows to fall asleep & it always happens after an "awake period"

Spirited babies are hard & from my experience with my ds#1, you pretty much need to "force them into a routine" & stick to it 100% & then just maybe you might get her sleeping through some nights.

Yes I'd agree PU/PD & pat/sh are hard for a spirited baby... but they can work. What I found helped me was to spend a lot of time sitting reading stories at the end of the awake time to "calm him down" before a nap/bed

I think if you have a sleep consultant booked hard as it may be I think waiting until they come is best as they will be hands on & see your baby in action.